Generating narrative through intelligent agents in digital games

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2012.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (page 25).An ongoing problem in game design is how to create story-based games that allow the player to have a variety of experiences if the game is played more than once, preferably without burdening the designer with a prohibitive workload. In this project, I approach the problem of creating a game with a mutable narrative from an AI perspective, designing a system called CharacterSimulator that generates a population of non-player characters (NPCs) with which the player will interact and assigns the NPCs a set of goals to carry out. Varying the set of NPCs and their objectives will create a different narrative experience for the player when the game is replayed. Although the NPC behaviors were originally modeled on Braitenberg vehicles, I have largely moved away from that model in the final version, focusing more on assigning NPCs goals that result in narratively interesting interactions.by Naomi A. Hinchen.M. Eng

A Study of the Relationship between Children’s Reading Ability and Their Physical Motor Competencies

This study, through controlled experimentation, will attempt to illustrate that physical education may have a favorable influence on reading achievement

Assessment of Gas-Surface Interaction Models for Computation of Rarefied Hypersonic Flow

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/76727/1/AIAA-36375-113.pd

Enabling microbial syringol conversion through structure-guided protein engineering

Microbial conversion of aromatic compounds is an emerging and promising strategy for valorization of the plant biopolymer lignin. A critical and often rate-limiting reaction in aromatic catabolism is O-aryl-demethylation of the abundant aromatic methoxy groups in lignin to form diols, which enables subsequent oxidative aromatic ring-opening. Recently, a cytochrome P450 system, GcoAB, was discovered to demethylate guaiacol (2-methoxyphenol), which can be produced from coniferyl alcohol-derived lignin, to form catechol. However, native GcoAB has minimal ability to demethylate syringol (2,6-dimethoxyphenol), the analogous compound that can be produced from sinapyl alcohol-derived lignin. Despite the abundance of sinapyl alcohol-based lignin in plants, no pathway for syringol catabolism has been reported to date. Here we used structure-guided protein engineering to enable microbial syringol utilization with GcoAB. Specifically, a phenylalanine residue (GcoA-F169) interferes with the binding of syringol in the active site, and on mutation to smaller amino acids, efficient syringol O-demethylation is achieved. Crystallography indicates that syringol adopts a productive binding pose in the variant, which molecular dynamics simulations trace to the elimination of steric clash between the highly flexible side chain of GcoA-F169 and the additional methoxy group of syringol. Finally, we demonstrate in vivo syringol turnover in Pseudomonas putida KT2440 with the GcoA-F169A variant. Taken together, our findings highlight the significant potential and plasticity of cytochrome P450 aromatic O-demethylases in the biological conversion of lignin-derived aromatic compounds

Plasma protein binding of prednisolone in normal volunteers and arthritic patients

The plasma binding of prednisolone was studied in twenty normal volunteers and twenty rheumatoid arthritis patients. An in vitro assessment of the binding following the addition of prednisolone, prednisone, and hydrocortisone to the plasmas obtained from the subjects showed significant differences in the percentage of prednisolone bound. However, the differences observed were regarded as clinically insignificant. The plasma protein binding was determined by an in vitro equilibrium dialysis of the individual plasma samples at 37° C. Prednisolone levels on both sides of the dialysis membrane were determined using radioactivity and HPLC analytical methodologies. The percentages of prednisolone bound calculated from the analytical results of either the radiochemical or HPLC method were not significantly different. The change in the percentage of prednisolone bound to plasma proteins was studied as a function of the total prednisolone plasma concentration in a normal volunteer and in a systemic lupus erythematosis patient. As a result of prednisolone binding to both transcortin and albumin, the binding of prednisolone changes as a function of prednisolone concentration. The binding data were fitted using nonlinear least squares regression, and the affinity constants for the binding of prednisolone to transcortin and albumin were estimated.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46638/1/228_2004_Article_BF00568200.pd

COPPER-INDUCED NEUROTOXICITY IN THE TELENCEPHALON OF AFRICAN WALKING CATFISH {CLARIAS GARIENPINUS) FOLLOWING CHRONIC DIETARY EXPOSURE

African walking catfish {Clarias Gariepinus) were fed diets supplemented with copper (1500 mg Cu/kg dry weight) alongside control fish fed diets with normal (15 mg cu/kg) levels of copper over a period of two months to assess the neurological consequences of dietary copper. Metal accumulation, lipid peroxidation, total glutathione, enzymology and brain histopathology were assessed. Copper failed to accumulate to any significant level within the brain tissue of exposed fish. No significant mortality or reductions in growth were seen in the exposed group. At the end of the experiment fish showed no significant elevation in lipid peroxidation products (thiobarbituric reactive acid substances, TBARs) or NaVK^ ATPase activity. However, the telencephalon exhibited an 89.4% reduction in total glutathione levels, and a 75.7% reduction in the activity of Acetylcholinesterase AChE) compared with control forebrains. Latency (time to first feed) was inversely correlated with appetite, which showed dramatic increases and decreases respectively by the end of the experiment. Keywords: Copper; Neurotoxicity; Catfish; Chronic exposure; Glutathione; AcetylcholinesteraseFaculty of scienc