UNG Annual Research Conference 2012

To students in an Introduction to Gender Studies course, perhaps the most stunning revelation the course offers is as follows: gender is much more complex than one might immediately assume. It is not a binary. It is not synonymous with sex. It is both an identity in which you define yourself and a set of expectations preordained by the social powers that be. Because my main interest in gender lies in its conceptualization beyond the binary of male and female, white, able-bodied, middle class, and Western, my aim is to delineate a reality of fault lines – that is, places wherein normative, mainstream beliefs about gender (and sex) break down, and areas in which gender ideals are defined differently for different groups. This study will highlight many of the cornerstones of modern constructions of gender through analysis of oppositional forces within these constructions. Therefore, this paper will deal partially with transgressive gender identity and some of the attendant complications, with respect to sociology, biology, and psychology. Faculty Adviser: April Kilinski

Constructions of Gender

We explore statistical advantages in specialized laser tag based on the game played in Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game. The game takes place between two teams in which a player is disabled when they are struck by all remaining players on the opposing team. Each team has a distinct number of players, and all players on a team are assumed to be equally likely to strike a target. A computer simulation models the game using different initial parameters, such as hit accuracy (specified as a probability), size of each team, and target selection strategy. Using these simulations we examine factors that could give one team an advantage. Such factors include smaller number of players, higher accuracy, and more strategic targeting. Faculty Advisers: John Holliday and Dianna Spence

Ender’s Game: Laser Tag Simulation

In an attempt toward improving our understanding of a functional unit that drives self-assembly of reflectin-based protein materials, a genetic engineering approach was applied for synthesis of a reflectin-based sequence of interest. A dimer, based on the reflectin 1a, domain 3 sequence, was constructed and cloned into an expression vector. Protein expression of the domain 3 (D3) dimer protein was carried out in a bacterial host and protein expression levels were evaluated with western blotting. Characterization of the D3 dimer protein is currently underway. Faculty Adviser: Holly E. Carpenter Desai

Genetic Engineering of Model Reflectin-based Protein Materials

The stereotypical Islamic treatment of women in fact predated Islam in the Near East. Restrictions on females in the ancient Middle East in the form of veiling, subordination to men and seclusion existed before Islam developed. The practice of misogyny simply continued with Islam as Muslims accepted the dominant social mores already established. Muhammad made slight improvements to the treatment of women, but not all of his efforts continued after his death. As the Islamic Empire expanded, the pre-existing mores towards women emerged dominant. Faculty Adviser: Tim May

The Status of Women in the Middle East

The purpose of our research is to apply graph theory and computer simulation using CUDA to explore the strategy of the game Gobblet Gobblers. This game is simpler than Gobblet but more sophisticated than tic tac toe. On a 3 x 3 grid, each player has three sized pieces, and larger pieces may be used to cover either player’s smaller pieces. In addition, pieces can be moved to another position on the board once played. A bipartite graph models the mapping between winning combinations and positions on the board. This graph model is used with a combinatorial approach to examine offensive and defensive strategies. The computer simulation is intended to produce exhaustive outcomes given a specific strategy. CUDA was chosen because of its ability to execute many scenarios in parallel. Tentative results include optimal beginning strategies for player one, as well as moves that put either player at a disadvantage. Faculty Advisers: John Holliday and Dianna Spence.

Simulation and Analysis of Strategy in a Variation of the Gobblet Game

The Southern Telescopes AGN Reverberation Experiment (STARE) is lead by Dr. Misty C. Bentz of Georgia State University in coordination with a consortium of telescopes and researchers worldwide. The goal of the experiment is to determine the central black hole masses for the active galactic nuclei (AGN) of four target galaxies. The target AGN were monitored from summer to autumn of 2011, and the photometric and spectroscopic data gathered by the consortium members is currently being reduced and consolidated. During the fall semester, the STARE group at North Georgia monitored two target AGN that were visible from our location. Thirteen students and faculty/staff in five observing teams monitored the targets up to 6 nights a week. We are currently reducing the photometry for more than 30 nights of observations from the fall semester. The final data reduced from each night’s observations are differential magnitude measurements through the B, V, R, I standard astronomical wide-band filters for each of the two target AGN. We present our resulting light curve, which will be consolidated with photometry from other STARE Consortium members to produce a high time resolution light curve showing brightness variations of the target AGN over the monitoring period. Faculty Adviser: Joseph Jones

