Lower bound techniques for data structures

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (p. 135-143).We describe new techniques for proving lower bounds on data-structure problems, with the following broad consequences: * the first [omega](lg n) lower bound for any dynamic problem, improving on a bound that had been standing since 1989; * for static data structures, the first separation between linear and polynomial space. Specifically, for some problems that have constant query time when polynomial space is allowed, we can show [omega](lg n/ lg lg n) bounds when the space is O(n - polylog n). Using these techniques, we analyze a variety of central data-structure problems, and obtain improved lower bounds for the following: * the partial-sums problem (a fundamental application of augmented binary search trees); * the predecessor problem (which is equivalent to IP lookup in Internet routers); * dynamic trees and dynamic connectivity; * orthogonal range stabbing. * orthogonal range counting, and orthogonal range reporting; * the partial match problem (searching with wild-cards); * (1 + [epsilon])-approximate near neighbor on the hypercube; * approximate nearest neighbor in the l[infinity] metric. Our new techniques lead to surprisingly non-technical proofs. For several problems, we obtain simpler proofs for bounds that were already known.by Mihai Pǎtraşcu.Ph.D

Space-time tradoffs for graph properties

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1998.Includes bibliographical references (p. 83-84).by Yevgeniy Dodis.M.S

Commercializing Ideologies : Intellectuals and Cultural Production at the Mingxing (Star) Motion Picture Company, 1922 - 1938

This dissertation presents an in-depth look at a pioneering Chinese film company, the Mingxing (Star) Motion Picture Company, and reveals the ways in which intellectual ideas were transformed into part of commercial films as well as the implications of this production in a time of drastic social change in China. This study based on a wide range of primary source materials revises the conventional history of early Chinese cinema in many respects. I challenge the conventional categorization of screenwriters and directors along political or ideological lines and argue that cultural production at the commercial film company facilitated the dissemination of intellectual ideas through a combination of commercial drives and joint efforts of many allegedly radically different groups of filmmakers. With the aim to look into the dynamic process of cultural production at Mingxing, this study is divided into three parts. Part One (Chapter 1) reconstructs the institutional and economic history of Mingxing. Part Two (Chapters 2-4) presents a revisionist analysis of film producers at Mingxing. By unfolding a network of interactions and entanglements between Mingxing?s film directors and screenwriters, I argue that these persons acted as an intermediary that bridged the intellectual world and the film industry. In Part Three (Chapters 5-7), I analyze the narrative and thematic motifs of Mingxing films and show that issues expressed in films generally resonated with the contemporary intellectual discourse on modernity and national salvation. In doing so, I demonstrate that cinema played a largely unrecognized role in China's modern transformation in its specific ways

De Xin Ying Shou [Heart and Hand in Accord]' and #Zhou You Dong XI [travelling round the East and West]'

The research was carried out in two parts. Part I investigated the Chinese culturophilosophical thoughts (Xin [Heart])-exploring the Chinese cultural thought through the Chinese brush and the Principle of Yin Yang [Negative-Positive], and surveying the Chinese philosophical thought through the doctrines and concepts of Taoism, Confucianism and Chan-ism [Zen Buddhism]. It then examined the principles of Chinese painting (Shou [Hand])-probing into Xie He's Liu Fa [The Six Canons], their reinterpretation and modification, and Shitao's Principle of Yihua [One-Stroke]. (The translation of early Chinese philosophical texts and painting treatises in Part I is a secondary contribution of the thesis. ) Using Part I as a basis, Part 11 looked into the Chinese landscape painting (Dong [East]) and European female-nude painting (Xi [West])-an art historical analysis leading to a discussion of the landscapes of Zhang Daqian (1899-1983) and female nudes of Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). It finally dealt with the comparison of Zhang's landscapes and Picasso's female nudes-a comparative scrutiny of two landscapes of Zhang and two female nudes of Picasso. (The comparison is one of the pioneer contributions to the area of comparative inquiry into twentieth-century Chinese painting and European painting. ) The result of the whole research is now presented by this thesis-divided into an introduction, eight chapters and a conclusion. The findings: (1) made clear the previously obscure and ambiguous ideas of the traditional Chinese aesthetics embodied in Chinese painting; (2) showed that both the Chinese culturo-philosophical thoughts and traditional painting principles continue to be revealed in Zhang's paintings; (3) verified that the paintings of Zhang and Picasso share many interesting common points of reference; and (4) offered a reassessment of Zhang's landscapes, and a fresh look at Picasso's female nudes from a cross-cultural perspective

Chinese sports policy and globalisation: the case of the Olympic movement, elite football and elite basketball

This thesis seeks to analyse to what extent, in what ways and with what success does the Chinese government seek to manage its interaction with sport globalisation in Olympic Movement, football and basketball? Held et al's (1999) conceptualisation of globalisation provides the major theoretical framework for the analysis. In order to analyse the behaviour of the Chinese state we adopt Houlihan's (1994) concepts of 'reach' and 'response' which focus attention on global actors and pressures external to the country and state (reach) and the capacity of states to determine their response. A set of quantitative and qualitative indicators of globalisation have been identified. Data were collected from a number of sources including official government documents, news media, and a series of 32 interviews with Chinese officials. The analysis reveals that the Chinese government has demonstrated a desire and a capacity to manage the impact of the Olympic Movement, global football and basketball on domestic sport practices; and second, the Chinese government has attempted, with reasonable success, to manage the impact of commercial interests on Chinese domestic football, basketball and other Olympic sports practices, elite athletes and professional clubs. However, a number of tensions exist: first, between the priorities of commercial clubs and national teams' development; and second, between the highly paid and internationally mobile 'star players' and the centrally controlled elite development system