Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Engineering thinking'
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1
Coleman, Emma Elizabeth. "Comparisons of Design Thinking for Engineering Education." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/85867.
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Design thinking ability is vital for engineers who are tasked with solving society's toughest sustainable development challenges. Prior research identified that the percentage of design thinkers among freshmen engineering students is greater than the percentage among the general population. However, engineering education's lack of attention to fostering creative ability may cause the design thinking ability of senior engineering students to suffer. The research addressed in this thesis compares the design thinking ability of engineering students across age groups, and compares design thinking ability between the design disciplines of engineering and architecture. To draw design thinking comparisons between these groups, a survey with a nine item design thinking instrument was distributed nationally to freshmen engineering students (n= 2,158), senior engineering students (n= 1,893), and senior architecture students (n= 336). The survey instrument was validated by conducting confirmatory factor analysis on the senior engineering and senior architecture samples' data. The Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test was utilized to statistically compare scores across sample groups. Both the freshmen engineering students (2.80) and senior architecture students (3.30) scored significantly higher on the design thinking scale than senior engineering students (2.59). These results have important implications for engineering educators as engineering education may contribute to a decrease in design thinking among senior engineering students. A lower design thinking score among seniors was consistent across all engineering sub-disciplines and should be of concern to engineering educators, since design thinking skills are critical for the development of engineering solutions to grand societal challenges.Master of Science
Design thinking is a way of thinking about the design process which places the user at the center of the design. Thinking about design in this way is a vital ability for engineers and other design professionals to develop because it enables them to solve “wicked” problems like sustainable development challenges. Wicked problems are those which are difficult to solve due to the number of conflicting components involved. Prior research has found that design thinkers are more prevalent among engineering students in their first year of study than among students in other majors. However, engineering education does not attribute much attention to the development of creative ability which could cause the design thinking ability of engineering students in their final year of study to be worse than the ability of those in their first year, as well as worse than the ability of students who study other design disciplines like architecture. This study compared the design thinking abilities of engineering students in their final year of study to engineering students in their first year and to architecture students in their final year. The goal of making these comparisons was to explore if engineering education helps or hinders the development of design thinking. A survey with nine questions related to design thinking was distributed nationwide. The data from the survey was collected and statistically analyzed. The results showed that the design thinking ability of engineering students in their final year was significantly lower than the ability of first year engineering students and significantly lower than the ability of final year architecture students. A decrease in design thinking ability between freshmen and senior year must be addressed by engineering educators. The National Academy of Engineers and industry leaders are calling for the development of engineers who are design thinkers, and the results of this paper suggest that some changes may need to occur within the engineering education curriculum to accommodate this need.
2
Mccord, Rachel. "Thinking About Thinking in Study Groups: Studying Engineering Students' Use of Metacognition in Naturalistic Setting." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/49774.
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Metacognition has been identified as a critical skill set for learning in problem solving, conceptual understanding, and studying, all of which are key in any undergraduate engineering curriculum. Though significant research has identified metacognition as critical in learning, most of this research has been conducted in experimental settings and has focused on individual engagement. While experimental settings provide evidence that metacognition is important to learning, these controlled studies do not tell us if students actually engage in metacognition in their own contexts. The purpose of this research study was to describe the metacognitive habits of engineering students in the naturalistic setting of study groups as well as contextual factors that supported this engagement. In order to accomplish this, I developed a methodological approach useful for identifying metacognitive engagement in naturalistic settings. In this ethnographically-inspired qualitative study, I used participant observations as my primary source of data and ethnographic interviews as supplemental data. Three study groups participated in this study and represented a diverse range of strategies for learning and studying.
In order to identify the metacognitive behaviors of the study participants, I developed the Naturalistic Observations of Metacognitive Engagement (NOME) coding strategy, a coding scheme that can be used to identify metacognitive engagement in naturalistic settings involving undergraduate engineering students. Through the use of the NOME for coding the observational transcripts, I found that undergraduate engineering students engage in metacognitive engagement in different ways and certain metacognitive behaviors are engaged in at a higher rate than others. From an analysis of the observational fieldnotes, I found that contextual factors such as learning environment, study group schedule, study group purpose, learning resources, and workload potentially impact the way in which engineering students engage in metacognitive practices. The findings of this study provide important implications for researchers in metacognition and engineering education, educational practitioners, students, and the research site and participants from which the data was collected.Ph. D.
3
Cardella, Monica E. "Engineering mathematics : an investigation of students' mathematical thinking from a cognitive engineering perspective /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/10692.
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Wang, Chao. "An Application of Lean Thinking to the Furniture Engineering Process." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/42442.
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Efficient engineering processes are critically important for furniture manufacturers. Engineering impacts the production cost, design quality, product lead time, and customer satisfaction. This research presents a systematic approach to analyze a furniture engineering process through a case study. The research was conducted through a case study in a furniture plant located in China, producing American style furniture products. The first stage was to investigate the companyâ s current engineering process, identify non value-added activities, and analyze the engineering performance based on selected Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as lead time, document error rate, and engineering throughput. A survey questionnaire was sent out to the engineering group to determine the current engineering efficiency.
Results show that â product complexityâ and â engineer competencyâ are the two most influential factors that impact engineering lead time and quality. In the second stage, value stream mapping was used to analyze an upholstery furniture engineering process. The approach encompasses an analysis of the current state of the engineering process and the proposal of a lean future state value stream map (VSM).
Results from the current state VSM show, that the value-added ratio of the current engineering process is only 26%. Several engineering steps present deficiency such as the processes of creating drawings, compile mass production documents, check and sign-off engineering documents, create CNC programs, and generate packaging files. Based on current state VSM analysis, the researcher focused on transforming these processes to eliminate waste and to propose the best practices for the future state VSM.
From this research, it shows that current processes include a large amount of non-value adding activities such as waiting, extra processing, rework, excess motion, transportation, underutilized people, and inefficient information. These non-value adding activities are interfering with engineersâ ability to prepare engineering documents for downstream jobs and affecting the overall manufacturing process. The VSM is effective to provide the visual control over the engineering process for implementing lean transformations.Master of Science
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Campbell, Christopher David. "Evolution in engineering dispositions and thinking among culturally diverse students in an undergraduate engineering programme." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/54122.
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This study investigated the evolution in engineering dispositions and thinking among culturally diverse students through their enculturating experiences in team-based engineering design courses in second year electrical and computer engineering. Ethnographic methods (participant observation, semi-structured interviews) were employed to collect data in classrooms, labs, and project rooms over a seven-month period. Five culturally diverse students’ trajectories illustrate the processes and products of the evolution of students’ engineering dispositions and thinking. Five key conditions for students in navigating a shift from traditional to team-based project modes of study were identified: i) being willing to buy into working as part of a team, ii) being willing and able to claim a viable role as an engineer, iii) grappling with competing identities in becoming an engineer, iv) navigating different perspectives on engineering projects, and v) being able to self and co-regulate while under a complex, heavy workload. Cultural, language, and personal factors mediated culturally diverse students’ capacities to satisfy these five conditions. The study offers the following implications for fostering the engineering dispositions and thinking of culturally diverse students: i) explicit and meaningful orientation of students towards team-based project modes of study; ii) fostering of metacognitive awareness and capacity with respect to teamwork processes; iii) harnessing cultural diversity for promoting intercultural skills; iv) focus on English language competencies for functioning in formal, informal, and non-formal academic contexts; v) formative and summative assessment to support this mode of study; vi) self-regulation and socially shared regulation skills for sustaining the success of individuals and teams. The study offers the following implications for employing the theoretical framework in future research: i) greater clarity on the evidence required to identify stages of change; ii) greater clarity on establishing the existence and nature of inner contradictions that drive change; iii) exploration of methodological opportunities and limitations on capturing change in students. This study offers an exemplar for researching evolution and change in students in complex educational contexts.Education, Faculty of
Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of
Graduate
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Hixson, Cory Allen. "Exploring Engineering Faculty Members' Experiences with University Commercialization Utilizing Systems Thinking." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/72228.
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Since the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, commercialization (e.g., patenting discoveries,
licensing technologies, and developing startups) has become increasingly prominent at
universities across the nation. These activities can be beneficial for universities as mechanisms to
increase research dollars, unrestricted funds, student success, institutional prestige, and public
benefit, while developing an innovation and entrepreneurship culture. However, although faculty
members are a key source of human capital within the university commercialization process,
studies of faculty members' experiences with university commercialization are scarce.
To better understand these experiences, I conducted a multiple case study exploring
engineering faculty members' commercialization experiences at three land-grant universities,
using Activity Theory as an analytical framework. Each case consists of in-depth, semistructured
interviews with 5-6 engineering faculty members, 1-2 university administrators, and a
technology transfer officer, as well as university commercialization documentation (e.g.,
university commercialization policy documents and web resources). I analyzed the data using
provisional coding (activity system elements, supports, challenges, and affect), inductive coding,
and within and cross-case analysis techniques. The study's findings include characteristics of the
university commercialization activity system, supports for and challenges to faculty engagement,
and provisional recommendations to enhance the university commercialization work system.
