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 42
Description
This paper details the specification and implementation of a single-machine blockchain simulator. It also includes a brief introduction on the history & underlying concepts of blockchain, with explanations on features such as decentralization, openness, trustlessness, and consensus. The introduction features a brief overview of public interest and current implementations of blockchain before stating potential use cases for blockchain simulation software. The paper then gives a brief literature review of blockchain's role, both as a disruptive technology and a foundational technology. The literature review also addresses the potential and difficulties regarding the use of blockchain in Internet of Things (IoT) networks, and also describes the limitations of blockchain in general regarding computational intensity, storage capacity, and network architecture. Next, the paper gives the specification for a generic blockchain structure, with summaries on the behaviors and purposes of transactions, blocks, nodes, miners, public & private key cryptography, signature validation, and hashing. Finally, the author gives an overview of their specific implementation of the blockchain using C/C++ and OpenSSL. The overview includes a brief description of all the classes and data structures involved in the implementation, including their function and behavior. While the implementation meets the requirements set forward in the specification, the results are more qualitative and intuitive, as time constraints did not allow for quantitative measurements of the network simulation. The paper concludes by discussing potential applications for the simulator, and the possibility for future hardware implementations of blockchain.
ContributorsRauschenbach, Timothy Rex (Author) / Vrudhula, Sarma (Thesis director) / Nakamura, Mutsumi (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
Bioscience High School, a small magnet high school located in Downtown Phoenix and a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) focused school, has been pushing to establish a computer science curriculum for all of their students from freshman to senior year. The school's Mision (Mission and Vision) is to: "..provide a rigorous, collaborative, and relevant academic program emphasizing an innovative, problem-based curriculum that develops literacy in the sciences, mathematics, and the arts, thus cultivating critical thinkers, creative problem-solvers, and compassionate citizens, who are able to thrive in our increasingly complex and technological communities." Computational thinking is an important part in developing a future problem solver Bioscience High School is looking to produce. Bioscience High School is unique in the fact that every student has a computer available for him or her to use. Therefore, it makes complete sense for the school to add computer science to their curriculum because one of the school's goals is to be able to utilize their resources to their full potential. However, the school's attempt at computer science integration falls short due to the lack of expertise amongst the math and science teachers. The lack of training and support has postponed the development of the program and they are desperately in need of someone with expertise in the field to help reboot the program. As a result, I've decided to create a course that is focused on teaching students the concepts of computational thinking and its application through Scratch and Arduino programming.
ContributorsLiu, Deming (Author) / Meuth, Ryan (Thesis director) / Nakamura, Mutsumi (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The Confessions of a College Entrepreneur is an honors project with the goal of revealing the business and marketing strategies that Charles Crawford used to create multiple successful companies. It's a collection of personal stories, book notes, millionaire interviews, and experiences that Charles had over the past 4 years of intense business experience and research across multiple industries. Charles wants college students and business owners to succeed in business ventures and life in general. This creative thesis project is the map for how to do just that.
ContributorsCrawford, Charles Joseph (Author) / Budolfson, Arthur (Thesis director) / Giles, Charles (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
We created an Android application, Impromp2, which allows users to search for and save events of interest to them in the Phoenix area. The backend, built on the Parse platform, gathers events daily using Web services and stores them in a database. Impromp2 was designed to improve upon similarly-purposed apps available for Android devices in several key ways, especially in user interface design and data interaction capability. This is a full-stack software project that explores databases and their performance considerations, Web services, user interface design, and the challenges of app development for a mobile platform.
