09.24.08

Race and Gender in Politics

Posted in Cognitive Science, Education, Jacob Canon, Politics, Social Psychology, The Oscar Show, UVa College of Arts & Sciences, University of Virginia, elections, ethics, history, sociology at 11:04 am by Jacob Canon

In today’s show, we introduce the Moderator and UVa Faculty panel participating in the Race and Gender in Politics Forum being held tomorrow evening at 7:00 PM at the Miller Center of Public Affairs, located at 2201 Old Ivy Road, in Charlottesville, VA.  This event is free to the public.

With the election season upon us, and the diverse nature of the major candidates, Americans are faced with unique challenges when they go to the polls this November 4th.  With the notable exception of Geraldine Ferraro in 1984, the major candidates for the office of President of the United States have been white males.  But this election season, both major political parties have offered candidates that begin to explore the multicultural basis of our nation.

Tomorrow evening, September 25th at 7:00PM, the Miller Center of Public Affairs will be hosting the UVa Faculty Round Table on Race and Gender in Politics.   This event is sponsored by the University of Virginia’s Arts & Sciences Magazine will be Moderated by Douglas A Blackmon, the Atlanta bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal.  This forum will discuss many of the issues that face the electorate this season.  The panel will include UVa faculty members, Paul Freedman, Brian Nosek, Lynn Sanders, Vesla Weaver and Nick Winter.

The moderator, Douglas A. Blackmon, has written extensively about the American quandary of race.  Many of his stories in The Wall Street Journal have explored the interplay of wealth, corporate conduct and racial segregation.

Associate Politics Professor Paul Freedman, has written about the negative advertising that is present in American politics, and has come to the conclusion that this type of discourse has positive effects in educating the public concerning issues. Freedman found that voters who saw more campaign advertising were more energized and knowledgeable.

Associate Professor of Psychology Brian Nosek’s interest in politics emerged while he was doing research in implicit cognition, which examines thought and feeling outside of awareness and control. His data suggests that some political choices we make may be influenced by “implicit” feelings toward blacks, women or the aged without us even realizing it.

Associate Politics Professor Lynn Sanders, has found another dynamic at work in the American political system. Sanders research has found there are differences in survey data received depending on the race of the interviewer and interviewee. If they are the same race, prejudices are more likely to be revealed.  She found this evidenced by the differing results in the public vote of caucus states versus the private vote found in primaries states during the recent Democratic campaign.

Assistant Politics Professor Vesla Weaver’s research has detailed the disparities between the outcomes of whites to darker- and lighter-skinned blacks and Hispanics, including lower incomes, high incarceration rates and higher execution rates for the dark-skinned. Her data appears to show that the gradient of skin tone also appears to have an effect, and that this disparity carries over to politics as well.

Assistant Politics Professor Nick Winter’s book, Dangerous Frames explores the ways that political leaders can mobilize our ideas about race and gender in ways we don’t realize; his current project is exploring the ways that ideas about masculinity and femininity shape political discourse and public opinion.

So, as this multicultural dynamic changes the Presidential debate continues across America, you are invited to the Miller Center tomorrow evening, September 25th at 7:00 PM to hear this panel discuss gender and race and how they effect the political landscape.

The Miller Center address is 2201 Old Ivy Road, Charlottesville, VA.  For more information or direction to the event please call 434-243-8974 or email Cristina Martinez de Andino at clm6q@virginia.edu.

For those who can’t attend, you can watch the forum online by going to www.millercenter.org and the link will appear on the home page shortly before the panel starts.

You’ve been listening to the Oscar Show, I’m Jacob Canon. Join us next week when we will follow up this show with comments and reflections from the UVa Faculty Roundtable concerning Race and Gender in Politics.

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09.17.08

The Heart of the Matter

Posted in Boson, Energy, Higgs, Jacob Canon, Physics, The Oscar Show, UVa College of Arts & Sciences, University of Virginia at 11:04 am by Jacob Canon

In today’s show, adapted from an article written by Fariss Samarrai, Senior News Officer  with the Office of Public Affairs, we discuss the research of a multi-institutional team of scientists, including Bob Hirosky, a University of Virginia associate professor of physics, and their attempt to verify or refute the existence of the Higgs boson, which is theorized to be the essence of all matter, and the ultimate basis of everything in the universe.

Man’s eternal quest to understand the world we live in has led to a series of discoveries that questioned the conventional thinking of the time. In centuries past the great minds that have advanced human knowledge have either been lauded or treated as heretics.  Today’s more tolerant and informed world of science has delved into the deep reaches of space, as well as the smallest inner workings of all matter.

Just recently, an international effort to understand the most basic structure of matter has yielded a particle that is critical to further understanding of the universe and its evolution.

