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2016

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Audience Participation In Traditional Chinese Theatre, Zifei Wu Dec 2016

Audience Participation In Traditional Chinese Theatre, Zifei Wu

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Traditional Chinese theatre is unique. Unlike its distinct stage elements with apparent Eastern features, the special role of audience participation in traditional Chinese theatre is less conspicu-ous and, to some, may seem disordered; however, underneath, the logic of audience participation suggests a theatrical communication and a performer-audience relationship that is completely different from the theatrical traditions of the Western world. There is an explosion of interest in the role of the audience among twentieth and twenty-first century theatre practitioners in the Western world. To these experimental theatre artists, forming a non-traditional performer-audience relationship is often an approach to show their …

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The Role Of The Kin28 Protein Kinase In Chromatin Remodeling And Transcription Termination, Daniel Roy Labuz Dec 2016

The Role Of The Kin28 Protein Kinase In Chromatin Remodeling And Transcription Termination, Daniel Roy Labuz

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The Kin28 subunit of the general transcription factor complex, TFIIH, is a kinase that phosphorylates the heptapeptide repeats at serine position 5 (Ser5) on the C-terminal domain of RNA polymerase II (Pol II). Optimal Ser5 phosphorylation is important during transcription for Pol II to transition from the initiation step to the elongation step in a process called promoter escape. During transcription initiation, the nucleosome directly downstream of the promoter, called +1, must be disassembled before Pol II can engage the transcription start site. Previous work showed that the transcription machinery plays a direct role in the disassembly of the +1 …

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Effects Of Lentiviral Stat3 And Stat3 Mutants On Cellular Proliferation And Tumor Formation, Alkiviadis Stavros Pierrakeas Dec 2016

Effects Of Lentiviral Stat3 And Stat3 Mutants On Cellular Proliferation And Tumor Formation, Alkiviadis Stavros Pierrakeas

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Abstract of the Thesis Effects of Lentiviral STAT3 and STAT3 Mutants on Cellular Proliferation and Tumor Formation by Alkiviadis Stavros Pierrakeas Master of Science in Biochemistry and Cell Biology Stony Brook University 2016 The mammalian Signal Transducers and Activators of Transcription (STAT) family of proteins includes seven STAT transcription factors that function in cytokine signaling pathways to activate gene expression affecting cell proliferation, cell growth, cell survival, and apoptosis. Cytokines such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), and several growth factors are able to bind to cell surface receptors, activate tyrosine kinase activity and promote downstream phosphorylation of STAT proteins. Cytokines associated with …

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Phic31 Integrase As A More Efficient Method Of Transgenesis In Zebrafish, Andrew Scortea Dec 2016

Phic31 Integrase As A More Efficient Method Of Transgenesis In Zebrafish, Andrew Scortea

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Zebrafish transgenesis is conventionally performed via the tol2 transposable element system as it is the most straightforward, providing quick and easy transgenesis. Despite being commonly used in the zebrafish community, tol2 mediated transgenesis has issues that cause workflow slowdowns and delays. The biggest of these issues are the random nonspecific integrations which can occur multiple times within a genome. In order to generate a stable transgenic line with a single insertion, one must perform several generations of outcrosses and subsequent screening. Thus, while tol2 transgenesis is effective at generating founder animals, a considerable amount of time and labor is required …

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Transcriptional Regulation Of Mmp-9 And Mmp-14 By P53 And Its Mutant R280k, Yingjiao Xue Dec 2016

Transcriptional Regulation Of Mmp-9 And Mmp-14 By P53 And Its Mutant R280k, Yingjiao Xue

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women and metastasis is the primary cause for mortality. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play important roles in cancer cell migration and invasion. Tumor suppressor gene TP53 is the most frequently mutated gene in cancer, and p53 mutation occurs in invasive breast cancer with higher frequency than in non-invasive breast cancer. However, the nature of relationship between p53 and MMPs remains inconclusive. Here we show that wild type p53 could repress transcriptional activity of MMP-9 and MMP-14, while the DNA-contact mutant p53 R280K could upregulate the transcription of MMP-9 and MMP-14. This regulation might …