Key findings include faculty members' desire to make an impact with their work, lack of training
and expertise relative to commercialization, conflicting attitudes towards commercialization
from colleagues and administrations, and tensions about the place of commercialization within
the university's mission.
This study highlights an important and underrepresented voice in university
commercialization research - "the voice of the individual faculty member. By understanding how
faculty members experience university commercialization, university leaders are able to make
well-informed decisions regarding the university's mission, culture, work structure, resource
allocation, and incentive systems related to this increasingly-prominent faculty activity.
Moreover, faculty members and industry collaborators interested in university commercialization
can use the study's results to make decisions regarding if and how to best proceed with
university commercialization activities. Accordingly, this work not only contributes to faculty
work system design, but it also contributes a unique systems research approach to the university
commercialization literature.Ph. D.
7
Hu, Mo. "Neuroscience for Engineering Sustainability: Measuring Cognition During Design Ideation and Systems Thinking Among Students in Engineering." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/91399.
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Sustainability is inherently a complex problem that requires new ways of thinking. To solve grand challenges such as climate change, environmental degradation, and poverty, engineers cannot rely on the same models of thinking that were used to create these problems. Engineering education is therefore critical to advance sustainable engineering solutions. Improving education relies on understanding of cognition of thinking and designing for sustainability. In this thesis, a nascent neuroimaging technology called functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to measure cognition among engineering students thinking about sustainability. fNIRS provides an opportunity to investigate how sustainability in design influences cognition, and how different concept generation techniques help students consider many aspects related to sustainability. The first manuscript provides evidence that engineering students perceive sustainability in design as a constraint, limiting the number of solutions for design and decreasing the cognitive efficiency to generate solutions. Senior engineering students generated fewer solutions than freshmen, however, seniors were better able to cognitively manage the sustainability parameter with higher cognitive efficiency. The second manuscript investigates the cognitive difference when generating concepts using concept listing or concept mapping. The results indicate that concept mapping (i.e. intentionally drawing relationships between concepts) leads to more concepts generated. An increase in concepts during concept mapping was also observed to shift cognitive load in the brain from regions associated with process sequencing to regions associated with cognitive flexibility. This research demonstrates the feasibility of fNIRS applied in engineering research and provides more understanding of the cognitive requirements for sustainability thinking.M. S.
8
Wedemalm, Manfred. "Learning platform for training critical thinking." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för informationsteknologi, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-448542.
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Dunford, Charlotte Natalie. "Making systems thinking routine systems engineering capability improvement in Rolls-Royce plc." Thesis, University of Bristol, 2015. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.702498.
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The business of Rolls-Royce pic makes the routine use of systems thinking a requirement for excellence. Systems Engineering enables systems thinking and their combination is systems practice. This study investigates the improvement of systems practice, focusing on the defence aerospace project design engineers at the Bristol site of the company. Best practice for the assessment and improvement of systems practice in engineering has not been established. Evidence of Systems Engineering impact is lacking. This study contributes to these areas. Systems practice is, in part, a way of thinking so a participative approach to conducting this research is necessary for success. An action research spiral is used as a framework for the research methodology. This research uses surveys, interviews and workshops to build a grounded theory, shown graphically as influence and system dynamic models, describing the engineers' ways of working, how systems practice contributes to it and how to better enable systems practice. The models articulate dynamic hypotheses of abstract concepts to the engineers in an accessible, engaging way and are used to aid discussions of the research findings and develop a shared understanding of the situation. This theory informs the development, implementation and assessment of improvement activities to assist engineers in choosing and using Systems Engineering techniques. This study found that among the engineers involved in the research the use of formal Systems Engineering techniques is usually valuable. Systems Engineering is valued but its lack of application does not reflect this. This study shows that the methodology used provides a means to identify the issues preventing systems practice, and the connections between these issues. This brings clarity and an evidence-base to the Systems Engineering capability improvement work within a company. This knowledge leads to specific improvement activities and a method through which to validate their success.
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Smith, Lucille. "Student experiences of learning in a systems thinking course." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/5471.
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Singh, Pushpinder 1972-2006. "EM-ONE : an architecture for reflective commonsense thinking." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/33926.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2005.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 147-152).
This thesis describes EM-ONE, an architecture for commonsense thinking capable of reflective reasoning about situations involving physical, social, and mental dimensions. EM-ONE uses as its knowledge base a library of commonsense narratives, each describing the physical, social, and mental activity that occurs during an interaction between several actors. EM-ONE reasons with these narratives by applying "mental critics," procedures that debug problems that exist in the outside world or within EM- ONE itself. Mental critics draw upon commonsense narratives to suggest courses of action, methods for deliberating about the circumstances and consequences of those actions, and--when things go wrong-ways to reflect upon and debug the activity of previously invoked mental critics. Mental critics are arranged into six layers, the reactive, deliberative, reflective, self-reflective, self-conscious, and self-ideals layers. The selection of mental critics within these six layers is itself guided by a separate collection of meta-level critics that recognize what overall problem-type presently confronts the system. EM-ONE was developed and tested within an artificial life domain where simulated robotic actors face concrete physical and social problems.
(cont.) A detailed scenario is presented where EM-ONE enables two such actors to work together to build a table by engaging reactive, deliberative, and reflective processes operating across the physical, social, and mental realms.
by Push Singh.
Ph.D.
12
Dolak, Jessica. "Enabling process improvements through systems thinking." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/37128.
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Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (p. 78-79).
Manufacturing organizations around the world strive to improve processes with varying degrees of realization. There is no right way or latest and greatest process that can guarantee success, therefore the approach, and not necessarily the process, is critical. Since every process improvement project is different, using the systems thinking approach decreases the risk of failure as the implementer(s) is/are more aware of critical items on the fringe which might otherwise be neglected. Process metrics are vital for many reasons including motivating employees, determining the level of need for process improvement, and evaluating the outcome of a process improvement project. When evaluating whether a project should be pursued, the expected results on the subsystem and other subsystems should be estimated and tied to the highest level metric, which ultimately should equate to bottom line impact. This evaluation technique ensures a positive impact on the entire system, rather than producing only a subsystem optimum. A subsystem metric indicates a project's success through the use of a hypothesis test. This usage requires that the subsystem metric, which will be used to measure a process improvement, must be stable before initiating the project.
(cont.) The individual, team, and organization all play a vital role in a company embracing systems thinking. Individuals and teams need to keep an open mind to issues outside the focus department and accept and encourage involvement of cross-functional representatives on process improvement teams. An organization where systems thinking is integral becomes a learning organization and has a higher percentage of successful projects through a systematic evaluation and approach to projects. To maintain the systems thinking culture, an organization as a whole must encourage the hiring of individuals with varied experiences and who believe in systems thinking.
by Jessica Dolak.
S.M.
M.B.A.
13
Flint, Shayne, and shayne flint@anu edu au. "Aspect-Oriented Thinking - An approach to bridging the disciplinary divides." The Australian National University. Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, 2006. http://thesis.anu.edu.au./public/adt-ANU20080731.204756.
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Engineering is often described as the application of scientific and technical knowledge to solve problems. In this thesis, I support a more general view that engineering should be treated as a continuous process of learning and action that aims to make well understood improvements within dynamically complex environments of co-evolving social, man-made and natural systems. I argue that this can only be achieved by adopting an approach that systematically develops, manages and integrates the knowledge and expertise of many disciplines to conceive, develop, modify, operate and retire systems. A novel implementation of such an approach, called Aspect-Oriented Thinking, is presented.
¶
Aspect-Oriented Thinking begins with the development and verification of a set of domain Models. Each Domain Model represents knowledge about a separate, autonomous and possibly discipline specific concern or view within a given context. Domain models are developed by engineers, scientists, sociologists, psychologists, lawyers, philosophers, economists and others, using languages and techniques with which they are familiar. Knowledge captured in a set of Domain Models is then woven together, in accordance with a set of separately developed patterns and rules, to construct, modify, operate and retire systems, including models, hardware, software, processes and simulations. This is a continuous process which, in the first instance, involves those systems used to learn about a given context and to make decisions regarding required changes. Later, the process involves those systems used to implement and evaluate the impact of these decisions.
¶
The significance of Aspect-Oriented Thinking lies in its broad applicability to any situation in which the expertise and knowledge of diverse disciplines is required to understand and make improvements within complex multifaceted
environments such as those that involve sustainable development and national security.
¶
A proof-of-concept within the context of software engineering is provided to demonstrate the mechanics and viability of Aspect-Oriented Thinking. The results
of this demonstration are used to support an argument for future experimentation
aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of Aspect-Oriented Thinking in a more
general interdisciplinary environment.
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Carmichael, Christine (Erst). "Exploration of critical thinking in environmental subjects." University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Education, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/2100/420.
