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.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 50
Description
An English ballad several centuries old first introduced the world to a heroic outlaw named Robin Hood, who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. The theme is a familiar one and one that is currently playing out in the tale of Aereo and its founder; a modern day Robin Hood accused of stealing form the rich (television broadcast companies) and giving to the poor (consumers). This paper will explore Aereo, its founder Chet Kanojia and the legal battle between the broadcast networks and Aereo; look at the history of television and broadcasting, explore why Aereo was a threat to broadcast companies, examine the claims of legitimacy on both sides, review the Courts' rulings and finally make some predictions about Aereo's future and the future of technology, media and the law.
ContributorsFitzgerald, Darby Nicole (Author) / McGuire, Tim (Thesis director) / Dodge, Nancie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Late life domestic violence is essentially synonymous with domestic violence except that it specifically refers to older adults. Although there are many similarities between younger victims and older victims, there are also distinct differences. Older victims have unique risk factors and barriers, including generational factors that stem from socialization. Unfortunately, society lacks awareness of late life domestic violence. This is reflected in current state statutes as well as the limited services provided to victims of domestic violence. For example, there are currently elder abuse or dependent abuse adult statutes in every state, yet there is no statute that specifically addresses late life domestic violence. When it comes to services, many programs are geared toward younger victims and staff is typically not trained to work with older victims, so older victims often do not get the resources they need. Yet about 1 in 10 women over the age of 50 experience abuse by an intimate partner. This is a prevalent issue needing more attention. To bring awareness and educate people on this topic, a user friendly website was created that will provide information on late life domestic violence, resources for victims, and ways to share the information with others. The website provides information that will educate people on this issue, and also promotes advocacy for older victims.
ContributorsGarcia, Brittany Nicole (Author) / Bonifas, Robin (Thesis director) / Dodge, Nancie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social Work (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Generally, increasing the electrical size of an antenna will increase the directivity of the antenna. In the case of an array of identical antennas with uniform spacing, the electrical size can be increased by increasing the number of elements. However, directivity can be further increased by performing signal processing on the signals received by elements of an antenna array. This thesis focuses primarily on reproducing and expanding upon a method to increase the directivity of a two-element array using non-linear transmission lines periodically loaded with varactor diodes, which act as harmonic multipliers. Simulation and circuit design is performed using Keysight Advanced Design System, a microwave circuit simulation software package. Furthermore, a hardware implementation is discussed and recommendations are made for construction of the hardware array. Finally, possible expansion of the two-element array to a four or more element array is discussed, and preliminary simulations are examined.
ContributorsHanson, Elliot (Author) / Diaz, Rudolfo (Thesis director) / Aberle, James (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering (Contributor)
Created2015-05
DescriptionThe city of Siena is picturesque as an almost perfectly preserved medieval fortress in the heart of Tuscany. But the true beauty stems from its unique, family-oriented culture.
ContributorsPrice, Tea Francesca (Author) / Silcock, Bill (Thesis director) / Dell'Anna, Antonella (Committee member) / Dodge, Nancie (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The team has designed and built a golf swing analyzer that informs the user of his mistakes while putting with a golf club. The team also interfaced a Linux program with the analyzer that allows the user to review the flaws in his golf swing. In addition, the application is more personalized than existing devices and tailored to the individual based on his level of experience. The analyzer consists of an accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, vibration motor, and microcontroller that are connected on a board that attaches to the top of the shaft of a golf club, fitting inside a 3D printed case. The team has assembled all of the necessary hardware, and is able to successfully display critical parameters of a golf putt, as well as send instant feedback to the user. The final budget for this project was $378.24
ContributorsKaur, Hansneet (Co-author) / Cox, Jeremy (Co-author) / Farnsworth, Chad (Co-author) / Zorob, Nabil (Co-author) / Chae, Junseok (Thesis director) / Aberle, James (Committee member) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-12
Description
This project explores the history of technology and social media, and their impact on the music industry. Social media and music culture are part of a remix culture, which encompasses new ways of recreating old content. Social media is not a new phenomenon, but has existed for centuries in various forms, dating back to ancient cultures. Music is constantly changing due to the remix culture- each new music style is created by changing what exists to fit the individual musician's style. Technological advances pushed the music industry to change, from the start to audio recording, to the digital sharing that is present in 2015, creating the musical culture as we presently know it. Due to the way that social media and music are interacting, a new platform is necessary to serve the artists in the music industry. Marketing on social media is incredibly powerful, but is ill-suited for small artists. As a result, SoundScope was developed to serve the needs of small musicians on social media. Soundscope develops a website that lets musicians use social media to it's greatest capacity and take advantage of the remix culture and the concept of virality that has developed with online communication. It uses a voting/ranking system to populate and organize it's home page, allowing listeners to find the most popular music first, and artists can get feedback based on the voting system and commenting capability. These create the community necessary for effective marketing and sharing of garage artist's music in the digital sphere.
ContributorsCash, Aimee Nicole (Author) / Silcock, Bill (Thesis director) / Dodge, Nancie (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-12
Description
The purpose of the solar powered quadcopter is to join together the growing technologies of photovoltaics and quadcopters, creating a single unified device where the technologies harmonize to produce a new product with abilities beyond those of a traditional battery powered drone. Specifically, the goal is to take the battery-only flight time of a quadcopter loaded with a solar array and increase that flight time by 33% with additional power provided by solar cells. The major concepts explored throughout this project are quadcopter functionality and capability and solar cell power production. In order to combine these technologies, the solar power and quadcopter components were developed and analyzed individually before connecting the solar array to the quadcopter circuit and testing the design as a whole. Several solar copter models were initially developed, resulting in multiple unique quadcopter and solar cell array designs which underwent preliminary testing before settling on a finalized design which proved to be the most effective and underwent final timed flight tests. Results of these tests are showing that the technologies complement each other as anticipated and highlight promising results for future development in this area, in particular the development of a drone running on solar power alone. Applications for a product such as this are very promising in many fields, including the industries of power, defense, consumer goods and services, entertainment, marketing, and medical. Also, becoming a more popular device for UAV hobbyists, such developments would be very appealing for leisure flying and personal photography purposes as well.
ContributorsMartin, Heather Catrina (Author) / Bowden, Stuart (Thesis director) / Aberle, James (Committee member) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-12
Description
PHXmuraltour is an app for iPhone and Android that guides users through the plethora of mural art in downtown Phoenix. It can be found and downloaded from iTunes and the Android app store. Before the artists began drawing people downtown for events like First Fridays and ArtDetour during the 1980s, Phoenix was notorious for having a deserted city core. The art community brought life, color and vibrancy to the downtown landscape. The website giving more information about the project can be found at http://kristenhwang.com/PHX-mural-tour.html. This project aims to widen the reach of the mural art in downtown Phoenix. Public art has the unique ability to foster a conversation between people who may not think of themselves as art connoisseurs, but like all kinds of art the message can sometimes be mysterious to passersby. Many of the murals downtown portray Hispanic or Native American themes, make political statements, document historic events and people, or serve as visual spice. They are emblems of the values the downtown community identifies with--values like creativity, enterprise, civic responsibility and diversity. This project hopes to make these messages more prominent to people in downtown Phoenix. It is important for the students, workers, shop owners and residents downtown to have the opportunity to learn more about the mural art because the art community surrounding Roosevelt Row played an integral role in shaping the culture and texture of their daily lives.
ContributorsHwang, Kristen Lee Anne (Author) / Thornton, Leslie (Thesis director) / Dodge, Nancie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Earth and Space Exploration (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
For my thesis project, I created a website, titled Noise + Heat, to serve as a guide to local music in the Phoenix area. The idea is that someone who is unfamiliar with Phoenix music can visit my site and easily be able to find the latest news, new music releases, live music venues, and be able to familiarize themselves with local artists. I designed and built the site in Adobe Edge Animate, and created all content. The website can be found at this link: www.noiseplusheat.com
ContributorsDinell, Sarah Constance (Author) / Jacoby, Jim (Thesis director) / Dodge, Nancie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
This study looked at college-age students' ability to comprehend and retain information learned from news articles depending on what platform they read from. Fifteen participants read three local New York Times articles on each of the platforms provided: iPad, laptop, and paper. They took one test immediately after to test comprehension and another two weeks later to test their retention. Participants were also asked if they found the articles interesting, enjoyable, clear, etc. Results showed that participants' views on each format had little, if any, affect on their number of correct responses. The most consistent results on the participants' perceptions of the formats came from the laptop and paper, whereas the iPad received a bimodal pattern of responses. Participants were also asked to share their news habits while taking the test by selecting how frequently they gain news from various sources such as social media or television. These habits also seemed to have very little effect on their scores.
ContributorsKillin, Jamie Faye (Author) / Gilpin, Dawn (Thesis director) / Russomanno, Joseph (Committee member) / Dodge, Nancie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / School of Art (Contributor)
Created2014-05