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Aging-Related Elevation Of Sphingoid Bases Shortens Yeast Chronological Life Span By Compromising Mitochondrial Function, Jae Kyo Yi Dec 2016

Aging-Related Elevation Of Sphingoid Bases Shortens Yeast Chronological Life Span By Compromising Mitochondrial Function, Jae Kyo Yi

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Aging is the biological process of growing older in a deleterious sense, senescence. However, what we have gained only comprises a partial and incomplete understanding of the fundamental molecular mechanisms. Increasing evidence suggests that dysregulation of the metabolism of sphingolipids including sphingoid bases (SBs, long-chain bases) might play an important role in the aging. We know neither how SBs are regulated during yeast aging nor how they, in turn, regulate it. Herein, I demonstrate that the yeast alkaline ceramidases (YPC1 and YDC1) and SB kinases (LCB4 and LCB5) cooperate in regulating SBs during the aging process and that SBs shorten …

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Using Quantitative Silac Proteomics To Identify Mek1 Substrates During Yeast Meiosis, Raymond Theodore Suhandynata Dec 2016

Using Quantitative Silac Proteomics To Identify Mek1 Substrates During Yeast Meiosis, Raymond Theodore Suhandynata

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The exchange of reciprocal information between homologous chromosomes in conjunction with sister chromatid cohesion ensures proper segregation of homologous chromosomes during Meiosis I. Improper segregation of homologous chromosomes during meiosis leads to chromosomal imbalance, which in humans can lead to genetic disorders such as Down syndrome (Trisomy 21) and Turner syndrome (monosomy of the X chromosome). Meiotic recombination begins with the initiation of double-strand breaks (DSBs) and the biased repair of these breaks by the homologous chromosome. This inter-homolog (IH) bias is upheld by the meiotic recombination checkpoint kinase Mek1. Mek1 is a meiosis specific serine/threonine kinase that prevents cells …

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Evaluation Of Contrast Agents Used In Computed Tomography, Michael Joseph Bonvento Dec 2016

Evaluation Of Contrast Agents Used In Computed Tomography, Michael Joseph Bonvento

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Contrast agents have been routinely employed in radiographic applications for more than 80 years and in computed tomography (CT) for more than 50 years. These agents have high atomic number increasing the photoelectric interaction probability thereby reducing photon intensity projected through the contrast containing structure and improving available image contrast. A wide variety of contrast agents have been examined over the years, however, iodine and barium containing agents make up the vast majority of applications. Other agents are or may become available which may find utility due to reduced toxicity, better characteristics for imaging or dose reduction. This is particularly …

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Multiscale Particle-Based Modeling Of Mechanotransduction Process In Flow-Induced Platelet Activation Using Dissipative Particle Dynamics And Coarse Grained Molecular Dynamics, Chao Gao Dec 2016

Multiscale Particle-Based Modeling Of Mechanotransduction Process In Flow-Induced Platelet Activation Using Dissipative Particle Dynamics And Coarse Grained Molecular Dynamics, Chao Gao

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Thrombosis in cardiovascular diseases and prosthetic cardiovascular devices can be potentiated by pathological flow patterns that enhance hemostatic responses including platelet activation, aggregation, and adhesion. Platelets upon activation react to pathological shear stresses with complex biochemical and morphological changes, aggregate, and adhere to blood vessels or device surfaces to form thrombi. Computational modeling and simulation are extensively employed to study the shear-induced platelet activation. Numerical simulations of this complex process based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) treat blood as a continuum and solve the Navier-Stokes equations to resolve the process to μm scales level. Due to the limited scales range, …

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Diffuse Correlation And Optical Spectroscopies For The Monitoring Of Spinal Cord Hemodynamics, Angela Sofia Kogler Dec 2016

Diffuse Correlation And Optical Spectroscopies For The Monitoring Of Spinal Cord Hemodynamics, Angela Sofia Kogler

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Spinal cord ischemia, caused by a prolonged loss of blood flow to the spinal cord, can occur as a result of direct trauma to the spinal cord or as a complication of major vascular, spine and spinal cord surgery, and surgeries for the stabilization of spinal cord trauma, often resulting in partial or complete paresis/paralysis. Current electrophysiological methods employed to detect spinal cord ischemia, namely somatosensory and motor evoked potentials, are indirect, temporally insensitive, nonspecific, and cumbersome. There is no technology currently available that can directly and immediately detect the onset of spinal cord ischemia, nor provide immediate feedback on …