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This qualitative research study investigated the expression of critical thinking in environmental subjects at university level in Australia. It also explored the strategies used by lecturers to encourage student critical thinking. Initially an open-ended questionnaire was sent to lecturers and tutors in universities across Australia and the responses from thirty participants were analysed thematically. From these participants semi-structured interviews were arranged with six lecturers and eight students from three different universities. The third phase of the research process involved analysing subject outlines and student assignments. Findings were triangulated to create a picture of the teaching and learning practices of critical thinking in this field. The three cases of Environmental Science, Environmental Engineering and Environmental Law were identified as having some common yet distinctively different themes in relation to critical thinking. In each discipline area three broad approaches to the expression of critical thinking were identified: scientific/technical, paradigmatic and reflective. The scientific/technical approach in science was most concerned with critique of experiments and studies, in engineering with problem solving and in law with the technical aspects of language and application of the law. The paradigmatic approach included critical analysis of the different theories, frameworks and paradigms of each subject. The reflective approach to critical thinking included students’ self evaluation of their learning within a specific subject. Notable differences between the three cases were the types of strategies used by lecturers to encourage student critical thinking. The Environmental Science lecturers were more inclined to use a wide variety of strategies, including provision of written material about critical thinking with critical thinking identified in marking criteria, discussion in class and guided exercises. The Environmental Engineering lecturers placed more emphasis on discussion in class than on providing written materials. The Environmental Law lecturers predominantly focused on the strategy of debating in class for the development of student critical thinking. The findings of this study are significant in providing support for the argument that development of critical thinking is subject specific rather than generic. This calls into question the use of generic skills testing for university graduates as a reliable measure of their ability to think critically in their field. The findings indicate that it is necessary for subject lecturers to be explicit with students about their expectations regarding critical thinking, particularly in relation to assessment. Findings suggest guidelines for lecturers including strategies and attitudes that encourage or hinder student critical thinking. Findings also suggest that the nature of the field of environmental and sustainability subjects lends itself to developing critical thinking, which is considered to be important.
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Carmichael, Christine. "Exploration of critical thinking in environmental subjects /." Electronic version, 2006. http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/dspace/handle/2100/420.
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Chung, Kristie (Kristie J. ). "Applying systems thinking to healthcare data cybersecurity." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/105307.
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Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2015.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 85-90).
Since the HITECH Act of 2009, adoption of Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems in US healthcare organizations has increased significantly. Along with the rapid increase in usage of EHR, cybercrimes are on the rise as well. Two recent cybercrime cases from early 2015, the Anthem and Premera breaches, are examples of the alarming increase of cybercrimes in this domain. Although modem Information Technology (IT) systems have evolved to become very complex and dynamic, cybersecurity strategies have remained static. Cyber attackers are now adopting more adaptive, sophisticated tactics, yet the cybersecurity counter tactics have proven to be inadequate and ineffective. The objective of this thesis is to analyze the recent Anthem security breach to assess the vulnerabilities of Anthem's data systems using current cybersecurity frameworks and guidelines and the Systems-Theoretic Accident Model and Process (STAMP) method. The STAMP analysis revealed Anthem's cybersecurity strategy needs to be reassessed and redesigned from a systems perspective using a holistic approach. Unless our society and government understand cybersecurity from a sociotechnical perspective, we will never be equipped to protect valuable information and will always lose this battle.
by Kristie Chung.
S.M. in Engineering and Management
17
Wade, Simon Alastair Randall. "Towards a model managing job change : a system thinking approach." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/5457.
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Bibliography: leaves 46-48.The background of my project was a promotion within the same company that necessitated relocation from one city to another, and also a change in job focus. Whilst both jobs remained in the technical domain, the first was rooted in quality management and improvement at a plant level, whereas the second involved specialized technical consulting across the whole organization. My notion was that a study of this change could improve my personal situation as well as my understanding and management of personal change. My notion was also that I would be able to experientially learn how to improve my practice of managing change in general.
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Tan, Peihao Raymond. "Applying systems thinking towards countering hybrid warfare." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2019. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/121799.
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Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, 2019Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 121-124).
Carl von Clausewitz, a famous Prussian general and military theorist asserted that war's nature of being violent, interactive, and fundamentally political, does not change - only its character does. According to Clausewitz, the character of war is a dynamic phenomenon that manifests differently with the "spirit" of each age. In our current digital age, technology has heavily influenced interactions, including warfare. In addition to boosting traditional military means, technology has enabled rapid and widespread weaponization of social, information and infrastructural instruments for political coercion. A rising trend of combining national instruments of power to wage war simultaneously across the political, military, economic, social, information and infrastructural domains is a rapidly emerging threat, characteristic of modem "hybrid wars" being fought today. Traditional military-centric defense policies and strategies are ill-prepared to address such threats that deliberately operate in the "grey zone", playing on ambiguity and tailoring coercion to remain just below detection and response thresholds. In this research, a combination of literature review, descriptive study, inductive approach, normative research, case study and systems thinking are applied to analyze the hybrid warfare threat and then construct a suitable response framework, treating it as system with interrelated constituent parts, synergistically working together over time, within the wider international context, to deliver an emergent counter hybrid warfare capability.
by Peihao Raymond Tan.
S.M. in Engineering and Management
S.M.inEngineeringandManagement Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program
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Rush, Monica R. "Creative thinking in engineering education : lessons from students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/52753.
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Thesis (S.M. in Technology and Policy)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2009.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 80-83).
Engineers have deemed creative thinking a necessary skill in their line of work, and ABET, the accreditation board for engineering schools, can evaluate a program based on how it attempts to teach it in its courses. And yet, many students and professors feel that creative thinking is a skill often overlooked by the traditional engineering curriculum. This thesis investigates student acquisition of creative thinking skills in four engineering design courses taught under the Mechanical Engineering and the Aeronautics/Astronautics Departments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Quantitative research methods (surveys, assessments) and qualitative methods (interviews, focus groups) are combined to identify factors that influence student creativity in the classroom and retention and use of creative thinking skills beyond the classroom. Student reflections are used to tie theories of creativity with educational theory on student learning. Common themes discussed by students in relation to creativity include the interactive lecture and lab environments, the involvement of the professors and confidence and hands-on practice. Data shows the relationship between perceptions of team creativity and individual creative development. Recommendations on course structure and supportive institutional policies encouraging creative classroom environments are made based on the experiences of the students and teaching staff of these courses.
by Monica R. Rush.
S.M.in Technology and Policy
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Chaim, Omar Cheidde. "Developing competences through individual assessments in an Engineering Education context: creativity and critical thinking." Universidade de São Paulo, 2016. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/18/18157/tde-17012017-105102/.
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The demands on engineering professional in the knowledge society do not correspond to those of the last century and to meet them, the engineering education practices must adapt. The accelerated technological evolution and fast change on social and economic contexts corroborate the importance of two key competences in the engineering professions, critical thinking and creativity. The objective of this work is to promote through the comprehension of individual assessment role, techniques and tools the development of both competences in the context of engineering. To promote individual assessment practices that allow such development, this work began with the bibliographic review of education theories, competence development, motivation, engineering demand and assessment theories. With a deeper understanding of these concepts, a discussion on the main practices that can add value to engineering education and the development of critical thinking and creativity in this context. As a research result strategies are proposed to incorporate these practices in engineering courses, taking into account both the objectives of education processes as well as constraints such as time limitations for preparations and activities execution, the size of classrooms, infrastructure and task availability.As demandas da sociedade de conhecimento sobre os profissionais de engenharia são bastante diferentes daquelas presentes no século passado, para atende-las a educação em engenharia deve se adaptar. A acelerada evolução tecnológica e rápida mudança em contextos sociais e econômicos reforça a importância de duas competências que são chave nas profissões de engenharia, pensamento crítico e criatividade. O objetivo deste trabalho é promover através da compreensão do papel e da utilização de técnicas e ferramentas de avaliações individuais o desenvolvimento de ambas competências no contexto de engenharia. Para promover práticas de avaliação individual que permitam tal desenvolvimento, este trabalho se iniciou com revisões bibliográficas dos principais conceitos relacionados às teorias de educação, desenvolvimento de competências, motivação, demandas de engenharia e teorias de avaliação. Com uma compreensão mais profunda sobre estes conceitos inicia-se uma discussão das principais práticas que possam agregar valor à educação em engenharia e ao desenvolvimento de pensamento crítico e criatividade neste contexto. Como resultado de pesquisa são propostas estratégias para incorporar práticas em cursos de engenharia, considerando tanto os objetivos do processo educacional como limitações como tempo para preparação e aplicação de atividades, tamanhos de sala de aula, infraestrutura e disponibilidade de tarefas.
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Liang, Helen. "Constraint-based thinking towards enhancing complex interdisciplinary designing." Thesis, University of Bath, 2015. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.665435.
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There are as many perspectives in designing as there have been instances in which it has occured. In each instance, constraints will have invariably arisen in various forms, to the extent that designing and constraints are considered to be an inherently natural pairing. In addition, they are both affected by the challenges of complexity, amongst many others, which is especially compounded by an increasingly significant shift towards interdisciplinary methods and means of working. This has been in response to the influences and implications with regards to the integrated elements of sustainability and sustainable development. To this effect, the body of research effort presented in this thesis searches for a simpler perspective towards designing, to which constraint-based thinking can be applied. It explores the implications of interdisciplinarity in the context of sustainability and sustainable development. It also considers an example of design-based process within the built environment that is inclusive of multiple disciplines and therefore not only interdisciplinary, but also affected by complexity. In response to these instances of complex interdisciplinary designing, this thesis contributes an exploration of constraint-based thinking and the consideration of an approach which uses design objectives as optimisation constraints, from which a methodology has been created. Furthermore, this thesis demonstrates constraints as useful in understanding, especially in the context of problem structures and their respective design spaces. As a form of constraint, optimisation objectives are also presented in this thesis as a means of exposing and handling complexity when applied as constrained optimisation for focusing designing efforts. Above all, this thesis advocates the use of constraint-based thinking and simplicity towards enhancing and supporting designing process.
