by Shung Yar Lim., Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2003., Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-126).

If we are to understand human-level intelligence, we need to understand how meanings can be learned without explicit instruction. I take a step toward that understanding by focusing on the symbol-grounding problem, showing how symbols can emerge from a system…

This thesis analyzes how the Auto-ID technology and information infrastructure will change the management and distribution of pharmaceutical products within the health care industry by enabling item level product traceability functionality. The complexity of the health care industry is steadily…

Communication is an integral part of today's workplace, linking people, objects, and information. Now that knowledge exchange is considered a significant work activity, new technologies have been developed to support communication with people who are On the move. As a…

One important purpose for creating clinical practice guidelines is to improve quality of care by reducing variations in practice. In the current healthcare environment, guidelines are being advocated as a means to disseminate research findings, standardize care, improve quality of…

(cont.) in the ECS signal, no definitive method for sensing blade vibration using an ECS has yet been developed., High cycle fatigue (HCF) cracks generated by compressor blade vibrations are a common source of failure in gas turbine engines. Current…

The decline in Pharmaceutical R&D productivity has been attributed to high clinical failure rates suggesting that targets, leads and clinical candidates may be of lower quality in recent years. Senior R&D management generally believes that a greater integration of drug…

SweetDeal is a rule-based approach to representation of business contracts that enables software agents to create, evaluate, negotiate, and execute contracts with substantial automation and modularity. It builds upon the situated courteous logic programs knowledge representation in RuleML, the emerging…

(cont.) which is expected, given their additional knowledge resources. The respondents' urgency in looking for the relevant knowledge is the primary explanation for this difference between the two networks. This difference in knowledge networking among the different groups did not…

The first two chapters of this thesis investigate a possibly fundamental aspect of technological progress. If knowledge accumulates as technology progresses, then successive generations of innovators may face an increasing educational burden, forcing them to spend longer periods in education…