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Love, lust, and power are themes that fill the pages of literature, are enacted upon the silver screen, and presented on stage. Such themes evoke courtship and the places where courtship occurs, such as the garden, balcony, and tower. Each of these settings has unique spatial dynamics, as well as distinctive representational and symbolic significance. A woman, while present in such places, uses both physical and metaphorical spatial dynamics to create a source of power and control over a man who courts her. By regulating the amount of space between them, she rules her body; in ruling her body, she determines her own fate. As the amount of vertical space between a woman and her suitor increases, so too does her control over her own body and destiny. When the authors presented in this study create a space in which a woman can make her own choices, such creators transgress societal norms, but, in order to escape censorship, they must provide a punishment for such a womans behavior, and that punitive measure often involves either actual or metaphorical death. These authors are, in fact, writing subversive material without the appearance of doing so. By combining theoretical elements from sociology, psychoanalysis, and feminist studies, I analyze the ways in which women use spatial dynamics to transgress societal mores and carve out areas of power for themselves. Although such transgressive women are found in patriarchal societies all over the world, I chose works from Europe, America, and Latin America that were both representative of the motifs explored in this study and well-known within their respective national traditions. I begin each chapter with a parent text from which later works borrowed, and in order to demonstrate the prevalence of these places in texts, the works chosen derive from different genres written over the last five and a half centuries.

The Louisiana Folklife Commission is a 22-member body appointed by the Governor to address the special needs of Louisiana's traditional communities and advise the FolkLife Program. "The Louisiana Folklife Program, or LFP, has as its mission the identification, documentation, conservation, and presentation of the folk cultural resources of Louisiana. (Owens, 1) Folklife, which may also be characterized as contemporary grassroots cultures, includes living traditions learned informally over time within ethnic, regional, occupational, and family groups. The LFP initiates projects, collaborates with other organization provides technical assistance for planning and funding folkJife projects and manages the Division of the Arts Folklife grants with the goal of serving the greater folklife community of Louisiana. To this end the LFP oversees the Louisiana regional Folklife Program, which essentially allows in-depth documentation of Louisiana folklife by providing professional folklorists in each designated region.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 114-116). / This thesis explores nested and parallel real options and applies the suggested methodology to the Case of Ford Motor Company's investment in Ballard/Daimler Chrysler's joint venture. After reviewing the different existing methods that could be applied to the evaluation of Ford's investment, an analysis of the previous major applications of the "Real Option Thinking" to real projects was included. A two dimensional approach in the evaluation of a project with uncertainty was introduced, followed by a suggested methodology. Two approaches were considered in the Ford Case: -- The first divides the investment into two parts one associated with Ford Holdings in Ballard Power Systems (Ford holds 15% of Ballard shares) and the other relative to the investment in the research and development of fuel cells for automotive applications. -- The second adopts a more global view and looks at the investment as buying a portfolio of options. Each option is relative to a specific application of the technology. The suggested methodology was applied to the Ford Case using the first approach only. In fact, with the right set of inputs, both methods should yield comparable results. In the last part of the Thesis, a policy analysis that explores other dimensions that could have influenced Ford's decision was included. This analysis went through isolating the problem, identifying all the available options, analyzing external and internal factors and designing a strategy that would have helped implement the best available option. / by Skander K. Oueslati. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

Thesis (S.M. in Science Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 22-23). / Neutrinos are ubiquitous particles, but they don't like to mingle. Each second, billions of them pass through our bodies, slicing imperceptibly through our delicate internal organs. They can barrel through the sun, stars, and planets without a single interaction. Only one in every ten billion of the invisible, chargeless, nearly massless particles will interact through a weak force with another atom, leaving an observable trace of its existence. But in a small town in western South Dakota called Lead (rhymes with 'need'), a 125-year history of mining ore and gold out of the ground may be replaced by these impalpable particles. Lead was the birthplace of neutrino science when chemist Ray Davis began his work on solar neutrinos over thirty years ago. He installed a tank filled with 100,000 gallons of dry cleaning fluid a mile underground in Lead's Homestake mine and began counting neutrino interactions. Eventually, he earned the Nobel Prize for his work; his surprising results changed the world of particle physics. Now that the Homestake mine is closed, scientists, politicians and local citizens have converged on this small town with the hopes of turning it into a national underground laboratory that houses experiments ranging from astrophysics to deep subsurface geobiology. In the process, the state of South Dakota has introduced a unique funding scheme in which science is democratic. Politicians, scientists and regular folks play important roles in the neutrino populist movement, working together to preserve a scientific resource and life in a small town. / by Carolyn Y. Johnson. / S.M.in Science Writing