The multi-institutional team of scientists, including Bob Hirosky, a University of Virginia associate professor of physics, has announced the first observation of pair production of Z bosons, force-carrying particles in electroweak interactions, in proton-antiproton collisions.

Properties of the ZZ diboson particle states make this discovery an essential prelude to eventually confirming—or refuting—the existence of the Higgs boson, which is theorized to be the essence of all matter, and the ultimate basis of everything in the universe.

The basic structure of matter evolved from the first nanoseconds after the Big Bang.  This explosion of energy is now generally accepted throughout the science community as the creative force of the universe. And a better understanding of the basic makings of everything could provide insight into how the universe will further evolve.

Hirosky said, “What we learn could lead to new interpretations of the forces of nature and possibly to an understanding of dark matter, the mysterious substance that is believed to contribute the bulk of the mass of the universe.”

The experiments were carried out at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermilab near Chicago, home of the Tevatron, a high-energy particle accelerator.

The accelerator collides intense beams of proton and anti-protons. The collisions shatter the protons, producing new particles and allowing physicists to study the most basic elements of matter and forces that form the basis of all matter.

A new, much higher energy collider, the $3.2 billion Large Hadron Collider near Geneva on the Franco-Swiss border, went  online September 10, 2008, and may ultimately prove whether the elusive Higgs particle exists.

Hirosky said, “Only about one in 10 billion collisions might produce a pair of Z dibosons, which we observed. The Higgs is predicted to be at least 10 times rarer than the ZZ. Our observation of ZZ puts us deeper into Higgs territory. The observation of ZZ is perhaps the last experimental stepping stone before finding the Higgs.”

The questions that remain to be answered ultimately will create new questions.  Whether the Higgs particle’s existence is proven or refuted, the scientific quest of man to explain the world we live in continues to bring the understanding  that we seek.

You’ve been listening to the Oscar Show, I’m Jacob Canon. Join us for our next show, when  we introduce the Moderator and UVa Faculty panel participating in the Race and Gender in Politics Forum being held tomorrow evening at 7:00 PM at the Miller Center of Public Affairs, located at 2201 Old Ivy Road, in Charlottesville, VA.  This event is free to the public.

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09.10.08

Identifying Reasons for Hamstring Pulls

Posted in Engineering, Jacob Canon, The Oscar Show, UVa College of Arts & Sciences, University of Virginia, physical health, physiology, stress at 11:04 am by Jacob Canon

In today’s show, adapted from an article written for the U.Va. Engineer , the Alumni Magazine of the UVA School of Egineering and Applied Science, by freelance writer Charlie Feigenoff, we discuss the research of Silvia Salinas Blemker, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, who is trying to identify reasons and mechanics of hamstring pulls.

When the world’s best sprinters stepped up to the mark at the 100 meter final during this summer’s Olympic Games in Peking, they were moments away from subjecting their leg muscles to thousands of pounds of force as they fought to be first across the finish line less than 10 seconds later. By and large, their leg muscles handled the strain well, but inevitably one or more of these elite runners, despite intense conditioning, will suffer a hamstring pull during the track and field season.

As Silvia Salinas Blemker, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Virginia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science has said,  “Of all the muscles that work together when we run quickly, the muscles in the hamstring group are most subject to injury, and one particular hamstrings muscle, the biceps femoris long head, is most commonly injured.”

Blemker has the expertise in three-dimensional muscle modeling to find out why this muscle is so susceptible to pulls. Collaborating with Darryl Thelen, an associate professor of mechanical engineeering at the University of Wisconsin, she has embarked on a project to identify the points of strain as the biceps femoris moves dynamically and compare it to the other two hamstring muscles. Their research is supported by a four-year, $1.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

The hamstrings run along the back of the thigh and attach on both sides of the knee joint. They are responsible for pulling the foot from the ground with each stride. In the past, researchers treated these muscles like anatomical rubber bands, uniformly elastic along their length.

Blemker said, “This simplistic view made it difficult to understand why one muscle is prone to injury while another isn’t.”
Blemker’s approach is more detailed.  She has developed models that incorporate the muscle’s intricate internal geometry, which she is combining with a model of the whole-body dynamics of sprinting, developed by Thelen.  By combining the model of the hamstrings with the framework provided by Thelen, Blemker will be able to predict how the muscle behaves in the course of real movement.

Blemker and Thelen face a number of challenges. The first is to merge these two models.  Second, they then have to validate their new model by comparing predictions with MRI-imaging techniques that measure muscle strain distribution.
Blemker said, “Ultimately, we hope to learn how the internal structure of muscle changes when it is injured, which will help us suggest more effective rehabilitation strategies.”