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Oxidized Graphene Nanoparticles As A Delivery System For The Bioactive Sphingolipid Ceramide, Cassandra Suhrland Dec 2016

Oxidized Graphene Nanoparticles As A Delivery System For The Bioactive Sphingolipid Ceramide, Cassandra Suhrland

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

In recent years there has been a growing appreciation for the active functions certain lipids have in cellular metabolism. These "bioactive lipids" have been found to be an important part of many cell signaling processes. In particular, the bioactive sphingolipid ceramide has emerged as an important player in cancer biology. Dysregulation of ceramide metabolism has been shown to impart resistance to drug and radiation treatment in certain types of cancer, with low levels of specific ceramide species conferring resistance to apoptosis. It has also been shown that restoring levels of these ceramides in cancer cells through exogenous delivery also restores …

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Carbon Nanotubes As Localized Microwave Hyperthermia Agents, Shawn Xie Dec 2016

Carbon Nanotubes As Localized Microwave Hyperthermia Agents, Shawn Xie

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in recent years have been cited to provide great potential for biomedical applications such as drug delivery, imaging and hyperthermia. In particular, it has been shown that they are able to interact with a broad array of electromagnetic radiation, including microwaves. The latter is of great interest for cancer imaging and therapy due to its non-ionizing nature and unique balance of spatial resolution and penetration depth, as well as ability to thermally ablate tumor tissue. Combined with microwaves, CNTs can serve as a platform with high selectivity of microwave absorption, enabling selective microwave thermal therapy, and effective …

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Statistical Image Reconstruction For Low-Dose X-Ray Computed Tomography: Statistical Models And Regularization Strategies, Hao Zhang Dec 2016

Statistical Image Reconstruction For Low-Dose X-Ray Computed Tomography: Statistical Models And Regularization Strategies, Hao Zhang

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Low-dose X-ray computed tomography (CT) imaging is desirable due to the growing concerns about excessive radiation exposure to the patients. However, the reconstructed CT images by the conventional filtered back-projection (FBP) method from the low-dose acquisitions may be severely degraded. Statistical image reconstruction (SIR) methods have shown potential to substantially improve the image quality of low-dose CT as compared to the FBP method. According to the maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation, the SIR methods can be typically formulated by an objective function consisting of two terms: (1) data-fidelity term modeling the statistics of projection measurements, and (2) regularization term reflecting …

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Neurocomputation, Dopaminergic Treatment, And Cognitive Control In Early-Stage Parkinson's Disease, Pete Manza Dec 2016

Neurocomputation, Dopaminergic Treatment, And Cognitive Control In Early-Stage Parkinson's Disease, Pete Manza

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder involving the basal ganglia that results in a host of motor and cognitive deficits. The hallmark motor symptoms of the disease, such as tremor and rigidity, are generally well-treated with medications that boost the neurotransmitter dopamine. However, whether dopamine-replacement therapy restores cognitive function is under intense debate. While some studies have shown cognitive benefits for individuals taking dopaminergic medications, others have reported null findings or even exacerbated cognitive impairment for individuals in the medicated state. Current theories generally attribute the variety of findings to task differences and the uneven pattern of PD neuropathology …

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Synthetic Approaches To A Bis-Thiol Based Arsenic Receptor And A Potential Pi-Stacking Based Polyamide Foldamer, Dana Michele Castro Dec 2016

Synthetic Approaches To A Bis-Thiol Based Arsenic Receptor And A Potential Pi-Stacking Based Polyamide Foldamer, Dana Michele Castro

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Arsenic is a known harmful chemical, causing cancer and other adverse health effects if consumed in even modest amounts. Arsenic is found in drinking water at levels higher than deemed safe in many parts of the world. Current detection methods for arsenic in water have many limitations. A low-cost, safe, and efficient alternative would make arsenic detection simpler and human lives safer. As arsenic is known to have a high affinity to sulfur, the Drueckhammer group has designed a compound with two protruding thiol groups that may provide the basis for fluorescence-based detection. In this study, preliminary steps in the …