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Baysal, A. "The value of systems thinking in operations management : a case study." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8486.
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Includes bibliographical references.This thesis demonstrates the differences between the traditional reductionist approach and the systemic approach to problem solving, and is based on a case study in the manufacturing field. It explains how each approach interprets real life problem situations differently, and emphasises the superiority of systemic approach.
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Bartle, Samantha. "Establishing a new biofuel crop using System Thinking." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/86519.
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Thesis (MEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The complexity of adopting a new crop-based biodiesel feedstock into South Africa given the prevailing environmental, economic and social concerns facing the country are addressed in this study by utilising a Systems Thinking approach. Solaris is a new variety of Tobacco developed specifically as an energy crop over the last twelve years by Italian companies Plantechno and Sunchem. Small-scale trials have been underway over the last year in the Loskop Valley farming community in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. These trials have been managed by the newly-formed local entity, Toboil (Pty) Ltd. In order to assess the viability of introducing Solaris into Loskop in terms of addressing the current diesel and electricity needs of the community and larger over-arching biofuel goals of South Africa, the full System Dynamic Modelling process was employed. This included significant research, stakeholder engagement, a Systems Thinking workshop as well as model development and simulation using the System Dynamics programming tool, Vensim. Following the simulation of various scenarios, it was determined that in order for Solaris implementation to have the greatest impact on the diesel and electricity independence desires of the community, as well as maximising job creation and avoided greenhouse gas emissions, the first five to ten years of implementation may only achieve low to moderate profitability. It was further concluded that if crop-based biofuels are to help meet the rural development goals of South Africa then significant investment and skills transfer is required. In order to address both of these, a modular development process is advocated and should be aided and mentored by members of the commercial farming industry.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die kompleksiteit van die aanvaarding van ‘n nuwe oes-gebaseerde bio diesel roumateriaal in Suid-Afrika in die heersende omgewings-, ekonomiese- en sosiale kommer wat die land ervaar, word in hierdie studie aangespreek deur gebruik te maak van ‘n Sistemiese Denke Benadering (Systems Thinking approach) Solaris is ‘n nuwe variasie Tabak wat deur twee Italiaanse maatskappye Plantechno en Sunchem oor die afgelope twaalf jaar spesifiek as ‘n bron van energie ontwikkel is. Kleinskaalse proewe is gedurende die afgelope jaar in die Loskop Vallei Landbougemeenskap in die Limpopo-provinsie van Suid-Afrika gedoen. Hierdie proewe word onder die toesig van die nuut gevormde plaaslike entiteit, Toboil (Pty) Ltd uitgevoer. Aansienlike navorsing, die aktiewe deelname van die onderskeie belanghebbende partye, ‘n Sistemiese Denke werkswinkel sowel as die ontwerp van ‘n simulasie model deur die gebruik van Sisteem Dinamieke Programerings program, naamlik Vensim, is ingespan om die lewensvatbaarheid van die moontlike aanplanting van Solaris te beoordeel. Die spesifieke gemeenskap se huidige behoeftes aan diesel en elektrisiteit sowel as Suid-Afrika se breër doelwitte aangaande bio-brandstowwe was as die grondslag gebruik waarop die volle Sistemiese Denke Benadering toegepas is. In Loskop omgewing was verskeie moontlike scenarios beproef en daar is op grond daarvan vasgestel dat ten einde die grootste moontlike inpak te maak op die afhanlikheid van diesel en elektrisiteit behoeftes van die gemeenskap, sowel as om die grootste moontlik werkskepping potensiaal te verwesenlik – terwyl die afskeiding van kweekhuis gasse verhoed word - die eerste vyf tot tien jaar van implementering baie lae winsgrens tot gevolg sal hê. Daar is ook verder afgelei dat afsienbare beleggings en opleiding benodig gaan word indien aangeplante bio-brandstowwe aangewend sou word om die landelike ontwikkelingsdoelwitte in Suid-Afrika te verwesenlik. Ten einde beide hierdie doelwitte aan te spreek, word ‘n modulêre ontwikkelings proses aanbeveel waar gevestigde lede van die kommersiële lanbou industrie, bystand en leierskap voorsien.
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Bereza, Thomas William. "Predicting and Improving First Year Engineering Student Retention Through Lean Thinking and Quality Management Concepts." University of Dayton / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1512591258327359.
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Davidz, Heidi L. "Enabling systems thinking to accelerate the development of senior systems engineers." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/34200.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (p. 210-213).
As engineering systems become more complex, the roles involved in developing and managing such systems also become more complex. Thus, there is increasing interest in educating and training engineering professionals to think more systemically. In particular, there is an increasing need to accelerate the development of senior systems engineers. As new educational degree programs in systems rapidly emerge and as companies scurry to establish systems training programs to meet this need, fundamental questions still remain about how systems thinking develops in engineers. Increased understanding of the mechanisms that develop systems thinking will enable effective and efficient development of senior systems professionals. After reviewing related literature, an exploratory and inductive study was designed to gather data on enablers, barriers, and precursors to systems thinking development in engineers. In a field study conducted primarily in the United States aerospace sector, 205 interviews were conducted in 10 host companies. Senior systems engineers were studied to better understand how they developed systems thinking, and information was collected on company procedures for developing systems engineers. Using interview and survey data, comparisons were made of two control groups and senior systems engineers.
(cont.) Proven stellar systems thinkers were also interviewed. To summarize the results, even though systems thinking definitions diverge, there is consensus on primary mechanisms that enable or obstruct systems thinking development in engineers. In order to reconcile the divergent definitions observed, a systems thinking framework, definition, and accompanying conceptual illustration are given. The data show that the primary mechanisms that enable systems thinking development include experiential learning, specific individual characteristics, and a supporting environment. This document defines the research space on this topic and suggests applications for the results. Better understanding of systems thinking development provides a foundation for educational interventions and employee development in systems thinking for engineering professionals across industry, government, and academia.
by Heidi Leoti Davidz.
Ph.D.
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Gyllensvärd, Erik. "Identifiera och reducera slöserimed lean thinking." Thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Institutionen för maskinteknik, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-21684.
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AGES är ett företag som pressgjuter produkter i aluminium med olika legeringar. De producerar främst till fordons- och verkstadsindustrin. De har i dagsläget låg total utrustningseffektivitet på två av sina maskiner och vill få reda på varför. De största tidsförlusterna är ställtiderna samt att operatörerna inte märker att maskinstopp har skett. Målet med examensarbetet var att identifiera och reducera slöseri i produktionsprocessen hos AGES och skapa en grund för framtida arbete med SMED och Lean Production. Genom olika mätningar kunde olika analyser utföras såsom värdeflödesanalys och OEE-analys. Analyserna resulterade i ett antal förbättringsförslag där vissa av dem planeras att implementeras. Vissa hamnade under utvärdering och vissa hamnade som framtida förbättringar. Studien har också bidragit till en ökad förståelse för varför maskinstopp sker och vilka åtgärder som bör vidtas. Ledningen på AGES är positiva till resultatet av studien och förbättringsförslagen. Inom SMED har det resulterat i en plan till hur verktygsbytet kan gå till för att minska ställtiderna samt hur mycket tid som kan besparas vid implementering.AGES is a company that die-cast aluminum products with various alloys. They mainly produce for the automotive and engineering industries. Currently they have a low total equipment efficiency on two of their machines and they want to find out why. The biggest time losses are the set-up times and that the operators are not noticing when a machine stop has occurred. The aim of the project was to identify and reduce waste in the production process at AGES and create a basis for future work with SMED and Lean Production. Through different measurements, different analyzes could be performed such as value flow analysis and OEE-analysis. The analyzes resulted in several improvement proposals, some of which are planned to be implemented. Some will be evaluated and will be implemented as future improvements. The study has also led to an understanding of why machine stops occur and what measures should be taken. The management at AGES is positive to the results of the study and the improvement proposals. Within SMED, it resulted in a plan for how the tool change can be done to reduce set-up times and how much time can be saved when implemented.
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Xie, Benjamin Xiang-Yu. "Progression of computational thinking skills demonstrated by App Inventor users." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/106395.