ContributorsNorth, Joseph Robert (Author) / Balasooriya, Janaka (Thesis director) / Nakamura, Mutsumi (Committee member) / Faucon, Philippe (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a burgeoning technology, industry, and field of study. While interest levels regarding its applications in marketing have not yet translated into widespread adoption, AI holds tremendous potential for vastly altering how marketing is done. As such, AI in marketing is a crucial topic to research. By analyzing its current applications, its potential use cases in the near future, how to implement it and its areas for improvement, we can achieve a high-level understanding of AI's long-term implications in marketing. AI offers an improvement to current marketing tactics, as well as entirely new ways of creating and distributing value to customers. For example, programmatic advertising and social media marketing can allow for a more comprehensive view of customer behavior, predictive analytics, and deeper insights through integration with AI. New marketing tools like biometrics, voice, and conversational user interfaces offer novel ways to add value for brands and consumers alike. These innovations all carry similar characteristics of hyper-personalization, efficient spending, scalable experiences, and deep insights. There are important issues that need to be addressed before AI is extensively implemented, including the potential for it to be used maliciously, its effects on job displacement, and the technology itself. The recent progression of AI in marketing is indicative that it will be adopted by a majority of companies soon. The long-term implications of vast implementation are crucial to consider, as an AI-powered industry entails fundamental changes to the skill-sets required to thrive, the way marketers and brands work, and consumer expectations.
ContributorsCannella, James (Author) / Ostrom, Amy (Thesis director) / Giles, Charles (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The way that people consume media is changing. While every platform seems to shift to video, there is a not-so-quiet revolution going on in the podcast industry. Each week, 10,000 new podcasts are created and uploaded and this number continues to grow (Moore, 2018). As the prevalence of smartphones, faster download speeds, and streaming platforms have proliferated across the globe, more and more people are turning to podcasts to get their content fix. Young professionals are especially drawn to the format because it fits perfectly into their busy lifestyles. This thesis explored how to create, produce, and market a podcast to college students and entry level workers that are interested in pursuing a career in advertising. We collected data through conducting depth interviews and an online survey to podcast listeners as well marketing and design students. The insights drawn from this research were combined with a thorough trend analysis of the podcast market to find the factors that matter most to the target consumer. From there we produced eight episodes of the podcast and released them over a timespan of two and a half months. Finally, paid social media advertisements were used to target students at major advertising colleges around the country. The results of this thesis found that there are a number of important takeaways from the process that can help anyone build a podcast brand, audience and media strategy. Our research found that prospective podcasters should: maintain a consistent upload schedule, invest in audio quality, experiment with content strategy, know their target audience, own your show’s brand, and not rely on just one audio streaming platform.
ContributorsLarkin, Brianna Nicole (Co-author) / Larkin, Brianna (Co-author) / Teixeira, Trent (Thesis director) / Eaton, Kathryn Karnos (Committee member) / Giles, Charles (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
For my thesis project, I have developed a cash register web application for the Arizona State University Barrett Dining Hall. I previously worked at the Barrett Dining Hall, and I would occasionally step in as a cashier. This work is how I came to be familiar with the system and all its inefficiencies. The system requires multiple user inputs to implement even the most basic of tasks, is not user-friendly, and therefore very prone to error. In the event that multiple incorrect inputs are entered, the software will freeze, and the user will have to turn off the computer and turn it back on. In theory, this application is an improvement over the software system that is currently in place in that the user interface has been specifically designed to be user-friendly. This application reduces the number of required user inputs by automating certain tasks (such as pricing and determining the meal period), thereby reducing the chance of user error. It is also an improvement in that it allows students to log in to the system to view how many meals they have left, how much M&G is in their account, and how many guest passes they have left. This functionality is extremely important because this is a feature that is not currently in place, and is something that students have actively complained about. Currently, if students want to check on their meal plan, they have to either physically go to a dining hall and ask the cashier, or call a toll-free number. The two technologies used to develop this application are C# and XML. These technologies were chosen because I wanted to learn something new for this project to broaden my knowledge. I also happened to be taking a class at the start of this project that utilized C# and XML for Web Applications, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to transfer over the skills I had been learning.
ContributorsLewis, Q. Mariha Paishance (Author) / Chen, Yinong (Thesis director) / Nakamura, Mutsumi (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Advertising to the Millennial Generation is an honors thesis project that combines research with a creative application. The thesis is broken into three main sections: a literature review of the Millennial Generation, three case studies identifying brands or advertising campaigns that have successfully reached Generation Y, and the application of these findings to an advertising campaign with additional marketing mix elements for Bose headphones.