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Nanostructured Iron And Manganese Oxide Electrode Materials For Lithium Batteries: Influence Of Chemical And Physical Properties On Electrochemistry, Jessica Durham Dec 2016

Nanostructured Iron And Manganese Oxide Electrode Materials For Lithium Batteries: Influence Of Chemical And Physical Properties On Electrochemistry, Jessica Durham

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The widespread use of portable electronics and growing interest in electric and hybrid vehicles has generated a mass market for batteries with increased energy densities and enhanced electrochemical performance. In order to address a variety of applications, commercially fabricated secondary lithium-ion batteries employ transition metal oxide based electrodes, the most prominent of which include lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (LiNixMnyCo1-x-yO2), lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4), and lithium manganese oxide (LiMn2O4). Transition metal oxides are of particular interest as cathode materials due to their robust framework for lithium intercalation, potential for high energy density, and utilization of earth-abundant elements (i.e. iron and …

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W Boson Production In Ultrarelativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions At The Cern Lhc, Thomas Everett Balestri Dec 2016

W Boson Production In Ultrarelativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions At The Cern Lhc, Thomas Everett Balestri

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are capable of producing a medium of deconfined quarks and gluons. This phase of nuclear matter is called a Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) and is believed to have been present during the first microseconds following the Big Bang. \Wboson bosons are a unique probe in a QGP since they do not carry color charge and thus do not interact with a strongly-coupled medium. Furthermore, the kinematics of \Wboson bosons are sensitive to the Bjorken momentum fraction x of partons within nucleons, and therefore \Wboson bosons may also be used to constrain …

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Phd, Xiaofei Liang Dec 2016

Phd, Xiaofei Liang

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

As(III) compounds have high affinity for thiol groups and this affinity has been used in the prior development of FlAsH and related tags for cysteine peptides. We aimed to develop a series of arsenic-based receptors designed to bind to different arrangements of cysteines within native alpha-helical protein structures. Computer modeling was used to define the proper arrangement of arsenic functionality for binding to each targeted sequence. The computer program HostDesigner was then used to discover scaffold structures on which to display the arsenic functionality at the proper distance and relative orientation to bind the targeted sequence. Designed structures were then …

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Green Synthesis, Characterization, And Application Of Metal-Based Nanomaterials, Crystal Lewis Dec 2016

Green Synthesis, Characterization, And Application Of Metal-Based Nanomaterials, Crystal Lewis

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Metal-based nanomaterials have attracted significant research interest due to their unique size-dependent optical, magnetic, electronic, thermal, mechanical, and chemical properties as compared with their bulk counterparts. These advantageous and tailorable properties render these materials as ideal candidates for catalysis, photovoltaics, and even biomedical applications. However, nanomaterials are typically synthesized via chemical or physical processes, which are continuing to rise in cost, complexity, and toxicity. As a result, ‘milder’ and more environmentally benign nanoscale synthetic methodologies, particularly U-tube double diffusion, molten salt, and hydrothermal techniques, have been utilized to mitigate for these drawbacks. Moreover, these efficient and facile techniques coupled with …

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Understanding Structure And Response In Thermally Responsive Block Copolymer Assemblies, Zhe Sun Dec 2016

Understanding Structure And Response In Thermally Responsive Block Copolymer Assemblies, Zhe Sun

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

There has been considerable and growing interest in the field of stimulus-responsive polymers over the last two decades, as they can be exploited in many applications including biomedicine, sensing, and separations. Temperature remains the most extensively investigated physical stimulus due to its ease of application and monitoring. In this dissertation, a new class of thermally responsive ABC poly(ethylene oxide)-block-poly(N,N-diethylacrylamide)-block-poly(N,N-dibutylacrylamide) (PEO-b-PDEAm-b-PDBAm) triblock copolymers has been synthesized by reversible addition−fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) polymerization. In aqueous solution, PEO-b-PDEAm-b-PDBAm copolymers self-assemble into a wide range of different aggregated structures including spherical micelles, cylindrical micelles, vesicles and large compound micelles. The precise morphology mainly depends …

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Heterolithic Branched Liquid Crystalline Materials Prepared Via The Passerini Three-Component Reaction, Shuang Song Dec 2016

