Soo I was just wondering, what exactly are the research interests and experiences of Insiders users? I think we can divide it into: 1) Research conducted 2) Research Topics Interested in; in regards to your chosen major 3) Research Topics you are randomly interested in but would most probably never explore due to the nature of you academic major!

1) N/A

2) I'm an Economics and Sociology Double Major: For Economics I am REALLY interested in this emerging field called "Behavioral Economcs". It deals with Irrational behaviour and its consequences on old school economic theories. Economics is a somewhat arrogant and proud institution that relies on hypothetical assumptions(i.e: The entire Free Market and Keynesian Monetary Intervention theory) and completely ignores corruption, incompetence and other variables. In other words it looks at the larger market picture and ignores how individual "bad/irrational" economic descisions affect things by adding up over the long run. There are people like Joseph Stiglitz and Andrei Schliefer who have been prominent in this field but have largely been ignored. Another possible area of interest is the economics of Debt obligation collaterals real estate/mortgages and the housing and pension investment industry.

For Sociology I'm not really sure but it has something to do with Educational achievement in Upper vs Working Classes. Experiences of Immigrant Populations and the use of religion in exploitation of lower classes into Islamic Extremism.

3) I'm really Interested in Astrophysics but sadly having not done anything above Highschool Physics I am for now incapable of compreheding more complicated academic articles in this field(As compared to Arts subjects). I have been unable to get into Astro 1F03 and Origins 2B03 so :(

My Second interest is Neuroscience and genetic manipulation of the human Brain. It is probably sci fi but I have always heard that the average human being only uses around 7-9% of his brain power(how they came up with that idea I would never know) and Einstein used around 14%(Hence his Brain is in display on a museum somewhere.) So there is limitless potential to what we can achieve if we somehow unlock/focus all that power: Telekinesis, levitation, scientific development, Sixth/Spidey Sense and all sorts of cool stuff. As you can see I've clearly been watching Fringe and imagining about Cortexophan FAR too much here
Somewhere along the line I even though it is plausible that people can be genetically altered to grow wings! lol

Another random thing I have is to track down how the soccer tactics/playing style, social behaviour, Industries, Art, Food and even Cars are a direct representation of Charachteristics allocated to various nations in the world. Example Germans are tough, lack a sense of humour, sophisticated, cold, disciplined and hence alot of things reflect the same charachteristics like their football team is the most physically imposing and tactically rigid in the world and they are the creators of Porsche and Mercedes. Both cars are technologicaly superior and very well built but most importantly very stable with almost no drama!

Compare that with Italian Cars(Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Alfa Romeos) who are very flamboyant and passionate(Just like the people). American cars are big, fiesty and lack any sort of finesse(aka Muscle Cars). French Cars are as rubbish as their army(no offence to any French reading this ), Chinese/Korean made cars lack any sort of inspiration whatsoever!
In other words how all of these social differences developed over time even though the countries aren't that far apart on the map(especially in Europe).

Oh Oh!
According to Dr. Norman Doidge, the human brain uses much more than that rumoured 10%. We have a "use it or lose it" brain. Our brain functions like the housing market before 2008. Every square inch however, is prime real estate.
Let's say you do Math on a regular basis and then move into a field where math is no longer required. Let's say....um....(I can't think of anything)...chocolate tasting. Your brain does not save the portions dedicated to math just for math. Neighbouring areas compete for and obtain that area of the brain.

To answer your question.
1. Not applicable.
2. I'm new to commerce and interested in learning all I can about it before finding which areas I prefer to focus on.
3. I'd like to participate in research in various fields. I'd like to learn more about economics and stocks, and international trade. I would love to participate in pediatric research or geriatric research. Those are the two areas that I can instantly say I'm incredibly passionate about. I'd love to learn about neuroscience and neurology but would be faced with a lot of ethical dilemmas as to whether I could deal with testing on animals. I'd like to help do research that changes people's quality of life such as stroke victims or cardiac patients so that people can have their loved ones in their lives for longer. I'd also feel honoured to participate in cancer or autism research or any research done by Sick Kids

I think it'd be more appropriate to put the research I'm interested in first so as to provide a bit of information into my background.

