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: Martin, Thomas
- Creators: Gruber, Diane
Description
Partial differential equation (PDE) models are widely used for modeling processes in the physical sciences, economics, and sociology, but are otherwise new to the realm of social media. They allow researchers to construct a single spatiotemporal mathematical model to predict, in the case of this study, the level of information saturation at particular points in space at specific times. Utilizing data from the popular social network Twitter, this study presents a preliminary work looking into the effects of aggregating spatial data on such a PDE model. In other literature, the source of analytical and statistical bias that results from arbitrary spatial aggregation is known as the modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP). We use a previously-studied dataset from the 2011 Egyptian revolution for simulation, and group data points using several distance metrics based on geographical location and geo-cultural similarity. This paper will attempt to show that a PDE model, necessarily dependent upon aggregating data, is subject to significant bias when said data are arbitrarily organized and grouped for simulation. We look primarily into the zoning problem, which amounts to maintaining a fixed number of regions located in different areas across the globe, but make note of the scale problem, an inherent issue in PDE modeling that results from aggregating data points into increasingly larger regions. From looking at specific values from each simulation, this study shows that such a model is not free from the MAUP and that consideration of how data are aggregated needs to be made for future studies. In addition, it also suggests that geo-political and geo-cultural spatial metrics generate better diffusive patterns for tweet propagation than do simple geographical proximity metrics.
ContributorsRaymond, Ross Edward Scott (Author) / Kwon, Kyounghee Hazel (Thesis director) / Gruber, Diane (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
There are problems in the breeding practices of miniature horses. This study seeks to determine the source of these detrimental outcomes based on an evaluation of primary attributes selected for by breeders and the lack of genetic information and understanding of these attributes. In order to do this a program model was created to test the effects of selection criteria on breeder behavior and the resultant foals of these crosses. Moving forwards this program will evolve into a database of the equine genome for different horses. This will allow breeders to input their horses and do faux crosses in order to decrease the incidence of negative and detrimental outcomes.
ContributorsDavis, Marissa Lynn (Author) / Oberle, Eric (Thesis director) / Martin, Thomas (Committee member) / College of Letters and Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The 1878 Treaty of Berlin sought to address the issue of minority rights in order to stabilize the interests of the Great Powers and the international order; however, in their formulation of a treaty intended to save the imperial component of the system, the European imperial powers not only gave one of their official acknowledgments to nationalist principles, but articulated a critique of the existing notion of state protection for ethnic minorities. This tentative but landmark modification of the imperial model of legitimacy suggested Europe or the world could consist of a host of sovereign nations. In so doing, it recognized the political, and ideological changes that nationalism demanded, changes that would reshape how national groups organize politically, culturally, and militarily. The logic of nationalism demanded that new boundaries, conceived on national lines be drawn, and they were drawn, both within the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires. The Treaty of Berlin led to the formation of Greater Bulgaria and Albania, and these new nationalities formed a initial answer to the European question of minority groups. The Treaty of Berlin is useful to examine in relation to its better-known and much more radical offspring, the Treaty of Versailles. Differences in the approach of either treaty provide a study in the lasting effects of soft power to resolve international conflict. The Great Powers met in Berlin to address a developing crisis in an attempt to avoid a destabilizing regional conflict through diplomatic and legal means, whereas the Paris Peace Conference met at Versailles to develop new order across Europe in the wake of the Great War. The Treaty of Versailles, sharply chiding the Central Powers as it promulgated a victor's peace, hoped to prevent future war by placing economic burdens on Germany. While the conference at Paris acknowledged the minority position, the overwhelming legal focus went to addressing developing nations and nationalisms in a way that was consistent with the beliefs of old imperial rule. The earlier Treaty of Berlin's relative emphasis on minority questions as logically antecedent to the disposition of nationalism becomes of highest significance in retrospect. It is this focused approach to addressing developing nationalism that makes the Treaty of Berlin an important point of discussion. It provides a precedent for how questions of minority rights should be addressed, and where it falls short of an answer on how conflict might be prevented, it explores how the tensions within the international system can exacerbate one another, as they did in the breakdown of diplomacy and law that to the First World War . This thesis aims to address how the triumph of nationalism as a model of state legitimacy almost immediately gave rise to the question of legal protection of minorities. The minority question only became more urgent as nationalists developed policies that practiced first passive, and then active exclusion of minority groups. While nationalism's relation to democratic rule seemed to solve the problems