Heterolithic Branched Liquid Crystalline Materials Prepared Via The Passerini Three-Component Reaction, Shuang Song

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Precisely defined and multifunctional molecular architectures that can form liquid crystalline mesophases are part of a new generation of functional supramolecular materials. Liquid crystalline compounds (mesogens) form phases of matter intermediate between crystalline solids and isotropic liquids (mesophases). The presence of molecular order in a fluid phase has led to the widespread use of conventional liquid crystal mesogens in displays and optoelectronic devices. Combining different types of mesogens or mesogens with other functional components to create heterolithic star-branched or dendritic architectures is of interest as a strategy to engineer liquid crystalline materials with new structural and functional properties. Heterolithic branched …

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Mechanistic And Structural Insight Into Amyloid Formation By Islet Amyloid Polypeptide: Implications For Monitoring The Amylome, Amy Wong Dec 2016

Mechanistic And Structural Insight Into Amyloid Formation By Islet Amyloid Polypeptide: Implications For Monitoring The Amylome, Amy Wong

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Amyloid fibrils are insoluble peptide or protein aggregates that are fibrous, predominantly β-sheet, and highly ordered. Amyloid formation plays an important role in an array of human diseases including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s disease. The proteins that form amyloid vary greatly in native structure and function however, the resultant amyloid plaques formed when these proteins misfold share many structural features. The work herein describes the recent research on islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP, or amylin), a neuroendocrine hormone that is co-secreted with insulin and has been observed to form amyloid plaques in the pancreas, a process that has been shown to …

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In Situ Ambient Pressure Studies Of Dynamic Surface Transformations On Cu-Based Model Catalysts, Fang Xu Dec 2016

In Situ Ambient Pressure Studies Of Dynamic Surface Transformations On Cu-Based Model Catalysts, Fang Xu

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Copper-based heterogeneous catalysts are widely used in many industrial applications across the fields of fuels and energy. In order to probe the catalyst structure under reaction conditions, state-of-the-art ambient pressure techniques have been implemented. This dissertation is focused on room temperature in situ ambient pressure (AP) (10 mTorr to 2 Torr) studies on Cu-based model catalysts including Cu(111), Cu2O/Cu(111), potassium modified Cu2O/Cu(111) and CeO2/Cu2O/Cu(111). It investigates their surface dynamic transformations using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), infrared reflection adsorption spectroscopy (IRRAS), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Under ambient pressures, Cu(111) surface is roughened by CO, or O2. Atomic H can heal …

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Geometric Optimization Problems In Sensor Networks, Gui Benjamin Citovsky Dec 2016

Geometric Optimization Problems In Sensor Networks, Gui Benjamin Citovsky

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

In this thesis, we address a variety of algorithmic problems motivated by applications in sensor networks. In many of these problems we consider that the placement of the sensors is in a general metric space and in all of the problems we consider the case that the sensors lie in the Euclidean plane and exploit geometric properties in order to achieve better results. We introduce the \sinrk\ model which is a generalization of the SINR model. Given a set of sender-receiver requests in the Euclidean plane, the goal is to minimize the number of rounds of scheduling needed to satisfy …

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Synthetic, Medicinal, And Computational Studies On Novel Anticancer, Antitubercular, And Anti-Nociceptive Agents, Longfei Wei Dec 2016

Synthetic, Medicinal, And Computational Studies On Novel Anticancer, Antitubercular, And Anti-Nociceptive Agents, Longfei Wei

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Multidrug resistance is a major obstacle to effective cancer chemotherapy. New-generation taxoids SB-T-1214 and SB-T-1216 have shown two to three orders of magnitude higher potency than those of paclitaxel and docetaxel against multidrug-resistant cancer cell lines. A structure-activity relationship (SAR) study has been conducted in order to test which moiety of the new-generation taxoids account for the high potency against multidrug resistant cancer cell lines. In order to selectively deliver new-generation taxoids into tumor cells, tumor-targeted drug delivery systems with a smart methyl-branched disulfide linker have been developed in the Ojima laboratory. The metabolic stability of this disulfide linker has …

