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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With the advent of sophisticated computer technology, we increasingly see the use of computational techniques in the study of problems from a variety of disciplines, including the humanities. In a field such as poetry, where classic works are subject to frequent re-analysis over the course of years, decades, or even centuries, there is a certain demand for fresh approaches to familiar tasks, and such breaks from convention may even be necessary for the advancement of the field. Existing quantitative studies of poetry have employed computational techniques in their analyses, however, there remains work to be done with regards to the deployment of deep neural networks on large corpora of poetry to classify portions of the works contained therein based on certain features. While applications of neural networks to social media sites, consumer reviews, and other web-originated data are common within computational linguistics and natural language processing, comparatively little work has been done on the computational analysis of poetry using the same techniques. In this work, I begin to lay out the first steps for the study of poetry using neural networks. Using a convolutional neural network to classify author birth date, I was able to not only extract a non-trivial signal from the data, but also identify the presence of clustering within by-author model accuracy. While definitive conclusions about the cause of this clustering were not reached, investigation of this clustering reveals immense heterogeneity in the traits of accurately classified authors. Further study may unpack this clustering and reveal key insights about how temporal information is encoded in poetry. The study of poetry using neural networks remains very open but exhibits potential to be an interesting and deep area of work.
ContributorsGoodloe, Oscar Laurence (Author) / Nishimura, Joel (Thesis director) / Broatch, Jennifer (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
TANKED is a novella set in a futuristic world in which fish have become the dominant species and humans are kept in bowls of air. This story follows five children (8-16 years old) on their escape attempt to find the Land Above. While light hearted in nature for the target audience of about 4th grade, the story does cover a variety of themes including religion, perseverance, and climate change. The sibling pair that serves as the two main characters work as a foil between the two ideals of this journey. The younger, Goldie, represents hope and is always optimistic about the escape working while the elder, Swimmy, deems herself as more of a “realist” and often points out the slim likelihood of the events working out in their favor. The strengths of this piece largely involve the characters and their dialogue while a weakness is the scenery descriptions and where the story ends. This story is not over, but instead will one day have a part two. Some difficulties encountered in this piece included the scale of the humans to the fish in scenes like the one in which the group rides the back of a dolphin as well as setting up the world in which people could accept this new world as a futuristic earth. Both of these issues were worked on, but can still persist in some readings of the novella. This project will be worked on in the future to adapt it into a screenplay to accentuate the strengths of the piece and complete the story.
ContributorsSnider, Natasha Rayne (Author) / Amparano Garcia, Julie (Thesis director) / LaCroix, Kristen (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Forensic anthropologists rely on the validated sex determination methods that utilize post-cranial elements in adult remains, but, recently, research has been conducted to determine adult remain sex using just the skull. Similar research for sub-adult remains is lacking the robustness and validation that adult determination methods possess. This study utilized 20 crania measurements taken from CT scans of child patients with known sexes at the Phoenix Children’s Hospital to investigate if a sex determination method could be produced. The measurements were assessed with a t-Test, Linear Discriminant Analysis, and Principle Component Analysis to determine if sexual dimorphism was detectable and if the predictive model had discriminant power when the sample size was categorized by age. The results revealed that a few measurements were dimorphic, but were not statistically significant to determine the sex of a sub-adult outside of the sample population. Future investigations will remove age group classification to observe if this model can predict age.
ContributorsMani, Mary Rachel (Author) / Ferry, Lara (Thesis director) / Falsetti, Anthony (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
This study examines the utility of diagnostic CT scans as sources of data to quantify facial growth in children. Subadults often suffer facial trauma arising from a variety of circumstances. Pediatric surgeons are then confronted with devising surgical pre- and post-operative strategies that present numerous complications. One of these involves predicting how specific areas of a child's face will change with time. The proliferation of CT scans use in pre-operative planning throughout healthcare provides potential data for addressing many concerns, including those involving facial growth. To add to the burgeoning body of literature focusing on facial growth and provide insight anatomical variation this study used data derived from CT scans from Phoenix Children's Hospital. Quantitative data derived from CTs were used to examine normative growth and develop predictive equations that surgeons can use to visualize facial change for males and female patients.
ContributorsLee, Isaac Jet (Author) / Ferry, Lara (Thesis director) / Falsetti, Anthony (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
Through the months September-November of 2017 a study was conducted to determine if bees prefer the sunflower, Helianthus annuus, native to Arizona, or a cultivar Helianthus sunflower in an urban environment. The study was executed in a small, controlled urban environment on Arizona State University West campus. Seven identified bee species and forty-nine specimens were collected, of the forty-nine specimens, two bees were reported on the Helianthus cultivar supporting native floral host preferences of native species. Variables such as nectar, pollen, floral color, and floral height were not measured, however, when the floral host genus was maintained wild bees visited the native Helianthus host significantly more yielding a supportive two-tailed p-value of 2.97x10-5. Three trends were identified in correlation with the experiment: 1) Bees foraged on native Helianthus annuus over the Helianthus cultivar, 2) Generalist species were more abundant than specialists on the Helianthus annuus, 3) Honey bees (Apis mellifera) were the most abundant species present. While not considered a trend, low floral diversity and abundance may explain the low diversity of bee species observed on the Helianthus. Floral host and pollinator desynchronization may also have affected bee diversity and abundance. Analysis of bee abundance and diversity support that wild bees may prefer native floral hosts over cultivar floral hosts when the floral genus, temperature, and time was controlled for in an urban environment.