of representative government, it quickly forced the question of how legitimate representation was determined. Shifting notions of political legitimacy, unworkable empires, and heightened international rivalry formed a widening spiral of crisis that eclipsed the minority question, but this thesis supports the belief that the centrifugal force of conflict came out of the avoidance of addressing minority rights completely. Attempts were made through the twentieth century to mitigate conflict between people groups, but many failed to produce fully developed solutions, while many others favored the status quo, seemingly hoping that the question would answer itself. A study of the early history of the minority rights question helps us understand the national question in the old-new light of the international order and questions of international law. Given the conflicts that have arisen out of the relations between nations and the question of minority rights, the minority question is present in much of today's thinking about human rights and the maintenance of international order. Understanding the origins of minority rights and the factors considered in the early negotiations set to address the problem helps develop a deeper understanding of the of the interactions between nations and people today.
ContributorsGobble, Tyler Scott (Author) / Oberle, Eric (Thesis director) / Martin, Thomas (Committee member) / Aviation Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
It goes without saying that marriage, and the concept of two people staying together for the rest of their lives, is not easy. In today's society, divorce is something that is becoming more and more prominent among people. However, despite the divorce phenomenon there are still success stories of couples who last and manage to stick together despite the odds. It is difficult to measure the "successfulness" of any marriage due to the fact that so many different elements comprise them. However, there are endless assessments available to be used as tools for attempting measurement of success. A majority of them are related to measuring relationship quality in terms of individual satisfaction by focusing on each individual's happiness within the relationship. Obviously, every marriage is different and there are many things that can impact a couple's' likeliness to stay together such as the general circumstances surrounding their union and each partner's willingness to persevere. For instance, there are a variety of different factors that influence the overall success of marriages within and surrounding the United States Military. Such as physical proximity, frequency of communication, and a mutual desire to make the relationship work. Cultivating a relationship in which one partner is a service member and one partner is a civilian is stressful for both people involved. Specifically, the intense stress couples experience associated with deployment can often cause severe problems such as depression and anxiety that may lead to divorce or mental health problems later on down the road. Stressors specifically related to the deployment cycle can contribute to depression among both service members and their spouses. Most of these families face unique stressors through the course of military service and deployments, including frequent relocations and recon�gurations of the family system, ambiguous loss and fear for a loved one's safety, and high levels of stress and/or dysfunction among family members (Flake, Davis, Johnson, & Middleton, 2009; Huebner, Mancini, Wilcox, Grass, & Grass, 2007) Separation , unpredictable duty hours, and single parenting (parenting while the veteran is away either being deployed or on training courses) are just a few of the stressors that face partners of veterans on a regular basis (Padden, Connors & Agazio, 2011). Dr. John Gottman, the executive director of the Relationship Research Institute. has conducted extensive research regarding marital stability and divorce prediction on thousands of couples over the last forty years of his career. Using video cameras, heart monitors, and other biofeedback equipment, he and his colleagues have screened interviewed and tracked what couples experience during moments of conflict and closeness. Over the span of the last forty years, Dr. Gottman has created a theory he calls "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse". In the New Testament, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are a metaphor marking the beginning of end times. Dr. Gottman's Four Horsemen on the other hand, are a metaphor marking the beginning of the demise of a marriage. The horsemen include criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stonewalling. They are communication styles among couples that Dr. Gottman says can predict the end of a relationship. This notion holds true especially in the implication of military relationships. Focusing on the predictors of divorce, and inspecting the elements of these relationships in which the military is a condition of the union, discoveries can be made as to what makes these military relationships more difficult. An examination through the lens of Dr. Gottman's horsemen of the circumstances surrounding these unions in which deployment physically separates the two partners demonstrates how deployment in and of itself can cause couples to encompass each of the horsemen and eventually push them towards divorce. Throughout the course of this paper, the different elements that embody each of the four horsemen will be examined and analyzed as they pertain to the deployment process. Upon completion of the examination of these different factors, it can be suggested that deployment in its nature becomes the harbinger of the apocalypse. By encompassing all the different aspects of the first four original horsemen, and pushing military couples towards the behaviors that lead in the direction of divorce, deployment in and of itself can be thought of as predecessor, or harbinger of the apocalypse.