STARE at North Georgia (Southern Telescopes AGN Reverberation Experiment)

The North Georgia Educational Radio Telescope (NERT) is a radio telescope consisting of an 8 foot diameter dish with a feed horn, low noise preamp, down converter and detector which can also function as a radio spectrograph. This system is designed to detect a radio-band centered on the 21 cm radio emission line of interstellar atomic hydrogen. Past extraterrestrial detections consist of both the first and second brightest radio sources in the sky, the Sun and supernova remnant Cassiopeia A. We present the results from radio observations of the 3rd brightest radio source in the sky, the radio galaxy Cygnus A. The observations consist of a series of transit scans varying from 28° N to 52° N declination, encompassing the region surrounding Cygnus A. The radio intensity data from the individual transit scans were combined to produce a radio image of the sky centered on Cygnus A with a field of view of approximately 25 by 50 degrees. Faculty Adviser: Joseph Jones

NERT: Radio Observations of Cygnus A.

X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy is a rapid and noninvasive technique for detecting and identifying chemical elements in both organic and inorganic samples. This project utilizes North Georgia's Molybdenum sealed-tube x-ray source and slightly-focusing polycapillary optic to measure the XRF from a large number of elemental and compound calibration samples. This data will then be used to quantitatively determine the chemical composition of future studied samples. Elemental and compound calibration samples have been acquired and measurements are underway. The experimental technique and some preliminary data will be presented. Faculty Adviser: Sarah Formica

Application of X-ray Flourescence Spectroscopy in the Analysis of Oil Paint Pigments

Nature is an excellent source of inspiration for scientists in the search for useful materials. There is an incredible and virtually unlimited diversity of natural products available for study. Our group is keenly interested in a protein material called “reflectin”. Reflectins are found naturally in the skin of squid and these protein polymers give rise to iridescent colored structures in these animals which aid them in sophisticated communication and camouflage behaviors. Reflectins are unusual in their composition and these natural polymers have very interesting spectral and optical properties. We are studying the unique structure of these materials in order to improve our understanding of how to control the colors of these materials. We have recently designed and synthesized a gene encoding reflectin and, though a collaboration with a research group at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California, we have achieved expression of the reflectin polymer in marine diatoms. Expression of reflectin in diatoms offers significant advantages over the current protocols for expression in bacterial host organisms. Future work will include characterization of reflectins in these unique marine algae. Faculty Adviser: Holly E. Carpenter Desai

Expression of Reflectin Proteins in Diatoms

Access to multimedia data and multimedia services is becoming increasingly common in networked mobile environments comprising of clients using mobile handheld devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), iPads and cellular devices. One of the natural limitations of typical handheld mobile devices is that they are resource constrained, i.e., constrained by their battery power capacity, viewing time limit and in many situations, by the available network bandwidth connecting them with video servers. A typical video server is also resource constrained in terms of its computing power and storage capacity and has to ensure efficient utilization of its resources in order to provide an optimal quality of service to its clients with minimal client-experienced latency. Thus, in mobile multimedia environments, the original video content often needs to be “transcoded” in order to fulfill the clients’ requests while satisfying simultaneously the various client-side and system-wide resource constraints. A motion panorama is an efficient and compact “transcoded” representation of the underlying video. In the project, sequential motion panorama algorithm is implemented and tested using video data in Matlab. Faculty Adviser: Yong Wei

UNG Annual Research Conference 2012

Items in this collection

Constructions of Gender

Ender’s Game: Laser Tag Simulation

Genetic Engineering of Model Reflectin-based Protein Materials

The Status of Women in the Middle East

Simulation and Analysis of Strategy in a Variation of the Gobblet Game

STARE at North Georgia (Southern Telescopes AGN Reverberation Experiment)

NERT: Radio Observations of Cygnus A.

Application of X-ray Flourescence Spectroscopy in the Analysis of Oil Paint Pigments

Expression of Reflectin Proteins in Diatoms

Motion Panorama

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Items in this collection

Constructions of Gender