In this dissertation I explore discourse around the environmental risks of nanotechnology, and through this study of nanotechnology make the case that the dominance in risk discourse of regulatory science is limiting policy debate on environmental risks, and that specific initiatives should be undertaken to broaden debate not just on nanotechnology, but generally on the risks of new technologies. I argue that the treatment of environmental risk in public policy debates has failed for industrial chemicals, is failing for nanotechnology, and most certainly will fail for synthetic biology and other new technologies unless we change how we describe the impacts to people and other living things from the development and deployment of technology. However, I also contend that the nanotechnology case provides reason for optimism that risk can be given different, and better, treatment in environmental policy debates. I propose specific policy initiatives to advance a richer discourse around the environmental implications of emerging technologies. Evidence of enriched environmental policy debates would be a decentering of language concerning risk by developing within discourse language and practice directed toward enriching the human and environmental condition. / Ph. D.

For my capstone project, I made a short animated film. In this film, we follow the journey of a young writer facing the pressures of a project deadline. As she sits in her home office, the character struggles to concentrate on her work amid some distractions. From the outside noises filtering through the window to the persistent drip of water in the bathroom and a bug buzzing around her face, a series of obstacles disrupt her focus. The writer wants to eliminate each obstacle, actively working to create an ideal environment conducive to productivity. As she successfully tackles each issue, she gets a sense of accomplishment. However, just when it seems like victory is within reach, an unforeseen challenge emerges. The story invites us to reflect on the unpredictable nature of life and the importance of adapting to unforeseen circumstances. In this paper, I document my journey of creating my short animation, discussing the process and workflow I used, highlighting the challenges, and difficulties that I encountered along the way. And I will also talk about why I wanted to make a short film and what inspired me.

It is the house that has spaces above ground and spaces beneath the ground. The part above ground is separated into three volumes. The first space is for the owner to accompany with friends and family members, which is a significant part of one's life. The second space is the owner staying with close friends where they can work and design together. The third space is only for the owner where he can sleep, read and relax. Sometimes, the owner feels depressed, he prefers to run away from sadness like a child. Thus, I design a series of spaces for the owner to get away like a child. He can take a journey to get rid of sorrow by going through the underground spaces. The journey of the owner, created by a series of experiencing spaces underneath, starts from the third space. The owner will travel spaces containing different lights, sounds, and views. The owner can stop by during the journey to experience the spaces. He will gradually forget sadness and sorrow by the pleasure created by various experience. The owner will hear echoes when he sings in the spaces and will notice the sound of his footsteps and will view different scenes from various light tubes. Finally, the owner will reach a destination; it is a tower without a roof. He can experience starry night, rain, sunshine and so forth. He eventually reaches a place near nature, which is still one part of The House. / Master of Architecture

myth (n.) A traditional story which embodies a belief regarding some fact or phenomenon of experience, and in which often the forces of nature and of the soul are personified; a sacred narrative regarding a god, a hero, the origin of the world or of a people.2 A parable; An allegory. From the French word mythe (1818) and directly from Modern Latin mythus, which originated from ancient Greek mŷthos : "speech, thought, discourse, word, humour, conversation, story, saga, tale, anything delivered by word of mouth". Attested in English since 1830. Ever since I was a child, I have been fascinated with the fictional world of stories and the act of of storytelling. Always wide-eyed and excited, I remember the countless times that I have lost myself in the mythical worlds in stories. It is moments of sadness or of anxiety, but also of wonder, of ecstasy even, the experience of the beautiful under one or the other of its innumerable forms, the joy of love, of discovery, of happiness in that sense, that are most likely to remind us of our humanity. Hence, when I started my thesis about wanting to explore the design of a built space through the context of storytelling, I was confused. There were these three questions that hounded me at every turn : 1. What is a "place for storytelling"? Does the act of storytelling really exist within the confines of a particular "place"? 2. And if yes, do stories emerge from places? Or do places emerge from stories? What is the nature of the relationship between both? 3. And if places truly are born out of stories, is it possible to craft a journey through a built space akin to our journey through the mythical worlds of a storyteller? / Master of Architecture / What is a "place for storytelling"? Do stories emerge out of built spaces? Or do built spaces emerge out of stories? I had questions on the relevance of architecture in something as raw and primal as the act of storytelling. But what I did not anticipate was that, of all the many different things that I was exploring, the path that I was to actually take would lie in a children's book that I had never heard about before. It was pure serendipity that I chanced upon it, and later it changed my whole thesis in ways that I could not imagine. I realized that I needed not to find "answers" to questions; but rather enjoy this beautiful journey that I was on. The magic of storytelling cannot be shut within walls, but needs to grow outwards. Storytelling is as much about excitement as it is about contemplation. It is about remembering the child within us, and about taking a moment to stop and watch sunsets. It is about rituals and thresholds and gazing at stars. It is about shattering the layers and layers of "grown-up" ideas that we tightly wrap ourselves with. It was when I stopped looking for answers, that I could truly understand what is the nature of the built space that I was dreaming of. Rather than being a single elusive construct - it was an eclectic mix of many different experiences tied together into a journey, guided by a little boy with golden hair.

