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: School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
- Creators: Kobojek, Kimberly
Description
Construction is a defining characteristic of geometry classes. In a traditional classroom, teachers and students use physical tools (i.e. a compass and straight-edge) in their constructions. However, with modern technology, construction is possible through the use of digital applications such as GeoGebra and Geometer’s SketchPad.
Many other studies have researched the benefits of digital manipulatives and digital environments through student completion of tasks and testing. This study intends to research students’ use of the digital tools and manipulatives, along with the students’ interactions with the digital environment. To this end, I conducted exploratory teaching experiments with two calculus I students.
In the exploratory teaching experiments, students were introduced to a GeoGebra application developed by Fischer (2019), which includes instructional videos and corresponding quizzes, as well as exercises and interactive notepads, where students could use digital tools to construct line segments and circles (corresponding to the physical straight-edge and compass). The application built up the students’ foundational knowledge, culminating in the construction and verbal proof of Euclid’s Elements, Proposition 1 (Euclid, 1733).
The central findings of this thesis are the students’ interactions with the digital environment, with observed changes in their conceptions of radii and circles, and in their use of tools. The students were observed to have conceptions of radii as a process, a geometric shape, and a geometric object. I observed the students’ conceptions of a circle change from a geometric shape to a geometric object, and with that change, observed the students’ use of tools change from a measuring focus to a property focus.
I report a summary of the students’ work and classify their reasoning and actions into the above categories, and an analysis of how the digital environment impacts the students’ conceptions. I also briefly discuss the impact of the findings on pedagogy and future research.
Many other studies have researched the benefits of digital manipulatives and digital environments through student completion of tasks and testing. This study intends to research students’ use of the digital tools and manipulatives, along with the students’ interactions with the digital environment. To this end, I conducted exploratory teaching experiments with two calculus I students.
In the exploratory teaching experiments, students were introduced to a GeoGebra application developed by Fischer (2019), which includes instructional videos and corresponding quizzes, as well as exercises and interactive notepads, where students could use digital tools to construct line segments and circles (corresponding to the physical straight-edge and compass). The application built up the students’ foundational knowledge, culminating in the construction and verbal proof of Euclid’s Elements, Proposition 1 (Euclid, 1733).
The central findings of this thesis are the students’ interactions with the digital environment, with observed changes in their conceptions of radii and circles, and in their use of tools. The students were observed to have conceptions of radii as a process, a geometric shape, and a geometric object. I observed the students’ conceptions of a circle change from a geometric shape to a geometric object, and with that change, observed the students’ use of tools change from a measuring focus to a property focus.
I report a summary of the students’ work and classify their reasoning and actions into the above categories, and an analysis of how the digital environment impacts the students’ conceptions. I also briefly discuss the impact of the findings on pedagogy and future research.
ContributorsSakauye, Noelle Marie (Author) / Roh, Kyeong Hah (Thesis director) / Zandieh, Michelle (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Arizona State University (ASU) has experienced an increase of sexually transmitted infections, has a reputation of a large population of students with sexually transmitted infections, and does not provide any form of required sexual health education to its students in order to reduce this health risk. This study conducted focus group research amongst ASU female students to determine their opinions, experience, and comfort level with sexual health education information as well as their opinion of an ASU mandated sexual health education module. The research showed a desire for more information on sexuality, psychology, hormones, anatomy, and sexually transmitted infections. The participants also expressed support for an ASU sexual health training module though there was debate as to whether or not to make the module mandatory.
The ASU student body is primarily young students who are making some of the first adult decisions of their lives and the majority have come from backgrounds lacking in sexual health education. The way to ensure the health and safety of these students is to give them the information they need to make educated decisions regarding their health and their relationships. This thesis concludes that ASU should mandate a sexual health education training module in the form of a semester long class, in-person or online, with small classes of 5-15 students each in order to improve the health of the ASU community.
The ASU student body is primarily young students who are making some of the first adult decisions of their lives and the majority have come from backgrounds lacking in sexual health education. The way to ensure the health and safety of these students is to give them the information they need to make educated decisions regarding their health and their relationships. This thesis concludes that ASU should mandate a sexual health education training module in the form of a semester long class, in-person or online, with small classes of 5-15 students each in order to improve the health of the ASU community.