ContributorsSerdy, Taylor B (Author) / Martin, Thomas (Thesis director) / Mowzoon, Nura (Committee member) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
It seems that we are incessantly scolded about the importance of the American political process and its virtue of practicality in contemporary society. Whether through the accumulation of the so-called facts about the issues that inform the veneration of the contest between candidates, the stern and noble duty of becoming an activist performing dreary tasks, or the religious fervor surrounding the sacred obligation of voting, we are assured and reassured that our system is sound and that we must only confront problems of implementation rather than structural ones. From here, the narrative goes that if we subscribe to the doctrine of exclusively employing the efficient, strictly rational, and the immediately realistic, we will almost assuredly succeed in persuading others toward producing the resolutions required to solve our shared challenges. Admittedly, these ideas serve a role in addressing the issues we face. However, when unaided by sophisticated and nuanced notions and applications of the fantastic, the beautiful, the ideal, the possible, the playful, the useless, in a word, dreaming, we foreclose the possibility of building a future that can qualitatively improve society and more meaningfully elevate our being-with-one-another in the world. Therefore, this work aims to validate the aforementioned claim by engaging in a critical, political, and hermeneutic exploration of what it means to dream against the backdrop of present-day American politics. It will honestly seek to analyze the prevailing notions of contemporary western thought and action to work on the way toward a new, yet latent, way of understanding. This understanding would fundamentally revolutionize the task of civilization as being grounded upon the appropriate channeling of our desires and dissatisfactions toward actualizing the projections of our imagination. Simply put, this project seeks to repudiate the mandate of work as toil and order as oppression to clear the way for envisioning a more suitable alternative.
ContributorsGoldsmith, Adam Jay (Author) / Ramsey, Ramsey Eric (Thesis director) / Gruber, Diane (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor) / School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Leonardo's anatomical studies of the heart demonstrate the dependency of form and function on one another and that their combined activity leads to a comprehensive understanding of the cardiovascular system. While Leonardo was able to make incredible deductions regarding the heart's anatomy and physiology through the concepts of form and function, it is evident that his preconceptions hindered him from realizing the full scope of his individual findings. In this paper, I will evaluate the perception of anatomy, the manner in which anatomical knowledge was acquired, and the resultant traditional understanding of the cardiovascular system during Leonardo's lifetime. Leonardo's drawings of the heart will then be analyzed to determine what conclusions he was able to make regarding the heart's anatomy and physiology. Finally, I will compare Leonardo's findings to the modern understanding of the cardiovascular system. Because Leonardo's anatomical studies were hidden from the world for so long, many of his conclusions regarding the heart did not come to light before other individuals had already begun to reach them on their own. Although he made incredible leaps in the understanding of the cardiovascular system, he made little contribution to modern cardiology. Now Leonardo's work can only be examined retrospectively to determine the accuracies and inaccuracies of Leonardo's conclusions in comparison to our modern understanding.