As director of the U.Va. Multiscale Muscle Mechanics Laboratory, Blemker is also developing computational models that connect the properties of muscle fibers and the extracellular matrix that binds them together with the properties of the muscle as a whole. This line of research will help us understand how aging and diseases such as cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy affect muscles.

Blemker’s work straddles several fields. She has appointments in biomedical engineering and orthopedic surgery as well as mechanical and aerospace engineering, but muscles have always been her focus. “I’ve been fascinated by the fact that muscles, which are so strong, are so easily injured,” she said. “Now I am finding out why.”

You’ve been listening to the Oscar Show, I’m Jacob Canon. Join us for our next show, when we will well discuss the research of a multi-institutional team of scientists, including Bob Hirosky, a University of Virginia associate professor of physics, and there attempt to verify or refute the existence of the Higgs boson, which is theorized to be the essence of all matter, and the ultimate basis of everything in the universe.

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09.03.08

Energy Efficient Smart Climate Controls

Posted in Energy, The Oscar Show, UVa College of Arts & Sciences, University of Virginia, climate, efficiency, electricity, environmental conditions, fuel costs, sensory inputs, technology, visual processing at 11:04 am by Jacob Canon

In today’s show, adapted from an article written by Brevy Cannon, general assignment writer for UVa’s Office of Public Affairs, we discuss the research of Ron Williams, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, and his teams research of how to make more intelligent climate control systems, to aid in energy efficiency.

It’s not a new energy-saving concept to turn down your thermostat at night, or leave your air conditioner off when no one is home. A research team plans to take that concept to the next level by using automated sensors and sophisticated software to enable heating and cooling systems to respond to the number of occupants in a room at any given time.

The research team, which recently won a new UVa Collaborative Sustainable Energy Seed Grant worth about $30,000 to investigate how to make more intelligent climate control systems, includes Ron Williams, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, fellow electrical and computer engineer Paxton Marshall, John Quale, an assistant professor of architecture and director of UVa’s ongoing ecoMOD project, which involves studies of the energy efficiency of modular housing prototypes, and Cheryl Gomez, UVa’s director of utilities.

Williams said, “The volume of outside air that must be heated or cooled when 20 people are in a room is double that needed for 10, opening the possibility of significant energy savings from a climate control system that can respond to occupancy.” The most cost-effective measures to ensure adequate energy supplies and reduce greenhouse gas emissions come from energy conservation rather than new energy technologies.

Williams went on to say, “the idea of “intelligent building control” has been around since the 1970s. Only in recent years have computers and networking technology become so powerful and inexpensive that they could potentially be widely implemented in buildings at costs that could be justified in energy savings. Because the overall electric supply system is only about 33 percent efficient from fuel to end use, a one-unit reduction in consumption saves three units of new energy supply.

Williams has estimated that occupant-sensing technology could produce as much as a 9 percent energy savings during the heating season, but said he would be happy with even 2 to 3 percent energy savings.

To help keep down the cost of such systems, the U.Va. research team will create a sophisticated, but simple-to-customize, computer model of a building space that accounts for how the occupants and outside temperatures impact heating and cooling needs.

The team will monitor one University space, a student activity room called “The Forum” in the Observatory Hill Dining Hall, seeking to better match the amount of heating and cooling of the space to the precise number of occupants, without diminishing their perceived comfort.

Williams said, “the schedule of reservations for the room will be used as a starting point for predicting occupancy.” The team will install sensors — probably video cameras with image recognition software — to detect the comings and goings of people.

The team will correlate the occupancy data; predicted and actual, with measurements of air temperatures; inside and outside, air flows and electricity usage, to gradually improve their software model and controls.

The detecting poses several challenges, since people often come and go through the double doors in large groups and clumps, sometimes in both directions at once. Williams said, “it’s straightforward engineering, but — like the iPod — there are a lot of little problems that have to be overcome to make it all come together.I actually view this is as more of an embedded computing and information management problem rather than an energy management problem.”

Gomez said that she hopes that energy savings realized by this research can eventually be implemented more widely around Grounds. About one-third of the University’s 13.3 million square feet of space (in about 550 buildings) has been built or renovated since 1999, meaning the climate control systems are modern enough that they would benefit from intelligent building controls. In much of the rest, the heating and cooling systems are antiquated or in need of upgrades and would be largely unresponsive to short-term thermostat changes.

Gomez went on to say, “this problem has not yet been addressed aggressively, other “lower hanging fruit” offered more energy savings for lower costs, like installing fluorescent bulbs, LEDs and low-flow fixtures across Grounds… reducing climate control costs may be one of the next targets for saving energy at UVa.”

You’ve been listening to the Oscar Show, I’m Jacob Canon. Join us for our next show, when we will well discuss the research of Silvia Salinas Blemker, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, trying to identify reasons and mechanics of hamstring pulls.

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