http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39111 2013-05-25T20:30:30Z http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/43725 Secrets of the MIT mystery hunt : an exploration of the theory underlying the construction of a multi-puzzle contest Gottlieb, Mark Louis, 1974- This is an exploration of the rules and guidelines that underlie the structure of a multi-puzzle contest (a competition consisting of one large puzzle made up of a number of smaller constituent puzzles). The MIT Mystery Hunt, a multi-puzzle contest held on campus each January, is the second-largest annual event of this nature in the United States. The theories put forth in this exploration were culled from personal experience. Having played in four MIT Mystery Hunts and constructed two, as well as participating in other multi-puzzle contests such as the Miami Herald Tropic Hunt, the Random House $10,000 Trivia Challenge, and the National Puzzlers' League convention extravaganza, I am familiar with the specific format in question. Furthermore, I have a firsthand understanding, from both sides of the contest, of what is necessary and what is optional and, more importantly, what works and what does not. It was found that the structural framework of a multi-puzzle contest is rather loose; most of the guidelines and elements are optional. The only necessary aspects are the most basic structural components: an endgame and a number of individual puzzles. However, while a multi-puzzle contest can technically work without a majority of the elements discussed, many of these must be included for such a contest to be a successful form of entertainment. The most vital aspects are theme and variety; others that should be included are puzzles that use the available geography and experimental puzzles. Ultimately, the puzzle maker should design the multi-puzzle contest he would most like to participate in himself. Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies, 1998. 1998-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/43169 To our health : the role of IT in healthcare Powell, Adam C. (Adam Cooper) Preventable medical complications are afflicting a growing number of Americans. Meanwhile, the field of healthcare has been slow to uptake information technology. This thesis reviews existing literature in order to produce recommendations on how to use information technology to reduce the cost and increase the quality of healthcare in the United States. Current findings and statistics from academic and governmental sources are cited in order to illustrate the present state of the healthcare system. Changes in the healthcare model are advocated on an individual, corporate, and government level. It is proposed that improvements can be made through the metrication of personal health statistics, the use of electronic medical records, and the conversion of American healthcare into a market-based system with widely accessible quality ratings. These recommendations are targeted to voters and policymakers interested in improving the American healthcare system. Thesis (S.B. in Expository Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies, 2006.; Includes bibliographical references and index. 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/43168 All that is worth remembering Young, Jessica Olivia In the December of my Senior year, my old piano teacher died. Old not in the sense of age, because he was really quite young (in general, but specifically to die), but in the sense that I took lessons from him when I was a kid and young adult (how I despise that term), and hadn't spoken with him, at least not at length, in years. Standing at his wake-only the second I'd been to in my life and the first that was more than a small room of silent people and the acrid smell of lilies-I found myself, awkwardly, taking notes. The colors of the wall, the kids running around, the food, the music, the speeches-I knew I would write a poem about it there was so much to communicate about the experience of finding Tim, learning from him, and then losing him. Too much irony and beauty, tragedy and honesty. Too much love and loss. So I took notes on a piece of paper with lyrics to "Hallelujah" on it, borrowing a pen from my high school best friend. The paper sat next to my computer for a couple of weeks, and then it sat in a pile of papers on my desk for a few more. Then a pile of papers and magazines and readings on my floor, by my desk. Then a mass of rubbage on the floor, in the corner of my room. Then covered over by clothing and other unfinished business. And though I literally buried the physical evidence, the words on the paper swarmed through my head, never coalescing into an image, a poem. Though my original thoughts were on the paper, the true words never came to me. Despite my notes, despite my unceasing emotion, I couldn't find a way to express what it all meant to me. I tried. Many times in thought, and four times on paper. Four distinct poems came out-all with repeated elements that signal to me what I find most extraordinary in the experience. Yet I was not able to sit back and say, "This is it. This is my poem for Tim. This does him justice, does me justice." I think, sometimes, the words exist in a puddle, but cannot be gathered together. And pressures such as a deadline of, say, a thesis, force us to make something of the muck. But when it comes down to it, even after writing my 4th poem on this same experience, the words just aren't there. Sometimes they just don't come together. This doesn't mean that they won't ever, and it doesn't mean that what I've written is without value.., it just means that I'm not ready to write the poem that I literally ache to get out of me. The good news is that with each attempt I find something new. With my latest (the fourth attempt), a villanelle, I found that more than the color of the walls at the wake or the kids running around the mourners, I am struck by the shear gravity of loss-what it means to unexpectedly lose someone you never thought about losing. What it means to have nothing but a memory of someone. Whether that's what I was ready to discover, or whether the strict form of the villanelle forced me to, I do not know. But I do know that, despite losing the richness of details, there is something very moving, at least to me, about the villanelle's surface-layer simplicity. Perhaps this is my signal that Tim's death meant something more symbolic to me than literal. I'm still not sure. But I am sure that I would like to share this process with you... the process, for me, of figuring out the world and my place in it, via the process of recording my experiences through poetry ... Thesis (S.B. in Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies, 2006. 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/43166 Tennessee waltz Lewis, Allison (Allison Carol) Tennessee Waltz is a collection of short stories, set in Memphis, Tennessee, about the lives of three characters, a mother, daughter, and grandmother. These stories raise a series of questions: What is absolute? What is right and wrong? What are God and heaven? What is beauty? What is love? Centered around the death of the grandfather, Tennessee Waltz addresses these questions and tells how these three women come to understand their mortality by learning to have faith in each other. Thesis (S.B. in Creative Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies, 2004. 2004-01-01T00:00:00Z