Nothing Remains Still is a collection of short stories and a novella. The series of short stories, "The Assortment 1-4" chronicle the childhood of a young girl, her siblings, and her mother, and the lives they lead in the gated, but impoverished, community, in which they live. The tone of the stories is meant to be surreal, approaching the dystopic, as a way to reveal the underlying horror of growing up in low-income housing. The story, as so many of these stories do in their real life correlates, ultimately ends in tragedy for the central family. The novella, Nothing Remains Still, is an epistolary tale of a young woman who rediscovers her mother, and herself, while training to become a psychoanalyst. The novella is about movement and stagnation, or false or artificial stagnation. In this context, the Heraclitus quote, "All entities move, and nothing remains still," which acts as the novella's epigraph, serves to introduce a kind of cosmological conceit concerning bodies of matter and how the study of physics situates inanimate objects. I had my narrator apply this conceit to people, as well, and to situate human bodies as also being physical objects subject to the same physical laws. The quote is meant to signal that the narrator's journey is in constant flux -- there are no endings, happy or otherwise, just a transfer of energy into one thing or another. / MFA

Healthcare workers' overall performance and patients' well-being are crucial to wellness design and the overall productivity of the working environment. The purpose of this thesis is to narrate how natural light - a key aspect of biophilic design - can give great health outcomes and enhance the placemaking of a healthcare setting. Hence, this dissertation attempts to deal with placemaking and formation as an inside-outside dialogue that connects users to nature by implementing the idea of transitioning natural light through space and structure. In doing so, lighting explorations were conducted as series of physical models and case studies to help understand and analyze various effects of light at different times of the day. These explorations narrate a story about the journey of the medical worker and the patient throughout the setting of the apertures, walls, path, and canopy. Also, in response to the topography, a south-facing aperture wants to be framed, while a north-facing aperture can be an open wall, a smooth polished continuous wall and path can act as a canvas when the filtered light falls on it, while rough fragmented walls rise from earth acting as structural walls, and a cluster of trees can act as a natural canopy to provide shelter from the sun, while a steel canopy can shelter other areas from the rain or sun. / Master of Architecture / Biophilia, the innate human instinct to connect with nature, is a foundational concept to biophilic architecture. This concept seeks to enhance the well-being of users when in a human-made environment, by incorporating vital aspects of nature in a building. Therefore, applying a biophilic-based design approach to a high stressed place like a hospital can be worthwhile in numerous ways to patients, their families, and healthcare workers. The thesis addresses the aspects of Biophilia and looks deeper into the effects and benefits of natural light in a healthcare setting.

The purpose of this study is to determine the philosophy, history, recent development and modern trends of story-telling in the primary grades.

All of the stories in The Center of the Known World are subtly linked by their connection to the Appalachian Mountains — more specifically the Allegheny Mountains — although not all of the stories take place physically in the mountains. They also are linked in that they explore the small changes and shifts that take place in the emotional landscape as we live our daily lives. There are no life or death situations that change characters' lives in the beat of a heart or the shot of a gun. Rather, these are people who deal with gradual shifts in power and understanding. They are people in search of connection and community. Some of them come to seemingly small realizations that change everything. Others battle flaws or demons that keep them from having the things they want most. The first five stories are free-standing pieces. The next two stories — Grand Opening Special at the West End U-Store and A Fine Addiction — are connected by location and characters. I hope eventually there will be other stories in that series. The final part of my thesis — Skin Writing — is the first section of a novel in progress. / Master of Fine Arts

In the theoretical part of dissertation main ideas and concepts of narrative psychology are reviewed. The notion of both narrative and paradigmatic knowing coined by Jerome Bruner is explained. The importance of story and narrative for organizing and understanding human experience is discussed. Other psychological functions of both story and narrative metaphor are mentioned. In the empirical part selected stories that could be considered as a part of European cultural heritage (cultural meta-narratives) are analysed. The methods used for story analysis are TAT (ThematicApperception Test) and CCRT (Core Conflictual Relationship Theme, Luborsky et al.). The aim of the empirical part is to verify the construct of "a latent story". Another goal is to identify repeating motives in the selected stories, that could be used as a form of projective method. Keywords Story, narrative, latent story, narrative psychology, myth.

Cette étude consiste à embrasser dans un même mouvement les différents récits courts stendhaliens. Elle s'articule en cinq temps. Les trois premiers moments consistent à analyser, séparément, les anecdotes, nouvelles et récits inachevés stendhaliens. Une fois ces différentes typologies établies, l'étude se focalise sur la notion d'énergie, dénominateur commun de l'ensemble des récits courts composés par Stendhal. Enfin, le dernier chapitre cherche à montrer aussi bien la portée que la place de ces textes hétérogènes dans le vaste ensemble de la création stendhalienne. L'un des principaux intérêts de ce travail est de réhabiliter des textes qui, pour des raisons aussi bien génériques qu'éditoriales, n'ont pas encore été l'objet d'une étude exhaustive. Notre réflexion vise également à montrer tout à la fois la permanence et l'unité du genre bref dans l'œuvre de Stendhal, malgré l'existence d'indéniables différences entre les textes. Notre étude établit également une continuité entre récits courts et récits longs, ce qui permet de mieux comprendre des phénomènes stendhaliens aussi essentiels que l'inachèvement, la réécriture ou encore l'intertextualité. / This study is to embrace in the same movement the various short stories Stendhal. It is divided into five times. The first three stages are to analyze separately the anecdotes, news stories and unfinished Stendhal. After these established typologies, the study focuses on the concept of energy, the common denominator of all short stories composed by Stendhal. The last chapter seeks to show both the extent that instead of these heterogeneous texts in the broad set of Stendhal's creation. One of the main interests of this work is to rehabilitate texts that, for reasons both generic editorial, have not yet been subject to a comprehensive study. Our thinking is also intended to show the permanence and unity of the short kind in Stendhal's work, despite the undeniable existence of differences between the texts. Our study also establishes continuity between short stories and long stories, allowing a better understanding of phenomena as essential as Stendhal incompleteness, rewriting or intertextuality.