ContributorsDunham, Jocelen Michaela (Author) / Foltz-Sweat, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Sweat, Ken (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
The culture surrounding death in America is one of science and silence. When possible, death is hidden away from the public view. When exposure to death is unavoidable, it is sensationalized, made into a spectacle. Our dying are put into hospice care, nursing homes, and other hidden spaces, or else they are plastered over the news and internet. So, we get one of two views of death: the sterile, silent death that happens in the presence of medical professionals or the bloody, tragic deaths that are constantly reported across news outlets and social media or sensationalized on entertainment platforms such as movies and video games. Entire genres of television and movies are created on the foundation of bloody deaths and we are exposed to the concept of death constantly.
Despite the consistent coverage of death on a large scale, the average person is not often exposed to death on a personal level in this day and age. The deaths we see on television or in the movies are not typically connected to people with whom we are attached and so we are not required to work through our emotional response and experience. We are afforded the space to be a casual observer in most of the deaths that we see—we do not need the emotional and mental tools to cope with death on a personal level. While this distance from death may be true of the American whole, it is not entirely generalizable. Professionals in select fields are required to deal with death on a much more regular basis than the average person, including, but not limited to, healthcare and forensic professionals. In these professions, death is a fundamental aspect of the job—either as an expected risk or a necessary precursor. These professionals deal intimately with death, its causes, and its effects on a regular basis because of their chose line of work and, in doing so, are regularly exposed to death and other trauma which has the potential to affect them on both a professional and personal level. In doing so, these professionals are required to, as scientists, analyze and record these experiences with death through the lens of objectivity. These professionals are expected to maintain a professional distance while also being required to give an empathetic response to other’s trauma. The potential effect of this secondary trauma on these professionals is only sharpened by the culture of machismo in these science-based fields that prevents many professionals from expressing emotions regarding their job and getting the social support they need from others within their community.
Despite the consistent coverage of death on a large scale, the average person is not often exposed to death on a personal level in this day and age. The deaths we see on television or in the movies are not typically connected to people with whom we are attached and so we are not required to work through our emotional response and experience. We are afforded the space to be a casual observer in most of the deaths that we see—we do not need the emotional and mental tools to cope with death on a personal level. While this distance from death may be true of the American whole, it is not entirely generalizable. Professionals in select fields are required to deal with death on a much more regular basis than the average person, including, but not limited to, healthcare and forensic professionals. In these professions, death is a fundamental aspect of the job—either as an expected risk or a necessary precursor. These professionals deal intimately with death, its causes, and its effects on a regular basis because of their chose line of work and, in doing so, are regularly exposed to death and other trauma which has the potential to affect them on both a professional and personal level. In doing so, these professionals are required to, as scientists, analyze and record these experiences with death through the lens of objectivity. These professionals are expected to maintain a professional distance while also being required to give an empathetic response to other’s trauma. The potential effect of this secondary trauma on these professionals is only sharpened by the culture of machismo in these science-based fields that prevents many professionals from expressing emotions regarding their job and getting the social support they need from others within their community.
ContributorsSandoval, Alicia Rose (Author) / Kobojek, Kimberly (Thesis director) / Watrous, Lisa (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
Lutein and zeaxanthin are two important carotenoid vitamins related to ocular health and human visual processing. These vitamins can be ingested through supplementation and in regular diet. They concentrate in the central retina where they form a filter of macular pigment and protect the eye from high energy blue and yellow light. We examined participants who had a natural diet of high vs low lutein and zeaxanthin intake on tests of contrast sensitivity and glare disability. We also examined participant performance while wearing blue light blocking glasses in order to determine whether these glasses serve a similar protective function as macular pigment in benefiting participants on contrast sensitivity and glare disability tasks. Most of our data did not show statistically significant differences between the high and low lutein and zeaxanthin groups. An unexpected result that the blue blocker glasses hindered the ability of low lutein participants on their glare disability test was observed. We hypothesize that this is due to light scatter produced by the by glasses resulting in an impoverish retinal image reaching the primary visual cortex. Further research is required to examine this new finding.
ContributorsHormann, Breanna Susanne (Author) / Holloway, Steven (Thesis director) / Náñez Sr., José E (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Undergraduate students taking Anatomy and Physiology may struggle with information overload due to constant memorization. The solution is to present the anatomical material in a more integrative manner. Traditional learning in the human anatomy labs requires students to be presented with the skin, bones, joints, and muscle systems throughout the semester. However, in the Human Anatomy and Physiology courses (BIO 201), students only spend 2.5 hours for the lab session in one or two weeks for each system. The traditional style used today is constructed systematically, but it does not combine the other systems and functions with it once presented to the students. As a result, the new approach will integrate the structures and functions of each system with the current one that is being introduced. The new approach is SiMoJi-B: Skin, Muscles, Joints, and Bones. SiMoJi-B will teach students the Skin, Muscles, Joints, and Bones systems following anatomical regions of the body each week. All systems are integrated using a layer visualization from the outer to the deepest layer. The integration is supported with human donor dissections. The integrative sequence will allow students to learn anatomy in a more interactive and dynamic way.
