Abstracts for Monday, February 25
12:30-1:00
Jarrett Ley, Queer Praxis: LGBTQ [Home]less Youth Center
The making of architecture demands both the highest attention and concern for the community for which it is intended as well as a willingness to capitalize on the built environment's inexorable relationship with societal conditions for the purposes of social justice. The growing LGBTQ equality movement has brought to light the alarming rate at which lesbian, gay , bisexual, transgender, and queer youth are experiencing homelessness in the United States. It is in response to this tragic reality that a LGBTQ Homeless Youth Center is being designed to serve those in need in the city of Washington, D.C. As an architectural intervention in the city's existing urban framework, the project seeks to generate a new mode of inhabitation for its user.
3:00-4:00
Kiah Hardcastle, A Population Density Domain Model for Ca-Inactivation of L-Type Ca Channels
We present a minimal whole cell model of stochastic domain Ca-mediated inactivation of low-density L-type Ca channels. Our approach avoids the computationally demanding task of resolving spatial aspects of global Ca signaling by using probability densities and associated moment equations to represent heterogeneous local Ca signals [Williams et al. Biophys J. 92(7):2311-28, 2007; Biophys J. 95(4):1689-703, 2008]. Using a minimal Markov chain model of an L-type Ca channel, simulated whole cell responses to a two-pulse voltage clamp protocol yield an inactivation function for the whole cell Ca current that is similar to - but may deviate from - that obtained by assuming instantaneous formation and collapse of Ca domains [Sherman, Keizer, Rinzel. Biophys J. 58(4):985-95, 1990]. Parameter studies reveal that when domain Ca formation and collapse are slow compared to channel kinetics (e.g., fast voltage-dependent gating), the population density description is required to accurately represent the dynamics of Ca inactivation of whole cell L-type currents.
Allison Oldham, Open Locating Dominating Sets on Infinite Grids
Open Locating Dominating sets are sets of vertices found on graphs which can be used in several theoretical and practical applications. They provide a general concept of domination on a given graph and this is commonly sought information. We investigate methods of finding Open Locating Dominating sets on several different types of infinite graphs. We also seek a Linear Program to find Open Locating Dominating sets on finite graphs.
4:30-5:30
Eli Dollarhide, 'That the Future may learn from the [reconstructed] Past:' Nationalism and Ritual Drama at Colonial Williamsburg
The story of the past is told through modern interpretations at museums and historic sites across the world. Since the 1970’s, scholars have critiqued western versions of history told at these sites as incomplete, often neglecting groups perceived to be at the edges of society (e.g. enslaved Africans, women, and lower-class workers). My project studies the response of one of America’s most well known historic sites, Colonial Williamsburg, to these critiques.
Recently, Colonial Williamsburg has introduced a new program of street theater performances, titled “Revolutionary City,” designed to provide a more inclusive picture of life in Williamsburg and to increase visitor engagement. Utilizing Victor Turner's theories of anthropological drama and qualitative interview data gathered from visitors this summer, my research asks: how does Revolutionary City function as a nationalistic, ritual drama? What sort of effect does the performance have on visitor/viewers? How does Revolutionary City work to provide redress for the crisis between an American past and present?
Jill Found, Exhibiting Slavery: How Plantation Museums in Virginia Represent Slavery
The plantations of Virginia were built on slavery. Today, many of these plantations operate as museums. In the commonwealth of Virginia at least 30 plantation museums focus on the colonial or early republic periods. Each of these museums must deal with how to represent the lives of the vast majority of the people who lived there — the human property of the owners. Academic historians have done considerable research concerning the lives of enslaved people and the system of slavery, creating a nuanced and diverse picture of slave life. While some museums erase any mentions of enslaved people from the landscape, others fully embrace the stories of the enslaved people on the plantation. Using visits to 28 plantation museums, this thesis examines how the interpretation differs across museums and what remains constant in the commonwealth.