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Development And Application Of An Integrated Parallel Platform On Short–Read Sequences Assembly | Development And Application Of An Integrated Parallel Platform On Short–Read Sequences Assembly, Fei He Dec 2016

Development And Application Of An Integrated Parallel Platform On Short–Read Sequences Assembly | Development And Application Of An Integrated Parallel Platform On Short–Read Sequences Assembly, Fei He

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Rapid and automated next generation sequencing (NGS) methods have emerged recently and significantly accelerated the research in biological and medical fields. The high-throughput NGS usually generates billions of shorter reads, which poses great bioinformatics challenges on extracting meaningful information from these massive data, one of which is de novo assembly. At the same time, the fast development of massive parallel processing (MPP) systems presents a substantial opportunity for processing larger datasets. Therefore, using supercomputer innovations on NGS research promises a good strategy; however, this application is not straightforward and requires new algorithms and parallel design for efficient implementations. In this …

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Exploration Of Statistical Learning Strategies And Their Applications On Medical Image Data For Computer-Aided Diagnosis, Yifan Hu Dec 2016

Exploration Of Statistical Learning Strategies And Their Applications On Medical Image Data For Computer-Aided Diagnosis, Yifan Hu

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Machine learning addresses the question of how computer make decisions and predictions automatically through existing experiences and data, which has become an increasingly important topic with the advent of modern data science and automated big data analysis. Several algorithms are widely used in machine learning. However, each classifier, inevitably, has certain inadequacy for which we hope to compensate. To address these issues, this study first introduces the necessary theoretical background and principles for machine learning and those typical classifiers. Based on these classifiers, this paper attempts to (1) use bagging/boosting to improve the simple classifier, and, (2) find some combination …

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Complexity Estimates And Reductions To Discounting For Total And Average-Reward Markov Decision Processes And Stochastic Games, Jefferson Huang Dec 2016

Complexity Estimates And Reductions To Discounting For Total And Average-Reward Markov Decision Processes And Stochastic Games, Jefferson Huang

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Recently there has been a resurgence of interest in the complexity of algorithms for Markov decision processes (MDPs) and stochastic games. Much of this work was inspired by recent groundbreaking results on the complexity of policy iteration algorithms for MDPs under the Blum-Shub-Smale (BSS) model of computation. In particular, for discounted MDPs with a fixed discount factor, Yinyu Ye showed that the number of arithmetic operations needed by two classic variants of policy iteration can be bounded above by a polynomial in the number of state-action pairs only. A natural question is whether a similar complexity estimate exists for the …

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Shifting Expectations: Medicine, Nature, And Disability In Pregnancy Texts, Laura Abbasi-Lemmon Dec 2016

Shifting Expectations: Medicine, Nature, And Disability In Pregnancy Texts, Laura Abbasi-Lemmon

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

In this thesis, I consider the complex interactions between discourses of medicine, nature, and disability which determine what pregnant women can or cannot, or should or should not do to maintain an acceptable and “healthy†pregnancy that results in a desired, nondisabled child. In this thesis, I employ two interdisciplinary methods, critical discourse analysis and qualitative interviewing and ground my project in feminist disability studies and the concept of reproductive justice. I analyze interviews I conducted with five currently pregnant women from Long Island, New York and three pregnancy manuals, What to Expect When You’re Expecting, Ina May’s Guide to …

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Don’T Look Now: The Child In Horror Cinema And Media | Don’T Look Now: The Child In Horror Cinema And Media, Hans Staats Dec 2016

Don’T Look Now: The Child In Horror Cinema And Media | Don’T Look Now: The Child In Horror Cinema And Media, Hans Staats

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

This dissertation examines the definition of the monstrous child in horror cinema and media. Spanning from 1955 to 2009 and beyond, the question of what counts as a monstrous child illuminates a perennial cinematic preoccupation with monstrosity and the relation between the normal and the pathological. Films like The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955), The Bad Seed (Mervyn LeRoy, 1956), Village of the Damned (Wolf Rilla, 1960), The Innocents (Jack Clayton, 1961), Don’t Look Now (Nicolas Roeg, 1973), Profondo rosso/Deep Red (Dario Argento, 1975), Carrie (Brian De Palma, 1976), Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978), Child’s Play (Tom Holland, 1988), …

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