2) Research Interests:

I spent 3 years in Kinesiology attempting to 'double major' in Kinesiology and Mathematics. When I was told this was not possible, I was faced with a difficult decision regarding which direction to choose...Ultimately, I always had to struggle to study the Kinesiology information while Math came naturally...and it seems as though fewer people go into Pure (Abstract) Math and since I feel confident and capable in this field, I decided to give it my all, and in my 4th year took 12 Math courses.

In Kinesiology, I loved Biomechanics, particularly Spinal Stability (how much your spine 'reverberates' if you will, when you do various actions like standing up, or throwing a baseball), as well as Ergonomics, particularly the analysis and repair of employee workspaces, relating to lifts, loads and spinal damage.

As for Math, I'm very interested in Pure Math. I'm not as fond of 'applied' Math fields, like solving equations or modelling natural phenomena, and instead like the bare essentials which have no roots in the real world (but still have applications to the real world).

In particular my interests lie in Mathematical Logic, Differential Geometry, (which is the Mathematical language of Cosmology and Astrophysics(, as well as Point Set Topology and Algebraic Topology. Topology is sometimes called the "Geometry of Rubber sheets." Usually when I say Geometry people know what I'm refering to, shapes, various objects which you can measure. Topology is a generalization of Geometry, where lengths and angles are immeasurable. Basically this means, you can stretch, compress and bend objects and they are the exact same object!

To a geometer, a circle and a square are different structures...but to a topologist, they are they same! (Namely, they both have no holes, and I can squish a square so that it is round and becomes a circle). In a similar manner, a donut and a coffee mug both have exactly one hole...and so to a Topologist they are the same "Topological Space" or structure!




1) Research Conducted:

a) KINESIOLOGY:

-I did an ergonomics project on the LCBO's workspace for my ergonomics course. This may not seem like research, but I (along with my 3 colleagues) successfully redesigned the workplace! We used some methods of analysis, such as the Snook/MITAL tables, and Biomechanical Lifting Analyses. The paper is fairly official looking, and I'm pretty proud of it. (:

-I had two proposed research projects for a 4th year thesis, but I haven't conducted either project. One would be a quantitative assessment of spinal stability in mining truck drivers (not my idea, I would have been assisting a PhD student with their research).

-The other would be a qualitative assesment of the ergonomics of purses...sounds fruity doesn't it? I wanted to compare the incidence of poor posture, scoliosis, etc. in female populations based on what type of purses they use (long straps, short straps, backpack style, etc.) and how frequently they 'switched arms.'

b) MATHEMATICS:

I've currently been working on a problem in Point-Set Topology. Namely, I am trying to solve the question: Is |R^∞ Normal in the Box Topology?

This question is currently unsolved, and my attempts to answer it have been fruitless...but I'm trying nonetheless!

If anyone is interested, the following are the technical details of the project (Sorry if it's a bit too technical...but it has to be precise! Please skip it if you don't really care haha):

Definition: We say a Topological Space is Normal if any two closed sets (of 'points') can be separated by disjoint ("Non-touching") open sets.

Definition: We call |R^∞ ("The Real numbers to the exponent infinity") the collection of all possible infinite sequences. Such as {1,2,...}, {1,11,111,...} etc. Even though it's very hard to visualize 'an object' this is a Topological Space!

Definition: If X is a Topological Space that is the 'cartesian product' of some number of Topological Spaces (|R^∞ is an infinite number of 'copies' of the Real Numbers), then we define a topology on X called the Box Topology by designating that open sets are the arbitrary cartesian product of open sets in each smaller Topological space. (I know this is very technical but I'm sorry ): )

-I've discovered, and proven, a very elegant construction of what is called Circular Inversion. To the layman, this can be explained as "Ok, I have a circle, and I have a point inside the circle. How do I "Mirror" this point to the outside of the circle?"

This is also a very important method for contructing multiplicative inverses. That is, if I have line segment of length n, I can construct the length 1/n, without using a ruler.

-I've also used Fourier Analysis to sum a series...but after the rigorous details I've posted above, I don't want to bore anyone, haha.

3) Other Interests:

I have a few, but I'm pretty occupied at the moment with the research I've posted above.

Very interesting, can I ask if this is your thesis?

I can see many applications for this in cad for topology, topological vector spaces and geometry.

Keep up the good work.

Lol Mike pretty damn Interesting!

But I suppose you are happier that you switched towards maths right?

I mean if someone asks you in 5 years time what your graduating thesis was: "purses" wouldn't be that impressive an answer would it?