Before creating a campaign targeting Millennials, this thesis first identifies which consumers belong in the Millennial demographic. The definition given looks beyond the ‘age 18-34’ demographic information and analyzes the generation’s unique characteristics, their feelings of being misunderstood by businesses, the importance of social media and technology in their world, and what motivates them to take action.
The subsequent case studies examine the advertising tactics of Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, the burgeoning social news and entertainment website BuzzFeed, and Beats by Dre headphones. Each of these brands successfully captured the Gen Y demographic group, with an emphasis on the younger end of the 18-34 age spectrum, and effectively communicated their understanding of Millennials’ culture. Each of the three campaigns contained social or digital elements to create engaging and relevant content for the niche of younger Millennials. Immediately following the case studies, best practices are outlined to summarize the findings.
Finally, a digital campaign is proposed for Bose headphones. The literature review, case studies, and best practices contributed to the culminating campaign, which will allow Bose to reach the younger Millennial audience.
Before creating a campaign targeting Millennials, this thesis first identifies which consumers belong in the Millennial demographic. The definition given looks beyond the ‘age 18-34’ demographic information and analyzes the generation’s unique characteristics, their feelings of being misunderstood by businesses, the importance of social media and technology in their world, and what motivates them to take action.
The subsequent case studies examine the advertising tactics of Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, the burgeoning social news and entertainment website BuzzFeed, and Beats by Dre headphones. Each of these brands successfully captured the Gen Y demographic group, with an emphasis on the younger end of the 18-34 age spectrum, and effectively communicated their understanding of Millennials’ culture. Each of the three campaigns contained social or digital elements to create engaging and relevant content for the niche of younger Millennials. Immediately following the case studies, best practices are outlined to summarize the findings.
Finally, a digital campaign is proposed for Bose headphones. The literature review, case studies, and best practices contributed to the culminating campaign, which will allow Bose to reach the younger Millennial audience.
ContributorsOechsner, Meredith Leigh (Author) / Montoya, Detra (Thesis director) / Ostrom, Amy (Committee member) / Giles, Charles (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Web-application development constantly changes \u2014 new programming languages, testing tools and programming methodologies are often proposed. The focus of this project is on the tool Selenium and the fairly new technique known as High Volume Automated Testing (HVAT). Both of these techniques were used to test the Just-in-Time Teaching and Learning Classroom Management System software. Selenium was used with a black-box testing technique and HVAT was employed in a white-box testing technique. Two of the major functionalities of this software were examined, which include the login and the professor functionality. The results of the black-box testing technique showed parts of the login component contain bugs, but the professor component is clean. HVAT white-box testing revealed error free implementation on the code level. We present an analysis on a new technique for HVAT testing with Selenium.
ContributorsEjaz, Samira (Author) / Balasooriya, Janaka (Thesis director) / Nakamura, Mutsumi (Committee member) / Wilkerson, Kelly (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
The purpose of this thesis will be to outline the different tactics involving social and digital media that film studios currently use to market their films. Before that is done, a brief history will be provided about the ways the film industry has promoted itself in the past, as well as a brief history of the development of social media. After the history is provided, the marketing tactics that studios use that involve digital and social media will be listed and explained. In addition to discussing the tactics used by studios, there will also be a discussion of the shifts that have occurred in the marketing of films at a strategic level. After the explanation of all the tactics mentioned, there will be an analysis of the ways two major Hollywood blockbusters, The Hunger Games and Gravity, used some of those tactics to promote themselves. Through all these sections, the reader will be able to comprehend how big of an impact social media has made on the film industry and understand exactly how it is used to promote films.
ContributorsRamirez, Alvaro R (Author) / Gruber, Diane (Thesis director) / Giles, Charles (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Management (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor)
Created2014-05