ContributorsCoen, Michelle Elizabeth (Author) / Gaughan, Monica (Thesis director) / Koskan, Alexis (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Burnout in healthcare professionals is a widely documented trend. Individuals in healthcare may be at more of a risk for occupational burnout due to a variety of factors; including, long hours, time away from family, and patient relations (West, 2018). The result of chronic burnout can lead to a plethora of adverse health effects which include cardiovascular disease, depression, substance abuse, etc. (West, 2018). Previous research conducted has demonstrated exercise’s ability to mitigate burnout in healthcare physicians. Different forms of acute aerobic exercise have the ability to, “Facilitate subjective emotional recovery from a subsequent stressor” (Bernstein, 2017). To better understand the role that exercise plays in the lives of medical professionals, a survey was conducted in person and through phone to a sample group that included physicians, nurses, physician assistants, and medical students. It was shown that individuals who reported a higher level of burnout experienced did not spend as much time exercising on average. The results also reveal that older individuals did not spend as much time exercising. Exercise’s tremendous potential cannot be limited to younger healthcare professionals. It will be demonstrated that the use of daily aerobic exercise can be implemented across a wide variety of different healthcare professionals to aid with mental and physical well-being.
ContributorsNguyen, Ethan (Author) / Hoffner, Kristin (Thesis director) / Cory, John (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Accurate pose initialization and pose estimation are crucial requirements in on-orbit space assembly and various other autonomous on-orbit tasks. However, pose initialization and pose estimation are much more difficult to do accurately and consistently in space. This is primarily due to not only the variable lighting conditions present in space, but also the power requirements mandated by space-flyable hardware. This thesis investigates leveraging a deep learning approach for monocular one-shot pose initialization and pose estimation. A convolutional neural network was used to estimate the 6D pose of an assembly truss object. This network was trained by utilizing synthetic imagery generated from a simulation testbed. Furthermore, techniques to quantify model uncertainty of the deep learning model were investigated and applied in the task of in-space pose estimation and pose initialization. The feasibility of this approach on low-power computational platforms was also tested. The results demonstrate that accurate pose initialization and pose estimation can be conducted using a convolutional neural network. In addition, the results show that the model uncertainty can be obtained from the network. Lastly, the use of deep learning for pose initialization and pose estimation in addition with uncertainty quantification was demonstrated to be feasible on low-power compute platforms.
ContributorsKailas, Siva Maneparambil (Author) / Ben Amor, Heni (Thesis director) / Detry, Renaud (Committee member) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Radar systems seek to detect targets in some search space (e.g. volume of airspace, or area on the ground surface) by actively illuminating the environment with radio waves. This illumination yields a return from targets of interest as well as highly reflective terrain features that perhaps are not of interest (called clutter). Data adaptive algorithms are therefore employed to provide robust detection of targets against a background of clutter and other forms of interference. The adaptive matched filter (AMF) is an effective, well-established detection statistic whose exact probability density function (PDF) is known under prevalent radar system model assumptions. Variations of this approach, however, lead to tests whose PDFs remain unknown or incalculable. This project will study the effectiveness of saddlepoint methods applied to approximate the known pdf of the clairvoyant matched filter, using MATLAB to complete the numerical calculations. Specifically, the approximation was used to compute tail probabilities for a range of thresholds, as well as compute the threshold and probability of detection for a specific desired probability of false alarm. This was compared to the same values computed using the known exact PDF of the filter, with the comparison demonstrating high levels of accuracy for the saddlepoint approximation. The results are encouraging, and justify further study of the approximation as applied to more strained or complicated scenarios.
ContributorsRhoades, Rachel (Author) / Richmond, Christ (Thesis director) / Cochran, Douglas (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
The topic of elder abuse is relatively unknown and not talked about among the general public. Traditionally, society values one’s life the younger that person is on the grounds that the younger person has most likely not experienced life to the fullest extent as much as the older person has. The point of bringing up this way of thinking is not to refute it but to point out that a product of this societal mindset is that the elderly population is often forgotten about or placed on a lower priority level when considering medical and safety issues. This is a major factor that contributes to the vulnerability of older persons, who often must give up their autonomy due to the aging process and learn to live while being dependent on a caretaker. Elders are often in situations where they are isolated from the rest of the world and place their trust in their caretakers to help them live out the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, the process of aging and becoming dependent opens up the opportunity for this vulnerable age group to be taken advantage of and abused. The National Council on Aging reported that about 1 in 10 elderly Americans that are 60 years old or older have been abused in some capacity, and only about 1 in 14 of these cases are reported (NCOA, 2020). As the world population ages, these statistics face the risk of getting worse and exposing more elders to abuse while less and less abuse cases are reported to authorities. This presents the opportunity for elder abuse research to guide healthcare institutions that are related to caring for the elderly on how to care for and prevent elder abuse from occurring; however, this research is quite limited in comparison to the research, treatments, and prevention programs developed for other types of domestic abuse. The aim of this paper is to create an overall understanding of elder abuse as a whole and get a sense of the state of elder abuse so recommendations can be made on how to proceed in bettering the current issues elder abuse faces.
ContributorsCampbell, Alexander Daza (Author) / Kobojek, Kimberly (Thesis director) / Bolhofner, Katelyn (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
In shotgun proteomics, liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry
(LC-MS/MS) is used to identify and quantify peptides and proteins. LC-MS/MS produces mass spectra, which must be searched by one or more engines, which employ
algorithms to match spectra to theoretical spectra derived from a reference database.
These engines identify and characterize proteins and their component peptides. By
training a convolutional neural network on a dataset of over 6 million MS/MS spectra
derived from human proteins, we aim to create a tool that can quickly and effectively
identify spectra as peptides prior to database searching. This can significantly reduce search space and thus run time for database searches, thereby accelerating LCMS/MS-based proteomics data acquisition. Additionally, by training neural networks
on labels derived from the search results of three different database search engines, we
aim to examine and compare which features are best identified by individual search
engines, a neural network, or a combination of these.
(LC-MS/MS) is used to identify and quantify peptides and proteins. LC-MS/MS produces mass spectra, which must be searched by one or more engines, which employ
algorithms to match spectra to theoretical spectra derived from a reference database.
These engines identify and characterize proteins and their component peptides. By
training a convolutional neural network on a dataset of over 6 million MS/MS spectra
derived from human proteins, we aim to create a tool that can quickly and effectively
identify spectra as peptides prior to database searching. This can significantly reduce search space and thus run time for database searches, thereby accelerating LCMS/MS-based proteomics data acquisition. Additionally, by training neural networks
on labels derived from the search results of three different database search engines, we
aim to examine and compare which features are best identified by individual search
engines, a neural network, or a combination of these.
ContributorsWhyte, Cameron Stafford (Author) / Suren, Jayasuriya (Thesis director) / Gil, Speyer (Committee member) / Patrick, Pirrotte (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
The goal of this study is to provide an integrative analysis of Sumerian magico-religious practices with special attention paid to demonology and to the Mesopotamian concept of evil. A synthetic approach will help to assess the state of Mesopotamian demonological research, to demonstrate why the so-called “magical” ideas of an ancient civilization are essential to understanding humanity, and to suggest a path forward with “evil” as a lens for historical and cultural understanding. This will be attempted in five phases: first, the terms “magic” and “demons” must be reclaimed as historically useful and contextually appropriate to the Sumerian worldview. Next, we briefly survey how the Sumerians and ancient Mesopotamians understood and participated in magic. Then, we examine the role of demons in the Mesopotamian magical worldview. With this understanding, we write a biography of one demon, Lamaštu, as a case study. Lamaštu played a dominant role in Sumerian magico-religious and magico-medical practices and there is sufficient research to compile a biography for her. Then, Lamaštu is reintegrated into the Sumerian pantheon of demons as an exemplum for further studies.
ContributorsStrackbein-Bussey, Max (Author) / Sullivan, Benjamin (Thesis director) / Ostling, Michael (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor, Contributor, Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Similar to the real numbers, the p-adic fields are completions of the rational numbers. However, distance in this space is determined based on divisibility by a prime number, p, rather than by the traditional absolute value. This gives rise to a peculiar topology which offers significant simplifications for p-adic continuous functions and p-adic integration than is present in the real numbers. These simplifications may present significant advantages to modern physics – specifically in harmonic analysis, quantum mechanics, and string theory. This project discusses the construction of the p-adic numbers, elementary p-adic topology, p-adic continuous functions, introductory p-adic measure theory, the q-Volkenborn distribution, and applications of p-adic numbers to physics. We define q-Volkenborn integration and its connection to Bernoulli numbers.
ContributorsBurgueno, Alyssa Erin (Author) / Childress, Nancy (Thesis director) / Jones, John (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor, Contributor, Contributor) / Department of Physics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
DescriptionA two-way deterministic finite pushdown automaton ("2PDA") is developed for the Lua language. This 2PDA is evaluated against both a purpose-built Lua syntax test suite and the test suite used by the reference implementation of Lua, and fully passes both.
ContributorsStevens, Kevin A (Author) / Shoshitaishvili, Yan (Thesis director) / Wang, Ruoyu (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05