Originally Posted by huzaifa47

I mean if someone asks you in 5 years time what your graduating thesis was: "purses" wouldn't be that impressive an answer would it?

Hey, if I found out that a certain type of purse lead to lower back pain, I'd be God's gift to women. xD (Ok probably not! Haha)

I'm always worried that if in five years I say my thesis was something like "Completeness properties of the Mike Space" people will look at me like I'm eccentric. But then...maybe I will be, if I name something the "Mike Space." xD

In order to prevent this, I've already promised to name my first discovery (if any :p) after my better half, haha.

----------------------------

Unfortunately though, in Math I really don't know a whole lot yet! Like there are some prodigies who have made important discoveries while being an undergraduate student, but it really is quite rare, and I'm nothing close to a prodigy, haha. It really is a case of "The more you learn, the more you realize you don't know." Math and Physics are (in my opinion) the worst incidences of this. Steven Hawking gave some kind of memorable quote of this sort, refering to Cosmology.

But anyway my point is, I'm really not qualified to do any really useful research yet...so in answering Bobby66, it wasn't really a thesis, and it probably isn't important enough to merit being a thesis. (: I'm basically just hoping to get lucky, and acting like a hot shot undergrad, hoping I can look at a rather pointless problem in an original way and come up with an answer before someone else does. xD

I probably know enough math to solve a lot of applied problems (like in say, economics, or physics) but when it comes to 'coming up with new ideas in Math' I'm very far from qualified. That construction I mentioned though, I think for an undergraduate is rather impressive, because I took two seemingly unrelated ideas, combined them in a creative way, and came up with an entirely new, faster method of doing this. My professor, whom I had shown, was initially a skeptic. Haha.

(BTW Huzaifa, I mentioned that Differential Geometry was the language of Astrophysics. (: Maybe you should look into that at some point!)

Ooooh fun.

I assume you mean more than just research for a singular paper, but areas that have served you in multiple ways and/or you research in your spare time?

Major Research Conducted:

• Altruistic qualities of Subcomandante Marcos of the Zapatista (undergrad thesis I)
• The affects of the media on our "desires", depictions of our enemies, politics etc

Forthcoming Research

• Compare and contrast the depictions of the Quileute culture and folklore from the La Push reservation in Washington in the Twighlight series to that of their actual folklore and culture from the Nation's website as well as other scholarly (although likely biased) info from anthropological accounts etc. How Jacob (one of the primary characters who is Quileute and also is able to shape-shift into a werewolf) is often described using the characteristics of the noble savage, but at the same time sometimes embodies characteristics of a trickster figure. (undergrad thesis II)

Stuff I'd like to research (in regards to my major(s))

• The racial politics that affect both the ELZN as a whole, but with a primary focus on Subcomandante Marcos.
• Ender from Ender's Game as a neo-Byronic hero
• How media depictions of Indigenous persons are affected their ability to pursue self-government/be accepted by the Canadian population
• How powwows are used as a form of spectacle to entice the non-Native population to "learn" about Native culture
• Rise of the 90's punk movement and how it differs from the original punk movement
• How stereotypes of the settler and Indigenous populations are affecting the relationships between the two different groups
• How tattoo culture has changed in North America from 1700 to the present
• The rise of the hardcore movement from 1995-2005

Stuff I'd like to Research That is Unrelated to my Degree Programs:

• Anything to do with Zoology, with a specific interest in any kind of mammal (ones I'd really like to look at: duck-billed platypus, zebra, bats).
• The pedigree system of dogs and how it is leading to the rise of genetic defects in breeds
• Figure out the Mayan solar calculations as well as mathematical and engineering calculations and use these to build a scale replica of some of their larger structures
• Figure out the Mayan pictograph system to better clarity

Originally Posted by lorend

Stuff I'd like to Research That is Unrelated to my Degree Programs:

• The pedigree system of dogs and how it is leading to the rise of genetic defects in breeds

Unfortunately, most of your research points went kinda *WHOOSH* ): I'm really kinda dumb when it comes to that kind of stuff, haha.

But I think this particular one is fascinating (along with the Mayans). Do you have a hypothesis? Or an idea of what it is exactly that's causing the increase? Is there some sort of trend? Is the rate of change of genetic defects on the rise?

Major Research Conducted:

• The affects of the media on our "desires", depictions of our enemies, politics etc

Can you summarize your findings? (: