Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
Alcohol use disorder is a major problem worldwide and can result in a number of significant physical, social and economic consequences. Specifically when comparing the prevalence of alcohol use disorders in the United States and Spain, it is much higher in the United States, at 13.9% compared with 1.5% in Spain. While there are a number of factors that contribute to a person’s risk, this thesis focuses on possible cultural explanations for these differences. After analyzing current literature surrounding alcohol trends and differing cultures in the US and Spain, the differences could be attributable to the dry drinking culture in the US, and the culture surrounding university - living and college towns in the US. The findings of this study suggest that culture, norms and attitudes surrounding drinking have a large impact on alcohol use disorder, and the US could benefit from implementing strategies to change these norms and attitudes surrounding alcohol, as well as train healthcare providers to have effective, brief counseling conversations.
Advancing the understanding and treatment of many neurological disorders can be achieved by improving methods of neuronal detection at increased depth in the mammalian brain. Different cell subtypes cannot be detected using non-invasive techniques beyond 1 mm from cortical surface, in the context of targeting particular cell types in vivo (Wang, 2012). These limitations in the depth of imaging and targeting are due to optical scattering (Ntziachristos, 2010). In order to overcome these restrictions, longer wavelength fluorescent proteins have been utilized by researchers to see tagged cells at depth. Optical techniques such as two-photon and confocal microscopy have been used in combination with fluorescent proteins to expand depth, but are still limited by the penetration depth of light due to optical scattering (Lee, 2015). This research aims to build on other detection methods, such as the photoacoustic effect and automated fluorescence-guided electrophysiology, to overcome this limitation.