ContributorsMulligan, Kelly Suzanne (Author) / Codell, Julie (Thesis director) / Martin, Thomas (Committee member) / School of Art (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Batman is one of the most iconic characters in the history of popular culture. Ever since his creation in 1939, the character and his stories have gone through several changes. In my thesis, I explore and analyze the character within the nearly 20-year period in which he went through the most significant changes (1968-1986). Overall, these changes can be summarized as a shift from a lighthearted superhero consistently placed in campy situations to a dark and brooding vigilante who brutally dispatches his enemies. While analyzing the different versions of this character in this period of time, I reference the conclusions of two scholars: Travis Langley and Chuck Tate. Langley wrote a general psychological analysis of Batman by considering the essential characteristics of the character found in all forms of media. Tate concluded that Batman only uses hostile aggression for the sake of deriving pleasure form the pain he causes to criminals. After analyzing the comics as my primary sources, I have concluded that the general findings of Tate and Langley actually ignore the subtle details of changes in the humanity and self-awareness of the character through time. The lighthearted version of Batman in the late 60's is actually a self-obsessed narcissist, but as time passes, the darker mood of the character can be attributed to an increased acknowledgment of the destructive nature of his unique lifestyle. As the character grows more accepting of himself and his own reasons for continuing this lifestyle, his motivations become less self-centered. Overall, the central change of the character throughout time can be traced back to the status of his inner conflict between normal, human desires and the pure desire for constant vengeance.
ContributorsRivera-Passapera, Hiram Alfonso (Author) / Martin, Thomas (Thesis director) / Miller, April (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
This interdisciplinary thesis examines the possible relationship between the public speaking experience for women and the gender gap in political ambition. First, a historical analysis of women public speakers ranging from the 1800s to the Suffragettes to female politicians in the 1900s reveals a pattern of female public speakers in politics receiving extreme criticism for their communicative behavior. The thesis then turns to the socialization of young girls, highlighting how gameplay in children translates into gendered communicative behavior in adult women. Next, an examination of the pedagogy of public speaking showcases how the public speaking experience is different for women than it is for men, and how public speaking traditionally is taught in a masculine style. Then, through a review of the literature on the gender gap in political ambition, it is seen that not only are women severely underrepresented in political office in the United States, but women have far less political ambition than men. And a case study of the 2008 presidential primaries and elections, highlighting modern women in politics, demonstrates that the few women who are politically ambitious in the 21st century face criticism that mirrors those faced by political women decades and centuries prior. Finally, the thesis offers possible solutions to changing the experience of women as public speakers and fostering political ambition in women.
ContributorsPatton, Ashley Crystal (Author) / Gruber, Diane (Thesis director) / Wentzel, Bonnie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
"The Legal Adventures of Frankie and Rosie" is a creative project that explores the nontraditional format of comics to express creative nonfiction. The project is a set of 30 independent comics that focuses on two primary college-going students who are based off of the authors. The characters, Frankie and Rosie narrate their stories through dialogue. The authors use this narrative model to archive their college experience at ASU. Representing creative nonfiction through comics yields an amalgamated format that can be challenging for both the writers to produce as well as for the readers to consume. Ultimately, the project serves as an attempt to test whether or not the comic medium can stand by itself as an appropriate format to express creative nonfictional narratives without becoming a diluted combination of its purer predecessors.
ContributorsBennewitz, Dana (Co-author) / Ray, Payel (Co-author) / Martin, Thomas (Thesis director) / Scott Lynch, Jacquelyn (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
"The Hunger Games: What a Dystopic World Reveals about Modern Society" is an interdisciplinary thesis that examines the impossibility of revolutionary stories or concepts in popular culture by specifically analyzing the Hunger Games project. First, an analysis of what young adult fiction is and how it is written is provided. The formulaic way in which modern adolescent literature is written provides the basic structure for Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy. The second chapter examines the main character of the Hunger Games series, Katniss Everdeen. The way in which this young female heroine relinquishes her independence and courage due to being consistently undermined by the men and political leaders in her life is traced by following the development of the story throughout the three novels. The third chapter of the thesis delves into how the entire Hunger Games project of novels and films fits into current popular culture. An analysis of the mass production of the novels, and then turning the books into films, merchandise, and further commercialization of the story is discussed in detail throughout the chapter. Finally, the thesis discusses the responsibility authors of young adult literature should assume when addressing a young impressionable audience and how Collins took advantage of the position she had in telling the story of Katniss Everdeen.
ContributorsHeath, Elisabeth Rose (Author) / Gruber, Diane (Thesis director) / Bixby, Patrick (Committee member) / Roy, Sohinee (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies (Contributor)
Created2015-05