Exogenous Supply Chain Shocks and Onshoring: An Analysis of theTrump Trade War and the U.S.-China Bilateral Trade Relationship

This paper examines the effects of the supply chain crisis on the U.S.-China bilateral trade relationship and on the health of the U.S. manufacturing sector. The policy goals and decision making of both the Trump administration and the Chinese Communist Party are examined, it is determined, within the context of the U.S.-China Trade War, that the Chinese Communist Party made more effective long-term policy decisions than the Trump Administration. However, despite the U.S’s policy failures, this paper finds that U.S. manufacturing competitiveness, relative to China, has actually increased in recent years. This relative increase in manufacturing competitiveness is driving the reorientation of global supply chains away from China and through other low manufacturing cost countries, as well as pushing firms to onshore manufacturing to the U.S. The author creates an economic model of a typical supply chain crisis and uses the windfall profits of publicly traded global shipping companies in order to demonstrate that the world has been experiencing a supply chain crisis since 2021. The author also uses econometric regression analysis in order to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the U.S. manufacturing sector, identifying the rising price of semiconductors as a constraining force on the economy and the growing number of job openings in the manufacturing sector as an indicator of a strong U.S. manufacturing sector recovery. Additionally, the author examines the effects of economic competition and trade tensions on the U.S.-China great power relationship, and concludes that a decoupling of the U.S. and Chinese economies decreases the costs of future conflicts and increases the risks of economic warfare escalating into conventional warfare

Application of the Design Structure Matrix (DSM) to the real estate development process

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Real Estate Development in Conjunction with the Center for Real Estate, 2009.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Cataloged from student submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 93-95).This thesis presents a pioneering application of an engineering systems framework, the Design Structure Matrix (DSM), to model the real estate development (RED) process. The DSM is a process modeling tool that originated recently in the branches of engineering systems and management science, and is primarily used to study product development processes. The DSM is an n-squared graphical matrix representation of a process that is particularly well suited to model both the sequential and iterative informational relationships between tasks in a product development process. The similarities between product development and the real estate development process make DSM an excellent fit for applying the DSM. The thesis first reviews existing models of the RED process but finds them lacking a combination of granularity and ability to model the highly iterative nature of the RED process. This limits their effectiveness for conveying information useful to practitioners. No previous RED model describes the process at a task level or has the ability to model iterative or sequential information flows between tasks. The DSM developed in this thesis first presents a normative or baseline model of a RED project. The model was developed through the participation and assistance of MIT/CRE industry partner, Jones Lang LaSalle (Boston Office). Through a series of interviews and meetings, the authors first developed a Six Stage Event Sequence model of RED with decision-gates found to occur during the process. The six stages were then expanded with JLL's assistance into a table of 91 individual tasks necessary for successful completion of a RED project.(cont.) Finally, again with JLL's engagement, the 91X91 'Baseline' RED process DSM was constructed, identifying 1,148 planned informational inter-task interactions (out of 8,281 potential interactions). The 'Baseline' DSM model was then manipulated to highlight important aspects of the RED process including the iterative and interdisciplinary nature of RED. Several typical development scenarios are then modeled to highlight the utility of DSM as a management tool in practice. The models show how unplanned iteration can become a significant cause of project risk and failure. They also highlight the risks and opportunities that task re-sequencing can have on a project. This thesis demonstrates the DSM to be a useful and effective model of the RED process enabling new insight and understanding. The highly complex and iterative RED process can be graphically modeled in great detail in a visually appealing manner. Additionally, the RED DSM proves to be an adaptive and manipulative tool that allows for a multi-layer grasping of the RED process, able to assist in project management, change management, identification of risks and opportunities, and firm-level organizational structure and procedures. Additionally, the RED DSM model proves to be a useful pedagogical device for teaching real estate students.by Benjamin Bulloch and John Sullivan.S.M

CADASIL with Cysteine-Sparing Notch-3 Mutation

Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is an inherited vascular dementia1,2. The mutations implicated in CADASIL are located on Chromosome 19 within the NOTCH3 gene, which encodes a transmembrane receptor that is primarily expressed in vascular smooth muscle cells. Over one hundred distinct mutations have been described which alter the number of cysteine residues in the extracellular region and result in a CADASIL phenotype. Cysteine-sparing mutations with CADASIL phenotype have been reported four times. Two German kindreds were recently described with a CADASIL-like phenotype associated with a cysteine-sparing NOTCH3 mutation. We present another such case in a third family, with the same point mutation described in the German families. The patient is a 55-year-old Caucasian woman with five years of progressive cognitive impairment, chronic headaches, and gait instability. Prior to presenting at our clinic, she had been diagnosed with Alzheimer disease. Her neuropsychological testing (Table One) and MRI studies (Figure One), however, were more consistent with a subcortical vascular dementia. Her genetic CADASIL screen was “negative” although a missense mutation in NOTCH3 was identified. At the time of that test, no cysteine-sparing mutations causing CADASIL had been reported. Workup of other family members is ongoing. Elucidation of this case will provide corroboration of a cysteine-sparing CADASIL mutation, and will inform the discussion of whether this represents a distinct entity or a CADASIL subtype. With the field of neurogenetics rapidly evolving, interpretation of standard genetic tests may need to include literature review to ascertain the correct diagnosis

Incorporating religious practice in marital interventions: To pray or not to pray?

Although couples seeking guidance frequently seek out a religious or spiritual counselor, empirically-based marital interventions seldom acknowledge religious and spiritual beliefs. Beach et al. have proposed that, at least for some couples, religious practice is an appropriate element of marital therapy and a potential agent for strengthening and improving marriages. In this commentary, we welcome the development of marital interventions that are sensitive to the beliefs and values of specific populations. At the same time, the suggestion that therapists intervene directly and participate in religious practices with their clients raises serious questions. Given religious doctrines that may not promote healthy relationships, how are therapists to decide which religious teachings to include and which to ignore? How much should therapists adopt the role of religious ministers? For which couples is prayer an appropriate means of marital intervention? How can a behavior as entrenched as prayer be altered? Addressing these questions is crucial for advancing marital interventions that recognize the centrality of religious practice in the lives of many couples

Senior Recital:Benjamin Sullivan, Bass Gloria Cardoni, Piano

Kemp Recital Hall Saturday Evening December 4, 1999 6:30 PM

Using KBase to Assemble and Annotate Prokaryotic Genomes

The DOE Systems Biology Knowledgebase (KBase, http://kbase.us/) is an open-access bioinformatics software and data platform for analyzing plants, microbes, and their communities. KBase enables scientists to create, execute, collaborate on, and share reproducible analyses of their biological data in the context of public data and private collaborator data. For microbiologists researching prokaryotes, KBase offers analysis tools for performing quality control and assessment of Next-Generation Sequencing reads, de novo assembly, genome annotation, and tools for analyzing structural and functional features of genomes. This unit demonstrates an example workflow for taking a comparative and iterative approach to assembly and annotation of prokaryotic genomes using KBase that can be used by microbiologists seeking to perform isolate analysis in a rapid and reproducible fashion. © 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc

Relative effects of different non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants on global thrombotic status in atrial fibrillation

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis GroupNon-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) reduce the risk of thromboembolism in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). There has been no head-to-head comparison of the effect of these agents on ex vivo thrombotic and thrombolytic status. Enhanced platelet reactivity and impaired endogenous thrombolysis are risk factors for recurrent thrombotic events. We aimed to assess the comparative effect of NOACs and warfarin using an ex vivo test of thrombosis and thrombolysis. Eighty patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular AF were tested before, and after being established on apixaban (n = 20), dabigatran (n = 20), rivaroxaban (n = 20), or warfarin (n = 20). Thrombotic status was assessed with the automated, point-of-care Global Thrombosis Test (GTT) that assesses both platelet reactivity and endogenous thrombolysis from native blood. The time taken to form an occlusive thrombus (occlusion time, OT) and the time required to restore flow through endogenous thrombolysis (lysis time, LT) were measured. All anticoagulants caused OT prolongation compared to baseline (apixaban 403 ± 102s vs. 496 ± 125s, p = 0.006; dabigatran 471 ± 106s vs. 656 ± 165s, p < 0.00001; rivaroxaban 381 ± 119s vs. 579 ± 158, p < 0.00001; warfarin 420 ± 145s vs. 604 ± 124s, p < 0.00001). Apixaban reduced LT from baseline (1895[1702-2167]s vs. 1435[347-1990]s; p = 0.006). A trend for LT reduction was seen with other NOACs (dabigatran 1594[1226-2069]s vs. 1539[561-2316]s, p = 0.499; rivaroxaban 2085[1366-2428]s vs. 1885[724-2420]s, p = 0.295) but not with warfarin (1490[1206-1960]s vs. 1776[1545-2334], p = 0.601). Our results suggest that NOACs and warfarin have a similar favorable effect on reducing platelet reactivity. All NOACs exhibited a trend toward enhancing endogenous thrombolytic status, although this was significant only for apixaban. This raises the possibility of using NOACs to enhance impaired endogenous fibrinolysis in patients at high-thrombotic risk.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio