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 28
Description
Pacemakers in the early 1970s were powered by betavoltaic devices which provided long lasting battery life. The betavoltaic devices also emitted gamma radiation due to inadvertent radioisotope contamination, which could not be completely shielded. The betavoltaic devices were quickly replaced by lithium batteries after their invention, and betavoltaics were abandoned. Modern technological advancements made it possible to isolate beta emitting radioisotopes properly and achieve better energy conversion efficiencies which revived the topic of betavoltaics. This research project has studied state-of-the-art pacemakers and modern radioactive power sources in order to determine if modern pacemakers can be safely nuclear powered and if that is a reasonable combination.
ContributorsAwad, Al-Homam Abdualrahman (Author) / Holbert, Keith (Thesis director) / Aberle, James (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
Emergency departments (EDs) across the country have been forced to accommodate an ever-expanding population of mental health patients. This study surveyed physicians and social workers in order to determine the most commonly treated mental illnesses in the ED, common frustrations in the care of mental health patients, limitations in the provision of treatment, and possible changes and improvements to the treatment system for the future. Attitudes toward the deinstitutionalization movement of the 1960s also were assessed, as this movement is hypothesized to have contributed to the current strain on EDs with respect to treating mental health issues. In this thesis, the deinstirutionalization movement and possible implications for mental health treatment in EDs are reviewed' In addition, questionnaires were administered to a sample of 6 ED doctors and 2 ED social workers-. Survey responses suggest that more resources, including availability of ED staff psychiatrists and dedicated facilities for mental health patients' would offer improvements to the current system. With careful evaluation of the ability of the ED to meet the needs of mental health patients, alternative resources for more effective and successful treatment strategies may be developed that offer a compromise between institutionalization and the revolving door of the ED.
ContributorsWinikates, Kristina (Author) / Roberts, Nicole (Thesis director) / Maienschein, Jane (Committee member) / Tinsley, Barbara (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2012-05
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
Description
Waste generation in the U.S. has reached new heights, but the exploitation of Native American lands for waste disposal is nothing new. Many of the negative effects of massive waste production and toxic pollution, such as poor health outcomes and decreased property values, disproportionately burden impoverished, minority communities inside and outside the United States (Brulle and Pellow, 2006). Native American communities have long been exploited for their natural resources and land-use, but in recent decades Indian country has also become a common place to store nuclear, hazardous and municipal wastes. This project is a case study of a local Indian reservation, the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, and examined the socio-historical context of the landfill operations in terms of five principles of environmental justice. Each principle was defined and key moments from the SRPMIC's landfill history were discussed to demonstrate ways that the situation has improved, stayed the same or worsened with regard to the rights outlined in each principle. It was concluded that there needs to be an acknowledgement by involved municipalities and industries of the historical context that make the SRPMIC and other nearby Native American communities "ideal" contractors for waste management. Additionally, while the SRPMIC could currently benefit from looking into the principles of environmental justice as a guide to manage past and operating landfills, the Community will have a specific opportunity to revisit these issues under closer scrutiny during the closure of the Salt River Landfill in 2032 in order to ensure more environmentally just outcomes. Finally, it was concluded that scholarship at the intersection of environmental justice and Native American communities should continue because looking closer at the ways that local Native American communities are facing and resisting environmental injustice can serve to develop future models for other communities facing similar challenges to achieving environmental justice.
ContributorsScott, Nicole Danielle (Author) / Kinzig, Ann (Thesis director) / Harlan, Sharon (Committee member) / Maienschein, Jane (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Community Resources and Development (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Studies in neocortical neurogenesis have experienced an explosive growth since the early 2000s, measured by the increasing number of publications each year. I examine here the influence of Arnold Kriegstein in the field using Topic Modeling, a set of algorithms that can be applied to a collection of texts to elucidate the central themes of said collection. Using a Java-based software called MALLET, I obtained data for his corpus, and compared it to the texts of other researchers in the field. This latter collection, which I dub "General Corpus", was separated by year from 2000 to 2014. I found that Kriegstein's most frequently discussed topic concerned highly unique terms such as GABA, glutamate, and receptor, which did not appear in any of the primary topics of the General Corpus. This was in contrast to my initial hypothesis that Kriegstein's importance stemmed from his examination of different phenomena that constitute the broader aspect of neocortical neurogenesis. I predicted that the terms in Kriegstein's primary topic would appear many times throughout the topics of the General Corpus, but it was not so, aside from the common ones such as neurons, cortical, and development. Taken in tandem with NIH Reporter data, these results suggest that Kriegstein obtains a large amount of research funding because his studies concern unique topics when compared to others in the field. The implications of these findings are especially relevant in a world where funding is becoming increasingly difficult to come by.
ContributorsChhetri, Chandra Divyash (Author) / Laubichler, Manfred (Thesis director) / Maienschein, Jane (Committee member) / Aiello, Kenneth (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
A hybrid PV/T module was built, consisting of a thermal liquid heating system and a photovoltaic module system that combine in a hybrid format. This report will discuss the work on the project from Fall 2012 to Spring 2013 and the extended section on the economics for the Honors Thesis. Three stages of experiments were completed. Stage 1 showed our project was functional as we were able to verify our panel produced electricity and increased the temperature of water flowing in the system by 0.65°C. Stage 2 testing included “gluing” the flow system to the back of the panel resulting in an average increase of 4.76°C in the temperature of the water in the system. Stage 3 testing included adding insulating foam to the module which resulted in increasing the average temperature of the water in our flow system by 6.95°C. The economic calculations show the expected energy cost savings for Arizona residents.
ContributorsHaines, Brent Robert (Author) / Roedel, Ronald (Thesis director) / Aberle, James (Committee member) / Rauch, Dawson (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
Civil litigation and medical malpractice both seem to be plagued by similar misperceptions. The general public, lawyers, physicians and our elected officials are all in considerable error regarding the reality behind civil litigation. The perception is that there are an increasing number of claims filed, and that in those cases that are filed the plaintiff is likely to win and be awarded a large sum of money. Regarding medical malpractice, in particular, is the belief that such litigation increases the over-all costs of healthcare by a significant dollar amount through the costs of litigation as well as the increasing instances of defensive medicine. Physicians further state that it is the absurd awards all too common in medical malpractice cases that are to blame for the out of control increases seen in medical malpractice premiums. These increases in premiums are said to have forced a large number of physicians out of practice that will hurt the general public's access to health care. These perceptions are at least reinforced by the media coverage that reports on the rare multimillion-dollar cases and from reports by insurance companies and physicians, in their attempt to lower their business costs by decreasing medical malpractice insurance premiums. By understanding the prevalence of such misperceptions, the truth behind the claims, and how such misinformation reaches the public and has spread to all levels of society, empirical data must be presented to the public in order to overcome the misperceptions.
ContributorsKohl, Mitchell Anthony (Author) / Robert, Jason (Thesis director) / Maienschein, Jane (Committee member) / Mossman, Kenneth (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
A hybrid PV/T module was built, consisting of a thermal liquid heating system and a photovoltaic module system that combine in a hybrid format. This report will discuss the work on the project from Fall 2012 to Spring 2013. Three stages of experiments were completed. Stage 1 showed our project was functional as we were able to verify our panel produced electricity and increased the temperature of water flowing in the system by 0.65°C. Stage 2 testing included “gluing” the flow system to the back of the panel resulting in an average increase of 4.76°C in the temperature of the water in the system. Stage 3 testing included adding insulating foam to the module which resulted in increasing the average temperature of the water in our flow system by 6.95°C.
ContributorsDenke, Steven Michael (Author) / Roedel, Ron (Thesis director) / Aberle, James (Committee member) / Rauch, Dawson (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
Abstract: This project will examine the shifts in government abortion policy of Spain since World War II, in efforts to answer the causal question :Why has Spain so dramatically reversed its abortion law mandates from one of the most liberal in Europe to one of the most restrictive? Spain's abortion policy is unique due to opposing forces between the Catholic Church and the socialist government and its universal health care policy. One must examine other historical and social factors to understand this policy. The purpose of this project is to understand how has the abortion policy of Spain (regarding its criminalization of women who receive abortion as well as those who perform them) changed over the last fifty years (approximately since the end of World War II). It will also examine what roles factors such as religion, culture, gender equality, and politics played in the development of these statures. Finally, the study will research the main groups that have been involved in this issue in the last fifty years and what their arguments are to support their opinions. Methods used to investigate this policy and its history of the criminalization of abortion policy in Spain since World War II will include a combination of literature review, government document review, and field research in Spain.
ContributorsRubin, Arielle Eliz (Author) / Simpson, Brooks (Thesis director) / Maienschein, Jane (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
In modern remote sensing, arrays of sensors, such as antennas in radio frequency (RF) systems and microphones in acoustic systems, provide a basis for estimating the direction of arrival of a narrow-band signal at the sensor array. A Uniform linear array (ULA) is the most well-studied array geometry in that its performance characteristics and limitations are well known, especially for signals originating in the far field. In some instances, the geometry of an array may be perturbed by an environmental disturbance that actually changes its nominal geometry; such as, towing an array behind a moving vehicle. Additionally, sparse arrays have become of interest again due to recent work in co-prime arrays. These sparse arrays contain fewer elements than a ULA but maintain the array length. The effects of these alterations to a ULA are of interest. Given this motivation, theoretical and experimental (i.e. via computer simulation) processes are used to determine quantitative and qualitative effects of perturbation and sparsification on standard metrics of array performance. These metrics include: main lobe gain, main lobe width and main lobe to side lobe ratio. Furthermore, in order to ascertain results/conclusions, these effects are juxtaposed with the performance of a ULA. Through the perturbation of each element following the first element drawn from a uniform distribution centered around the nominal position, it was found that both the theoretical mean and sample mean are relatively similar to the beam pattern of the full array. Meanwhile, by using a sparsification method of maintaining all the lags, it was found that this particular method was unnecessary. Simply taking out any three elements while maintaining the length of the array will produce similar results. Some configurations of elements give a better performance based on the metrics of interest in comparison to the ULA. These results demonstrate that a sparsified, perturbed or sparsified and perturbed array can be used in place of a Uniform Linear Array depending on the application.
ContributorsSilbernagel, Drake Oliver (Author) / Cochran, Douglas (Thesis director) / Aberle, James (Committee member) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05