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Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2016.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 (pages 81-83).
analyze skill progression in MIT App Inventor, an open, online learning environment with over 4.7 million users and 14.9 million projects/apps created. My objective is to understand how people learn computational thinking concepts while creating mobile applications with App Inventor. In particular, I am interested in the relationship between the development of sophistication in using App Inventor functionality and the development of sophistication in using computational thinking concepts as learners create more apps. I take steps towards this objective by modeling the demonstrated sophistication of a user along two dimensions: breadth and depth of capability. Given a sample of 10,571 random users who have each created at least 20 projects, I analyze the relationship between demonstrating domain-specific skills by using App Inventor functionality and generalizable skills by using computational thinking concepts. I cluster similar users and compare differences in using computational concepts. My findings indicate a common pattern of expanding breadth of capability by using new skills over the first 10 projects, then developing depth of capability by using previously introduced skills to build more sophisticated apps. From analyzing the clustered users, I order computational concepts by perceived complexity. This concept complexity measure is relative to how users interact with components. I also identify differences in learning computational concepts using App Inventor when compared to learning with a text-based programming language such as Java. In particular, statements (produce action) and expressions (produce value) are separate blocks because they have different connections with other blocks in App Inventor's visual programming language. This may result in different perceptions of computational concepts when compared to perceptions from using a text-based programming language, as statements are used more frequently in App Inventor than expressions. This work has implications to enable future computer science curriculum to better leverage App Inventor's blocks-based programming language and events-based model to offer more personalized guidance and learning resources to those who learn App Inventor without an instructor.
by Benjamin Xiang-Yu Xie.
M. Eng.
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Nilsson, Filip. "Development of a recycling centerthrough design thinking." Thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Institutionen för maskinteknik, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-21855.
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Tarkett AB is one of the world's largest companies that manufacture floors and operates in over 100 countries. Tarkett Ronneby is one of two larger recycling centers the company possesses, and they are currently recycling all of the spare material and waste material from the manufacturing processes. Customers to Tarkett are lately offered to bring back used floors to recycle the material. Currently, Tarkett is annually importing and recycling 17 000 tons of material from the production and their customers, and the amount of material handled is estimated to increase to 30 000 tons per year. To handle the amount of material Tarkett Ronneby is going to build a new recycling center. The initial research questions for this master thesis were:• How to dimension the recycling center to handle the predetermined capacity?• How to organise the transport of materials to handle the predetermined capacity?On a higher level, this contribution has also highlighted several findings in relation to the following research question:• How can Design Thinking be used in practice to design a warehouse?To answer the question of whether design thinking can be used as a method for developing a recycling center, this was used as a method. Design thinking was used in all the steps of the development process - to know about both explicit and tacit needs related to the development of the recycling center. Company visits allowed to emphasise with the different stakeholders for the solution, getting in touch with employees and learn more about the processes connected to the recycling center. During the ideation phase, brainstorming has been used to create ideas focusing on smaller parts of a solution. The generated ideas have been combined to create final ideas which were prototyped in a digital environment and the first two were also simulated in discrete-event simulation software. The result was more insights into the problem and an iteration to the define phase was conducted. The iterative nature of the Design Thinking process also meant that new needs were stated along the process and the research questions were redefined to the following:• How shall the predetermined units be stored to fit in the predetermined storage area?To solve this question, the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) was used to systematically explore solution strategies for the given problem and propose original ideas. The result is a final prototype in a digital environment showing how the structure of the units stored in the recycling center will look like. According to the model the warehouse will only consist of stackable units and the tent will consist of both stackable and non-stackable units. From the results, it is clear that an investment must be done to store the desired amount of units in the tent and in narrow aisle forklifts. The main future work will be to contact the forklift supplier used at Tarkett Ronneby, STILL, and order GX-X/GX-Q-forklifts, lay a concrete slab, and to update the placing software to cope with the changes and to maintain a high placing accuracy of the units.
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Spindler, Jason A. "Lean Initiative in the Program Office (LIPO): Applying Lean Thinking to the Livelink Database System." Digital Commons at Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School, 2009. https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/etd/440.
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Lean Thinking is a method of work organization that promotes the creation of value and elimination of waste. United States Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition organizations currently struggle with many non-Lean processes that inhibit cost-effective, on-time completion of projects. The author hypothesized that by applying Lean Thinking to Satellite Control and Network Systems Group (SCNG) processes, a dedicated project team would enhance unit productivity and reduce costs related to the Livelink file sharing database system. To do this, SCNG members formed a Lean project team, pursued Lean Thinking training, and applied Lean to Livelink processes. This resulted in improvements of 100% - 500% for file manipulation and data sharing processes, which saved the Government up to $8,960 per week. The project also demonstrated that Lean Thinking can successfully be applied to the acquisition program office environment.
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Fradinho, Jorge Miguel dos Santos. "Towards high performing hospital enterprise architectures : elevating hospitals to lean enterprise thinking." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/67757.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 608-630).
This research is motivated by the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine's joint call for research in healthcare, promoting the application of principles, tools, and research from engineering disciplines, and complex systems in particular. In 2005, the US healthcare expenditure represented 16% of its GDP, with hospitals representing the largest source of expenditure, as is the case in the United Kingdom. Consequently, the strategies and operations developed and implemented by hospitals have a significant impact on healthcare. Today, it would be hard to find a hospital that is not implementing a Lean initiative or who isn't familiar with its concepts. However, more often than not, their approach has narrowly focused at a process level and inside individual service units like an emergency department. This research seeks to elevate traditionally narrow hospital definitions of lean and explore the broader concepts of lean enterprise principles and Enterprise Architecture (EA) while enhancing our knowledge of hospitals' socio-technical complexity and enriching an emerging EA Framework (EAF) developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Following an extensive longitudinal multidisciplinary literature review, a number of expert interviews, and preliminary empirical findings, an exploratory inductive and deductive hybrid study was designed to collect and concurrently analyze both qualitative and quantitative empirical data from multiple hospital settings over two main phases: * The first phase consisted of recorded interviews with the Chief Executive Officers of seven leading Massachusetts hospitals, who also provided sensitive internal strategy and operations documents. We explored how hospitals currently measure their hospital performance and how their explicit and implicit practices may be improved using lean enterprise principles. e The second phase comprised two in-depth case studies of large leading multidisciplinary hospitals, one located in the US and other in the United Kingdom, and included a total of 13 embedded units of analysis. Multiple sources of evidence were collected including electronic medical records, 54 interviews, observation, and internal documents. Findings were categorized and sorted, as phenomena of interest consistently emerged from the data, and enriched both the EAF, and our understanding of hospitals' EA in particular. In both in-depth hospital cases we found that their EA consisted of multiple internal architectural configurations, and in particular, those with an enriched understanding of EA had made decisions which had improved not only their local performance, but also enhanced their interactions with other service units upstream and downstream. Conversely, worse performing configurations demonstrated a limited understanding of their hospital's EA. We conclude that hospital performance can be improved through an enriched understanding of hospital EA. Furthermore, whilst considering all hospitals included in this study, we propose general and specific recommendations, as well as diagnostic questions, performance dimensions, and metrics, to assist senior hospital leaders in architecting and managing their enterprise.
by Jorge Miguel dos Santos Fradinho.
Ph.D.
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Felix, Allison. "Design Based Science and Higher Order Thinking." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/71746.
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Technological/engineering design based learning (T/E DBL) provides a context in which students may utilize content knowledge and skills to develop prototype solutions to real-world problems. In science education, design based science (DBS) utilizes technological/engineering design based approaches in science education as a means for enhancing the purpose of and relevance for scientific inquiry by contextualizing it within the goal of developing a solution to a real-world problem. This study addressed the need to investigate the ways in which students utilize higher order thinking skills, demonstrated through the use of knowledge associated with declarative, schematic, and strategic cognitive demand when in engaged in DBS activities.
The purpose of this study was to determine what relationships exist between engagement in DBS and changes in students' depth of understanding of the science concepts associated with the development of design solutions. Specifically, the study determined how students' abilities to demonstrate an understanding of the science concepts, required by assessments of different cognitive demand, change as they were engaged in a design-based science unit associated with heat transfer. Utilizing two assessment instruments, a pre/post-1/post-2 test and content analysis of student design portfolios based on Wells (2012) and utilizing Li's (2001) system to code student responses, the following research question was addressed: What changes in students' science concept knowledge (declarative, schematic, and strategic demand) are evidenced following engagement in design based learning activities?
Although the results are not generalizable to other populations due to the limitations associated with the study, it can be concluded that design based learning activities incorporated in science courses can foster higher order thinking. Results from the study suggests that students' abilities to demonstrate their understanding of certain science concepts through higher order thinking, including utilizing concept knowledge strategically in open-ended problem solving, increased following engagement in design based learn activities. Results have implications in technological/engineering design education, in science education, and in integrative STEM education. Implications include the utility of design portfolios as both an assessment instrument and learning tool to ensure that concept knowledge is explicitly connected to and used in the design activity.Ed. D.
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Odhner, Lael Ulam 1980. "Functional thinking in cost estimation through the tools and concepts of axiomatic design." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/32772.
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Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2004.Includes bibliographical references (leaf 27).
There has been an increasing demand for cost estimation tools which aid in the reduction of system cost or the active consideration of cost as a design constraint. The existing tools are currently incapable of anticipating the unseen or latent effects of design changes made in an effort to cut cost. This paper presents an example of how the tools and concepts of axiomatic design theory can be integrated with the parametric cost estimation process, and then presents a series of arguments for why tools such as these which examine the functional architecture of a system are useful for optimizing cost at the preliminary design level.
by Lael Ulam Odhner.
S.B.
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Ure, Heather. "The Effect of the Engineering Design Process on the Critical Thinking Skills of High School Students." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2012. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/3089.
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The purpose of the research reported here was to determine the impact learning the engineering design process (EDP) would have on the critical thinking skills of high school physics students. An EDP unit was conducted with 5 classes of high school physics students in grades 10-12 over 1 month. The EDP unit's curriculum allowed for the gradual release of responsibility as students became more familiar with the EDP and more consistent in using it. The six steps used in this EDP unit were Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create, Test, and Improve. The Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal was given as a pre- and post-test to measure the growth in critical thinking skills. By measured standards, qualitative analysis and observation, students showed an increase in critical thinking skills and in confidence to use them.
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Lammi, Matthew D. "Characterizing High School Students' Systems Thinking in Engineering Design Through the Function-Behavior-Structure (FBS) Framework." DigitalCommons@USU, 2011. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/849.
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The aim of this research study was to examine high school students' systems thinking when engaged in an engineering design challenge. This study included 12 high school students that were paired into teams of two to work through an engineering design challenge. These dyads were given one hour in their classrooms with access to a computer and engineering sketching paper to complete the design. Immediately following the design challenge, the students participated in a post hoc reflective group interview.
The methodology of this study was informed by and derived from cognitive science's verbal protocol analysis. Multiple forms of data were gathered and triangulated for analysis. These forms included audio and video recordings of the design challenge and the interview, computer tracking, and student-generated sketches. The data were coded using Gero's FBS framework. These coded data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The transitions were further analyzed using measures of centrality. Additionally, qualitative analysis techniques were used to understand and interpret systems and engineering design themes and findings.
Through the qualitative and quantitative analyses, it was shown that the students demonstrated thinking in terms of systems. The results imply that systems thinking can be part of a high school engineering curriculum. The students considered and explored multiple interconnected variables, both technical as well as nontechnical in nature. The students showed further systems thinking by optimizing their design through balancing trade-offs of nonlinear interconnected variables. Sketching played an integral part in the students' design process, as it was used to generate, develop, and communicate their designs. Although many of the students recognized their own lack of drawing abilities, they understood the role sketching played in engineering design. Therefore, graphical visualization through sketching is a skill that educators may want to include in their curricula. The qualitative analysis also shed light on analogical reasoning. The students drew from their personal experience in lieu of professional expertise to better understand and expand their designs. Hence, the implication for educators is to aid the students in using their knowledge, experience, and preexisting schemata to work through an engineering design.
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M'Bayia, Caliste Claude. "System thinking approach to economic growth and poverty reduction in Cote d'Ivoire." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/106233.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, System Design and Management Program, Engineering and Management Program, 2015.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 96-99).
The present thesis work aims to propose a pathway to a sustainable economic growth and a fast reduction of poverty in Cote d'Ivoire. Poverty is a major social phenomenon that affects more than 50% of the world's population. In Cote d'Ivoire, 49% of the population is living under the poverty line with less than $1.25 a day, and the country is struggling to lift them out of poverty. But poverty is a complex issue to tackle. One solution, which most experts now agree on, consists in enhancing prosperity through the implementation of economic growth policies. The question this research aims to address is to know what specific growth policies would best suit to the social, economical, cultural and environmental situation of Cote d'Ivoire. The main lesson is that Cote d'Ivoire should focus on the development of its agricultural sector and build an agriculture innovation system that will foster the transfer of knowledge and the adoption of new technologies especially in the country's rural areas. This thesis work is original in that it uses systems thinking approach and systems engineering concepts and tools, to address the issues of economic growth and poverty reduction. By doing so, it brings new insights that increase the chances of success of the National Development Plan of Cote d'Ivoire and therefore contributes to the materialization of the country's ambition to become an emerging nation by 2020.
by Caliste Claude M'Bayia.
S.M. in Engineering and Management
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Turakhia, Dishita Girish. "Thirteen ways of looking : a theoretical inquiry in computational creative thinking." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/113918.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, 2017.Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2017.
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 (pages 97-99).
The vision of this research is to propose a novel computational framework to study Creative Thinking. If we are to embed machines with creative thinking abilities, then we first need to study the evanescent nature of human creative thinking. Creative thinking is neither entirely random nor strictly logical, making it difficult to t its computation into structured logical models of thinking. Given this conundrum, how can we computationally study the process of thinking creatively? In this research, I first present the current scientific definitions of creative thinking. Through literary survey of cognitive, computational and design thinking frameworks, I identify the missing links between human creativity and AI models of creative thinking. I assert that creative thinking is result of two features of human intelligence, cognitive diversity and social interaction. Cognitive diversity or the ability to parse knowledge in dierent ways is a crucial aspect of creative thinking. Furthermore, social interaction between cognitively diverse individuals results in restructuring of thoughts leading to creativity and epiphanies (the aha moments). I posit that Shape Grammar, with its ability to fluidly restructure computation, can be used to study and demonstrate cognitive diversity and interaction. If we conceive thoughts as shapes and ideas as configurations of those shapes, then cognitive diversity can be described as rule-based computation on shapes to generate those configurations; and interaction as the exchange of rules between cognitive diverse entities (humans or machines). The contributions of this research are threefold. First, I present a literature review of current frameworks, and identify the two gaps between machine and human creativity. Secondly, I demonstrate how shape grammar can ll those gaps of cognitive diversity and interaction. Thirdly, I propose thought-shape framework that adapts principles of shape grammar for computational creative thinking.
by Dishita Girish Turakhia.
S.M.
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Thornton, Robert F. (Robert Francis). "A systems thinking approach to defining a space force architecture." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2019. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/121801.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, 2019Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 87-89).
The United States military services, government, and civilian population rely on the US military's historic technical dominance in outer space. Space-enabled capabilities have become fundamental across the spectrum of military and civilian activities. The space superiority gap that the US military has held for decades is narrowing as access to space technology, and to space itself, becomes more widespread, allowing more nations, private industry, and non-state actors to become significant players in space. In response to this trend, the US Department of Defense and Congress are seeking to establish the Space Force as an independent branch of the Armed Forces. This thesis applies a systems thinking method to designing the structure and function of the Space Force. Through review of open-source literature, the study summarizes the current state of the military space enterprise and assesses the arguments made by advocates of various approaches to organizing the space forces.
The US military possesses extensive space power, executing critical missions such as navigation, imagery, and communications. US government space functions also include space intelligence, managing space traffic, and regulating the space industry. The literature review enables understanding of the existing architecture, five proposed alternative architectures and the eight key decisions on which they are based, and eight utility and cost metrics for evaluating the options. Tradespace analysis reveals the relative value of the six architectures and how they compare to other possible configurations to inform the Space Force debate. This limited investigation expressly does not include classified information or insider perspectives, and therefore does not offer policy recommendations, but within its limitations and assumptions the tradespace analysis offers some useful conclusions.
First, creating the Space Force as a separate branch of the military is consistent with national security priorities and the current circumstances of the military and industry. Second, making the Space Force a whole-of-government organization yields the highest utility, though at the highest cost, amongst the six architectures under consideration. Third, military space capability commercialization can allow reduced cost and improved utility compared to the current architecture. Finally, consolidated space acquisitions only, without additional steps toward a separate Space Force, might not improve the military space enterprise compared to the existing baseline. Recommendations for future study include incorporating classified data and key stakeholder input into the framework, further decomposing the military space functions to elaborate the tradespace in greater detail and defining criteria for commercialization of space capabilities.
These additional steps will enable the research to reliably inform policy decisions.
by Robert F. Thornton.
S.M. in Engineering and Management
S.M.inEngineeringandManagement Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program
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Jeong, Hyunsoo. "Predictive analytics for smart manufacturing : use and impact from a systems thinking perspective." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/106252.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, System Design and Management Program, Engineering and Management Program, 2016.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 115-122).
The manufacturing industry has, recently, been facing tremendous challenges, including cost efficiency, system safety, and process automation, and manufacturing companies are required to adopt new technologies to keep themselves sustainable in the fast-changing world of technology. This research focuses, in particular, on how to prevent cutting tool failures and catastrophic accidents in Computerized Numerically Controlled (CNC) machining processes by using a predictive model based on the cutting sound data. With advances in machine learning algorithms and predictive analytics techniques, it becomes possible to create a noise-robust predictive model from an unstructured dataset of sound data. It is an obviously desirable decision to make use of every technology as required and benefit from it. The predictive model introduced in this research uses cutting sound data rather than acoustic emission or force/torque sensor data, which have been widely used for machine failure detection but have shown some limitations. The model is an important stepping stone for realizing an unmanned and fully automated manufacturing system, the so-called "smart factory," and it would be a meaningful movement for the government side as well, taking into account government's responsibility to keep people safe in the workplace. In this research, several experiments were carried out to collect sound data in the CNC machining center in Korea, and particular features were extracted from the analog waveform signals, using the unstructured data to make the predictive model using various advanced data analytics techniques and cutting-edge machine learning algorithms. Then, several analysis methods with systems thinking were used to explore potential impacts of the predictive model on the manufacturing system because the systems thinking approach is the most effective way to analyze a wide range of potential impacts from a holistic perspective. Specifically, the impact analysis was successfully conducted by using a "Causal Analysis based on STAMP (CAST)," which is a system safety analysis method. Also used was "system dynamics modeling," which is generally employed to identify dynamic behaviors in a complex system. Finally, a "complete value template" was constructed to portray how the new system delivers value to its stakeholders from a system architecture perspective.
by Hyunsoo Jeong.
S.M. in Engineering and Management
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Olschewsky, Scott (Scott Michael). "Enabling cultural shifts : an enterprise approach toward lean thinking." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/50097.
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Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2009.Includes bibliographical references (p. 65-67).
The Supply Planning Operations team, in a large manufacturing firm, faced a future where their complexity of scope was increasing without an increase in resource levels. As an effort to improve both efficiency and effectively within the organization, they chose to adopt Lean Thinking as a method to streamline and simplify activities, connections and flows. Lean Thinking, while often viewed as a set of tools (value stream mapping, andon cords, kanbans, and others), involves the harmony between principles, culture and the appropriate application of tools. SPO has taken an approach focused on culture and deep understanding of Lean Principles before deploying the tools of Lean. It was important to examine why artifacts succeeded or failed in influencing cultural change. One common theme for successful artifacts was their portability. With a geographically diverse team, it was important that any artifact could be transported electronically. Although not all the actions have been successful in influencing the organization's culture, many actions have had a profound impact. Seeing members of the organization write about their personal experiences is just one example of how Lean Thinking has been adopted. By committing to "Rules before Tools," the group embarked upon a journey to change culture. This thesis used an Enacted Systems Analysis to identify Artifacts, Habits of Thought and Habits of Action. Several organizational barriers emerged along with possible levers to promote change. Even though the revolution is only in its infancy, SPO appears to be on a sustainable path toward a Lean Thinking transformation.
by Scott Olschewsky.
S.M.
M.B.A.
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Schultz, Jessica. "The effects of integrating engineering strategies in the science classroom on critical thinking skills of my students." Montana State University, 2011. http://etd.lib.montana.edu/etd/2011/schultz/SchultzJ0811.pdf.
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In this investigation I wanted to find out if implementing engineering strategies in my classes I teach would improve critical thinking skills among my students. The grades of my students ranged from the 7th grade to the 12th grade. The results of this investigation were that there was an improvement in critical thinking skills and an improvement in student involvement with their learning process.
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Forsman, Jonas. "Exploring using complexity thinking to extend the modelling of student retention in higher education physics and engineering." Licentiate thesis, Uppsala universitet, Fysikundervisningens didaktik, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-162563.
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Al-Debei, Mutaz M. "The design and engineering of innovative mobile data services : an ontological framework founded on business model thinking." Thesis, Brunel University, 2010. http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/4397.
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This research investigates mobile service design and engineering in the mobile telecommunications industry. The mobile telecommunication business is shifting from one that was voice-centric to one that is almost all data-centric; thanks to recent rapid advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). The underlying reasons behind this shift can be traced back to two main issues that are interlinked. The first and major reason is that telecoms (telecommunication companies) are trying to generate new revenue streams based on data and information transmissions, given the saturation of the voice market. This is rational given the market opportunities in one direction and the pressures being generated by the current economic downturn from the other direction. The second reason relates to the flexibility of data, compared to voice. Indeed, the number of services that can be developed on the basis of data are much greater than those that can be developed on the basis of voice. However, the design and engineering of successful and innovative mobile data services has proven to be a complex undertaking. The number of effective mobile data services is relatively small and the revenue generated from such offerings has generally been below expectations. This research develops an ontological framework to help in changing this situation, and making mobile services engineering more effective and successful, following the design-science research paradigm. Design-science research, in general, aims to solve unstructured but relevant organizational or social problems through the development of novel and useful artefacts. As the current research aims to help in solving the mobile data services engineering dilemma by developing a purposeful ontological framework, the design-science research paradigm is deemed fitting. Within this paradigm, the author develops a novel design approach specified for ontology engineering, termed “OntoEng”. This design approach is used in this research for developing the ontological framework. The developed ontological framework is founded on business model thinking. The idea is that creating innovative mobile data services requires developing innovative business models. Indeed, innovative business models can help translate technological potential into economic value and allow telecoms to achieve their strategic objectives. The ontological framework includes the development of an ontology, termed “V4 Mobile Service BM Ontology” as well as “Mobile Key Value Drivers” for designing and engineering innovative mobile data services. The V4 Mobile Service BM Ontology incorporates four design dimensions: (1) value proposition including targeting; (2) value architecture including technological and organizational infrastructure; (3) value network dealing with aspects relating to partnerships and co-operations; and finally (4) value finance relating to costs, pricing, and revenue structures. Within these four dimensions, sixteen design concepts are identified along with their constituent elements. Relationships and interdependencies amongst the identified design constructs are established and clear semantics are produced. The research then derives six key value drivers for mobile service engineering as follows: (a) Market Alignment; (b) Cohesion; (c) Dynamicity; (d) Uniqueness; (e) Fitting Network-Mode; and (f) Explicitness. The developed ontological framework in this research is evaluated to ensure that it can be successfully implemented and performs correctly in the real world. The research mainly utilizes case analysis methods to ensure the semantic correctness of the ontological framework. Indeed, the developed ontological framework is employed as an analytical lens to examine the design and engineering of three key real-life cases in the mobile telecommunications industry. These cases are: (1) Apple’s iPhone Services and Applications; (2) NTT DoCoMo’s i-mode Services; and (3) Orange Business Services. For further validation, the developed ontological framework is evaluated against a set of criteria synthesized from ontology engineering and evaluation literature. These criteria are: Clarity; Coherence; Conciseness; Preciseness; Completeness; and Customizability. The developed ontological framework is argued to make significant contributions for theory, practice, and methodology. For theory, this research provides (1) a novel ontological framework for designing and engineering mobile data services; (2) a unified framework of the business model concept; and (3) a new design approach for ontology engineering in information systems. For practice, the current research provides practitioners in the telecommunications industry with systematic and customizable means to design, implement, analyze, evaluate, and change new and existing mobile data services to make them more manageable, effective, and creative. For methodology, the use of the design- science research paradigm for ontology engineering signifies the focal methodological contribution in this research given its novelty. This research also contributes to the understanding of the design-science research paradigm in information systems as it is relatively new. It provides a working example in which the author illustrates how recognizing design-science research as a paradigm is essential and useful to the research in information systems discipline.
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Edgington, Dave. "A Look into Student Critical Thinking Skills in the Southern Illinois University Electrical Engineering Technology Bachelor’s Program." OpenSIUC, 2019. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/dissertations/1750.
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AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OFDave Edgington, for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Curriculum and Instruction, presented on October, 2019, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.TITLE: A LOOK INTO STUDENT CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS IN THE SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY BACHLOR’S PROGRAM.MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. John McIntyre This research study used a mixed methods approach to determine whether students in the Electrical Engineering Technology (EET) Bachelor’s Program were being exposed to critical thinking and if their critical thinking skills were increasing. For the quantitative portion, students were given a pre and post-test using the Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Assessment. The qualitative portion of this study involved classroom observations and interviews. The study consisted of nine students in their senior year while attending three classes. Each of the classes was observed to help understand how three separate instructors were incorporating critical thinking into the classrooms. The quantitative findings did not show significant gains in critical thinking as a whole. The small sample group could be a factor for not finding significant gains. Observations of the classes showed that two of the three classes were being taught with rote memorization. The third class attempted to incorporate Problem Based Learning (PBL) techniques. Through student interviews I noticed that the students seemed to prefer the rote memorization classes. This could stem from their lack of PBL learning in the past. The findings of this study show that current EET students are not being given the chance to increase their critical thinking skills.
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Francart, Nicolas. "Buildings in municipal climate change mitigation strategies : towards life cycle thinking." Licentiate thesis, KTH, Hållbar utveckling, miljövetenskap och teknik, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-244063.
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Fulfilling climate targets requires ambitious changes. The building sector is a large contributor to emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), but also offers opportunities for climate change impact reductions. This thesis aims at supporting strategic decisions to reach climate change mitigation targets in the building sector, based on knowledge about what factors contribute significantly to climate impact from buildings in a life cycle perspective and how practitioners can influence these factors. More specifically, a first point of investigation concerns what aspects play a key importance in buildings’ climate impact, and what climate change mitigation strategies for the building sector should focus on. A quantitative analysis of backcasting scenarios for 2050 was performed using a spreadsheet model to estimate GHG emissions for the building sector. The parameters were adjusted to ensure that a GHG emission quota was reached in every scenario. This provided an illustration of four very different ways the building sector could contribute to the fulfillment of a global climate change mitigation target. The results were used to discuss what aspects of buildings were particularly important for target fulfillment. These aspects include a low-carbon energy mix, a reduction of GHG emissions from construction materials and an optimized use of space. A second point of investigation concerns how municipalities can influence practices through the use of environmental requirements in construction, in particular requirements based on a life cycle approach. A survey of Swedish municipalities was used to assess their current practices and knowledge level regarding mitigating climate change impact from construction, as well as the influence of a municipality’s size on these practices. It was followed up by semi-structured interviews investigating barriers to the use of environmental requirements in construction. Barriers were identified regarding in-house skills, access to data, resources, ambiguities regarding the law and guidance from national authorities. A stepwise strategy was suggested to overcome these barriers and successfully implement environmental requirements. Therefore, the thesis as a whole provides insight on how municipalities could use environmental requirements in construction to influence current practices in the building sector, so that the changes needed to fulfill the 1.5℃ target are implemented.QC 20190218
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Taylor, William D. "A Comparative Analysis of Problem Solving Approaches Between Designers and Engineers." The Ohio State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1409048770.
