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.
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- Creators: Harrington Bioengineering Program
Description
Arizona Then and Now: Exploring Arizona's Five Cs Through Photography is a photographic exploration of the evolution of Arizona's five Cs: cotton, copper, citrus, cattle, and climate. This project first looks to the past to see how these five elements shaped the state of Arizona. Photographs were taken across the valley of these elements, or lack thereof, discovering what Arizona has transformed into in the process. Each chapter of the book begins with a brief history of the element focused on in that chapter, followed by an analytical thought about the photographs taken and how the element has evolved. Each chapter shows two historical photographs followed by a series of photographs taken during the project that the author thought depicted what is seen today. The book ends on a final positive note about how the five Cs are not dead, but soon could be completely taken over. This project was a way for a non-art major to explore the state that she grew up while also challenging herself by more than just taking pictures. The photographs displayed in the book depict a sampling of what the author saw that is left of the five Cs.
ContributorsRusk, Devon Nicole (Author) / Klett, Mark (Thesis director) / Danh, Binh (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The Community Action Research Experiences (CARE) program collaborated with Singleton Moms, a local non-profit organization that provides financial, psychological, and social support services to single parents with cancer. The purpose of this action research project was to assess the volunteer program at Singleton Moms. Both past and present Singleton Moms' volunteers (N = 123; 87.0% female) completed an online survey assessing their motivation for volunteering and their satisfaction with the organization. A mixed ANOVA was conducted to identify the most important motivation and satisfaction domains and to see if the findings depended on whether the volunteers were current or past volunteers. For the motivation assessment, results indicated that the volunteers rate the cancer specific and moral/human kindness domains as the strongest reasons for motivating them to volunteer at Singleton Moms. In addition, results revealed that the social connection motivation domain was the only domain with differences between the ratings of the past and present volunteers. For the satisfaction assessment, results indicated that the volunteers rate the organizational climate domain as the most fulfilled area of satisfaction within the Singleton Moms' volunteer program. It was also revealed that there were no significant differences between the ratings of the past and present volunteers among all satisfaction domains. Both the quantitative and qualitative findings suggest that Singleton Moms' implications for action may include: 1) a volunteer database audit, 2) streamlining communications, 3) variability in volunteer times, and 4) bolstering volunteer motivation. Implementing some of these actions may help Singleton Moms increase volunteer motivation and satisfaction and thus create a more effective volunteer program. Ultimately, this may encourage volunteers to continue their services at Singleton Moms and thus help Singleton Moms expand their support programs and assist additional families.
ContributorsDubois, Courtney Michelle (Author) / Miller, Cindy (Thesis director) / Dumka, Larry (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of injury related death in the United States. The complexity of the injury environment that follows TBI creates an incomplete understanding of all the mechanisms in place to regulate chemotactic responses to TBI. The goal of this project was to develop a predictive in silco model using diffusion and autocrine/paracrine signaling specific to stromal cell derived factor-1α (SDF-1α) gradient formation after TBI and compare this model with in vivo experimental data. A COMSOL model using Fickian diffusion and autocrine/paracrine reaction terms was generated to predict the gradient formation observed in vivo at three physiologically relevant time points (1, 3, and 7 days). In vivo data was gathered and analyzed via immunohistochemistry and MATLAB. The spatial distribution of SDF-1α concentration in vivo more consistently demonstrated patterns similar to the in silico model dependent on both diffusion and autocrine/paracrine reaction terms rather than diffusion alone. The temporal distribution of these same results demonstrated degradation of SDF-1α at too rapid a rate, compared to the in vivo results. To account for differences in behavior observed in vivo, reaction terms and constants of 1st-order reaction rates must be modulated to better reflect the results observed in vivo. These results from both the in silico model and in vivo data support the hypothesis that SDF-1α gradient formation after TBI depends on more than diffusion alone. Future work will focus on improving the model with constants that are specific to SDF-1α as well as testing methods to better control the degradation of SDF-1α.
ContributorsFreeman, Sabrina Louise (Author) / Stabenfeldt, Sarah (Thesis director) / Caplan, Michael (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Despite its well-documented preference for much more humid climates, the yellow fever mosquito, or Aedes aegypti, has inhabited Arizona since 1951. Their presence is of great concern as they can transmit many deadly diseases, including yellow fever, chikungunya, Zika, and dengue fever, putting the residents of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area at risk. Maricopa County Vector Control has made an extensive effort to reduce this risk mainly through the act of fogging insecticides during the night in areas where mosquito numbers exceed a threshold. However, given the well-known temperature-toxicity relationships in insect species, fogging at night may be less or more effective —depending on the relationship— due to the colder temperatures at these times. Additionally, insecticide resistance testing has always been performed at temperatures not usually experienced during fogging, adding to the uncertainty on how useful those test outcomes are. This study took the first steps in determining the effects of temperature on the toxicity of a commonly used insecticide, deltamethrin, on Aedes aegypti by developing a dose response curve on a lab strain at a standard lab temperature of 25°C by performing a CDC bottle bioassay. The diagnostic dose was found to be 50 μg/mL and the lethal dose, 50% (LD50, the dose required to kill half of the test mosquitoes) was found to be 9 μg/mL. Future testing would need to be completed to compare the deltamethrin dose response curve developed in this study with deltamethrin dose response curves at various different temperatures.
ContributorsEl Sheikha, Mariam D (Co-author) / El Sheikha, Mariam (Co-author) / Paaijmans, Krijn (Thesis director) / Huijben, Silvie (Committee member) / Kalmouni, Joshua (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05