Thesis (S.M. in Science Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies, 2004. / Vita. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 40-43). / We have always been fascinated by borderline creatures. Chimeras, hybrids of multiple animals-and sometimes humans-appear repeatedly in mythology across cultures from ancient times to the present. Since the early 1980s, scientists have been creating cross-species chimeras, first combining mouse species that could not interbreed naturally, then moving on to create chimeras from even more distantly related animals such as sheep and goats. Scientists use chimeras to study fundamental processes of life such as pregnancy, fetal development, and the progress of disease. Chimeras allow scientists to perform experiments that would otherwise be impossible. Ancient chimera myths played on our anxieties about the boundary between man and animal. Interspecies chimeras strike the same chords of disgust and fear in some people as these ancient mythical chimeras did. This paper examines the science of chimeras and biological borderlines and the social implications of creatures that challenge accepted and comfortable ideas about the divisibility of the animal and human worlds. Can human-animal chimeras be made? Activists Stuart Newman and Jeremy Rifkin have filed a patent application for human-animal chimeras, such as the humanzee, to protest patents on all life forms. Newman and Rifkin believe chimeras are emblematic of abuses of biotechnology and are on a slippery slope to human cloning and elimination of the distinction between natural and manufactured things. They are not alone in believing scientists should be more concerned about the ethical implications of their work. However, a majority of scientists, bioethicists, and scholars find Newman and Rifkin's viewpoint extreme. The creation of chimeras between species-groups of animals that / (cont.) definition cannot interbreed-may seem to challenge the historically-shaky biological species concept. Goat and sheep cells can work together in a single healthy organism. Does this undermine the taxonomical boundaries between them? While existing in a confusing zone between species, chimeras do not challenge the biological species concept as directly as may seem. When these chimeras are viable, they demonstrate shared common ancestry through evolution. Because chimeras cannot breed and generate more chimeras, they do not challenge the species concept. / by Katherine Anne Bourzac. / S.M.in Science Writing

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2017 / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 41-45). / Video game players experience opposing motivations to cooperate and compete in multiplayer games. The most pervasive multiplayer games today-massively multiplayer role playing and team-based competitive games-rely on a common compromise: they stratify players by their skill and in-game resources. This design choice limits a player's most meaningful forms of cooperation: participating in novel tactics and strategies, writing her own story, and being part of another player's journey towards greatness in the game. This thesis presents "Minionate," a digital collectible card game that transforms one-versus-one competitive matchups into a multiplayer experience. It introduces new mechanics that enable meaningful and asynchronous interactions between players of different skills; a radical improvement on existing competitive games. Based on an analysis of cards using these mechanics, Minionate gives players new ways to interact in highly competitive games. / by Benjamin S. Berman. / S.M. / S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design & Management Program, February 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 107-110). / In the course of the last decade there has been a growing movement away from traditional product development and manufacturing associated with mass production to entirely new processes required to support Mass Customization. Mass customization is both a product development and manufacturing process that is being mandated by increasingly heterogeneous customer needs. It requires very flexible designs, and manufacturing and delivery processes that reduce the economic order quantities to a single customer order. It also requires a means to identify the elements of the product that should be customization capable. This thesis seeks to define Mass Customization, its relationship to the automotive industry, and its increasing importance in turbulent markets. It also considers two key enablers required to effectively implement Mass Customization: product modularity and customer preference measurement through the use of innovative Internet applications and tools. A significant focus of this thesis is to investigate the use of Mass Customization methodologies and of Internet based preference measurement methods for product design (e.g. conjoint analysis) to facilitate the timely incorporation of customer preference information further upstream in the PD process. An Internet based Conjoint Study, Kano Models and Trade-off Analysis was designed to determine customer preference for customizing certain attributes and their willingness to trade-off customization against delivery speed. Data illustrating the possible customer responses shows how the conjoint analysis results can be analyzed to aid product development teams in making the necessary design tradeoffs by understanding the customer preferences and associated homo/heterogeneity of the population. In addition a framework for understanding manufacturing complexity was developed. It proposes a way to understand the providing the attribute. A Value/Cost map was created to assist teams in making necessary tradeoffs regarding where to customize and where to standardize from a development and operational perspective. Also, an original approach for identifying the complexity related to product and process design was developed and proposed. Through this framework, development teams can more readily assess the true effect of product options on product combinations and discrete decisions related to complexity. Finally, a Customer vs. Product map was developed to help teams understand and implement the various methods of Mass Customization proposed by both Pine and Andersen. This thesis focuses how to implement Mass Customization by simultaneously incorporating engineering, marketing and management views. Designing for customization using modular product design and managing product development with complete customer preference data, points the way to successful Mass Customization, satisfied customers and profitable operations. / by Michael W. Paskus. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 153-156). / With the recent proliferation of new wireless communication technologies in the U.S. and abroad, several competing air interfaces have emerged. This situation may soon be further complicated by compeuuon to influence upcoming international standards for 3rd-generation wireless communication systems capable of enabling global access to wireless multimedia services. For the wireless communications market, this heterogeneity poses problems for highly mobile users attempting to roam between different types of networks with phones that work over only one air interface. Brute force solutions have been introduced which combine two or more air interfaces in a single wireless communications appliance using traditional manufacturing approaches. An attractive alternative solution involves an emerging technology known as software-definable radio (SOR). This technology could enable the development of a new class of wireless information appliances, referred to here as "software phones", capable of working over any air interface. By migrating much of the radio functionality from hardware to software, such devices could switch between air interfaces and wireless applications/services much as a computer switches between applications programs. This thesis will assess the likelihood of emergence of a single dominant design standard for future generations of wireless communication systems, and the importance of software phone technologies as components of any such dominant design. The thesis is being sponsored by the Modular Multifunction Information Transfer System (MMITS) Forum, a wireless industry forum that is actively promoting software phone concepts. The analysis uses a variety of information sources and analytic techniques, and will also present a series of strategic recommendations to enhance the likelihood that software phone technologies will be included as critical components in any dominant wireless design standard. / by John D. Ralston and Peter G. Bier. / S.M.M.O.T.