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Smith, Cal Alden. "System thinking for success : adding structure to an unstructured process approach." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/118516.
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Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, 2018.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 139-141).
When many companies are presented with the knowledge of new tools and techniques for System Architecture, Systems Engineering and Project Management as part of a System Thinking approach, they initially show great interest and a desire to institute change to their current culture. Yet, when presented with an opportunity to apply these new tools and techniques in the next project, they perhaps become reluctant to institute the change because of a perceived risks in integrating unfamiliar methods. This reluctance may be a bias based primarily on their own perception of past success using the company's internally developed processes and practices, and a belief that change may negatively affect results. But are these modern System Thinking techniques really new to them? Is it possible that these companies have naturally evolved toward practicing the newer System Thinking techniques without realizing it, driven by the accumulation of practical knowledge and lessons learned, but performed in an unstructured manner. This paper's research has found in looking at a well-established company with a track record of successful projects, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), that there are indications that they have become significantly align to the current System Thinking approaches. The success of LLNL's current processes and practices relies heavily on the experience and the expertise of individuals who can process many of the projects architectural assessments, trades, plans and analytics within their cognitive abilities and derived practices. This paper, however, finds that this reliance on Experts may not be the primary force behind their success and the natural progression to Systems Thinking. The success and progression in System Thinking seems to be stimulated by the project team mix of Experts and Non-Experts, and by empowering the Non-Experts with the ability to question and request clarification of rationale concerning the Expert opinions. Non- Experts appear to play a critical role in project team success in System Thinking, especially in an Expert dominate Ecosystems such as those at LLNL. The risk in the LLNL project ecosystems is that this progression to System Thinking has occurred with little structural change in terms of documentation, analytics and metrics. This structural weakness appears to be actively mitigated through management oversight, which carries its own level of risk, often generating a single point of failure opportunity in the project system. There is evidence that an integrated and distributed approach to the System Thinking activities would best support LLNL projects. With staffing turnover, retirements and natural attrition, the company's current unstructured processes and practices are challenged, often requiring retirees to return as consultants or additional resources to be added to force the current unstructured practices to succeed. This paper's research provides information to help in (1) evaluating current project approach for evidence of Systems Thinking and (2) determining the effect of the addition of System Thinking structure and methods to reduce future project risk.
by Cal Alden Smith.
S.M. in Engineering and Management
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Brow, Raymond A. "A systems thinking approach to cloud computing that complements the NIST guidance." Thesis, Capitol College, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3585011.
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The move to cloud computing as mandated by the US federal CIO (Kundra, 2010) is one of the key initiatives expected to provide relief from US federal IT budget concerns. NIST was commissioned to provide guidance for the move. Federal agencies expressed concern that the guidance provided to them was deficient and GAO (2012) further stated that more planning was required. There is no research investigating the possible role systems thinking could play for complementing the NIST guidance and enhancing the planning. This study presents systems thinking as a complementary option to the NIST guidance. Using a mixed method, this study demonstrates first, quantitatively through content analysis that the NIST documentation does not take a systems thinking approach. Then secondly, this study qualitatively explores a systems thinking framework to supplement the NIST guidance. The framework is established based upon a thorough review of current scholarship in the areas of systems thinking and cloud computing using the established tools and methods of content analysis. The review of cloud computing demonstrates the diversity, complexity, and uncertainty of the technology. Systems thinking is shown to address just such situations. Based upon the research, a systems thinking framework is created that demonstrates how systems thinking could supplement the NIST guidance on moving to the cloud. Through the application of the framework US federal agencies could more confidently manage the risk of moving US federal assets to the cloud and thereby gain a firmer foothold in arresting the IT budget concerns.
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Ghaly, Marcus. "Thoughtmarks: Re-thinking Bookmarks & the Personal Information Space." Thesis, Malmö högskola, Fakulteten för kultur och samhälle (KS), 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-22962.
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Bookmarking is one of the main methods by which users store the online information they find valuable. However, bookmarks in their current incarnation suffer from a number of drawbacks which do not support users in their daily routines. Bookmarks are very easy to make, but over time this causes bookmark collections to grow, requiring systems of organization to keep track of everything. Eventually though these systems of organization require organizing themselves. And as time passes the titles of both bookmarks and folders begin to loose their meaning and users find it harder and harder to determine a bookmark’s value or a folder’s contents based on title alone. This leads to the bookmarks themselves becoming stale and unused, making collections that much harder to search through when trying to re-find one’s found, online information.This thesis proposes to re-imagine bookmarks as visualized information that is easily recognizable, and can help users to predict the information a bookmark links to. In this way it is hoped that bookmarks can become a more meaningful link between users and their found, online information. Furthermore, automated tagging is proposed to assist users when searching for their content, as well as chronological sorting to help users visually scan through their collections and re-find their bookmarks. Finally, non- hierarchical, folder-less bookmarking was also proposed, though in the end this did not map to users’ habits. That being said, visualizing bookmarks would appear to be worth pursuing as it resonated with users, and could be one direction to follow in assisting users with their information collections.
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Salim, Hamid M. "Cyber safety : a systems thinking and systems theory approach to managing cyber security risks." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/90804.
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Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, System Design and Management Program, 2014.Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2014.
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Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 148-156).
If we are to manage cyber security risks more effectively in today's complex and dynamic Web 2.0 environment, then a new way of thinking is needed to complement traditional approaches. According to Symantec's 2014 Internet Security Threat Report, in 2012 more than ten million identities that included real names, dates of birth, and social security were exposed by a single breach. In 2013 there were eight breaches that each exposed over ten million identities. These breaches were recorded despite the fact that significant resources are expended, on managing cyber security risks each year by businesses and governments. The objective of this thesis was twofold. The first objective was to understand why traditional approaches for managing cyber security risks were not yielding desired results. Second, propose a new method for managing cyber security risks more effectively. The thesis investigated widely used approaches and standards, and puts forward a method based on the premise that traditional technology centric approaches have become ineffective on their own. This lack of efficacy can be attributed primarily to the fact that, Web 2.0 is a dynamic and a complex socio-technical system that is continuously evolving. This thesis proposes a new method for managing cyber security risks based on a model for accident or incident analysis, used in Systems Safety field. The model is called System-Theoretic Accident Model and Processes (STAMP). It is rooted in Systems Thinking and Systems Theory. Based on a case study specifically written for this thesis, the largest cyber-attack reported in 2007 on a major US based retailer, is analyzed using the STAMP model. The STAMP based analysis revealed insights both at systemic and detailed level, which otherwise would not be available, if traditional approaches were used for analysis. Further, STAMP generated specific recommendations for managing cyber security risks more effectively.
by Hamid M. Salim.
S.M. in Engineering and Management
S.M.
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Reyes, Eumir P. (Eumir Paulo Reyes Morales). "A systems thinking approach to business intelligence solutions based on cloud computing." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/59267.
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Thesis (S.M. in System Design and Management)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-74).
Business intelligence is the set of tools, processes, practices and people that are used to take advantage of information to support decision making in the organizations. Cloud computing is a new paradigm for offering computing resources that work on demand, are scalable and are charged by the time they are used. Organizations can save large amounts of money and effort using this approach. This document identifies the main challenges companies encounter while working on business intelligence applications in the cloud, such as security, availability, performance, integration, regulatory issues, and constraints on network bandwidth. All these challenges are addressed with a systems thinking approach, and several solutions are offered that can be applied according to the organization's needs. An evaluations of the main vendors of cloud computing technology is presented, so that business intelligence developers identify the available tools and companies they can depend on to migrate or build applications in the cloud. It is demonstrated how business intelligence applications can increase their availability with a cloud computing approach, by decreasing the mean time to recovery (handled by the cloud service provider) and increasing the mean time to failure (achieved by the introduction of more redundancy on the hardware). Innovative mechanisms are discussed in order to improve cloud applications, such as private, public and hybrid clouds, column-oriented databases, in-memory databases and the Data Warehouse 2.0 architecture. Finally, it is shown how the project management for a business intelligence application can be facilitated with a cloud computing approach. Design structure matrices are dramatically simplified by avoiding unnecessary iterations while sizing, validating, and testing hardware and software resources.
by Eumir P. Reyes.
S.M.in System Design and Management