by Lori Faith Lamel., Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1988., Bibliography: leaves 140-150.

by Gregory K. Clancey., Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Science, Technology and Society, 1999., Includes bibliographical references.

Chapter one is titled "Social Capital and Group Banking." Lending to the poor is costly due to high screening, monitoring, and enforcement costs. Group lending advocates believe individuals are able to select creditworthy peers, monitor the use of loan proceeds,…

(cont.) outlined. 2. Demonstration that computer systems can use the discovered relations among data items to help users search for relevant information, prioritize the data exchange between collaborating users, and visualize data in various ways. This investigation looks at how…

Conversational interfaces have received much attention as a promising natural communication channel between humans and computers. A typical conversational interface consists of three major systems: speech understanding, dialog management and spoken language generation. In such a conversational interface, speech recognition…

(cont.) with recombinant material. The in vitro system established in this study will facilitate the investigation of platinum-DNA damage by DNA repair processes and help elucidate the role of specific post-translational modification in NER of platinum-DNA adducts at the physiologically…

In the traditional small community, people learned how to maintain their own homes by watching activities in which the elements of their physical environment were made. This work was done out in the open, where everyone could see it as…

This thesis focuses on the search for a more equitable urban environment. In Western Europe, the hope that cities are relevant forms of living and interacting, still exists. In Brussels, in the last fifteen years, the inhabitants formed a unique…

Current methods for bipedal walking control include playback of recorded joint motion and the derivation of dynamic equations to map desired forces at the body to the required torques at the joints. Both methods require a significant amount of up-front…

This thesis investigates what knowledge is necessary to solve mechanics problems. A program NEWTON is described which understands and solves problems in mechanics mini-world of objects moving on surfaces. Facts and equations such as those given in mechanics text need…