ContributorsKaroubi, Susan (Author) / Cevallos, Manuel (Thesis director) / Ferry, Lara (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Since its isolation from a rhesus monkey in the Zika forest of Uganda in 1947, Zika virus (ZIKV) has spread into many parts of the world, causing major epidemics, notably in the Americas and some parts of Europe and Asia. The flavivirus ZIKV is primarily transmitted to humans via the bite of infectious adult female Aedes mosquitoes. In the absence of effective treatment or a safe and effective vaccine against the disease, control efforts are focused on effective vector management to reduce the mosquito population and limit human exposure to mosquito bites. The work in this thesis is based on the use of a mathematical model for gaining insight into the transmission dynamics of ZIKV in a population. The model, which takes the form of a deterministic system of nonlinear differential equations, is rigorously analyzed to gain insight into its basic qualitative features. In particular, it is shown that the disease-free equilibrium of the model is locally-asymptotically stable whenever a certain epidemiological quantity (known as the reproduction number, denoted by R0) is less than unity. The epidemiological implication of this result is that a small influx of ZIKV-infected individuals or vectors into the community will not generate a large outbreak if the anti-ZIKV control strategy (or strategies) adopted by the community can reduce and maintain R0 to a value less than unity. Numerical simulations of the model, using data relevant to ZIKV transmission dynamics in Puerto Rico, shows that a control strategy that solely focuses on killing immature mosquitoes (using highly efficacious larvicides) can lead to the elimination of ZIKV if the larvicide coverage (i.e., proportion of breeding sites treated with larvicides) is high enough (over 90%). Such elimination is also feasible using a control strategy that solely focuses on the use of insect repellents (as a means of personal protection against mosquito bites) if the coverage level of the insect repellent usage in the community is high enough (at least 70%). However, it is also shown that although the use of adulticides (i.e., using insecticides to kill adult mosquitoes) can reduce the reproduction number (hence, disease burden), it fails to reduce it to a value less than unity, regardless of coverage level. Thus, unlike with the use of larvicide-only or repellent-only strategies, the population-wide implementation of an adulticide-only strategy is unable to lead to ZIKV elimination. Finally, it is shown that the combined (integrated pest management) strategy, based on using all three aforementioned strategies, is the most effective approach for combatting ZIKV in the population. In particular, it is shown that even a moderately-effective level of this strategy, which entails using only 50% coverage of both larvicides and adulticides, together with about 45% coverage for a repellent strategy, will lead to ZIKV elimination. This moderately-effective combined strategy seems attainable in Puerto Rico.
ContributorsUrcuyo, Javier (Author) / Gumel, Abba (Thesis director) / Hackney Price, Jennifer (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
It is no surprise that crime has become an interest to people both nationally and globally. It is impossible to turn on a TV without hearing cable news talking about a bank robbery or a murder, or a political hearing of some sort. Crime TV shows are incredibly common—there are whole channels dedicated to just crime, and many prime-time TV shows deal with some form of crime, most often the law enforcement teams that interact with it. Movies and books about crime are also incredibly common—most movie theaters have at least one horror movie or psychological thriller on show at a given time, and books stores and libraries have entire sections about true crime and mysteries.
Crime has become an inescapable part of being a consumer and viewer in today’s society. The interest in crime, however, could not have just been created by the media or a few specific parties and gained the amount of attention that is has today. Crime has been of interest since ancient times, seen immortalized in art and literature with famous events like the death of Socrates and the assassination of Julius Caesar. However, only more modern advances in media and the growth in consumerism could have led to interest and commodification of crime as we see it today. Landmark cases like Ted Bundy and O.J. Simpson have contributed to the growth of the media landscape, but because of the cyclical nature of the news and consumer cycle, these cases would not differ much in the way that they would be covered today, even with the new methods of disseminating information that we have today, such as social media and news websites that are accessible by everyone. Crime as entertainment has been a product not just of the media and popular culture but also from American consumers who continue to give media and pop culture producers a consumer who wishes to view their content and to continue to further the interest in crime. Media and popular culture are not the only people to blame for the popularization of crime as a product; people in the United States, and globally, are just as much responsible for the creation of crime as entertainment.
Crime has become an inescapable part of being a consumer and viewer in today’s society. The interest in crime, however, could not have just been created by the media or a few specific parties and gained the amount of attention that is has today. Crime has been of interest since ancient times, seen immortalized in art and literature with famous events like the death of Socrates and the assassination of Julius Caesar. However, only more modern advances in media and the growth in consumerism could have led to interest and commodification of crime as we see it today. Landmark cases like Ted Bundy and O.J. Simpson have contributed to the growth of the media landscape, but because of the cyclical nature of the news and consumer cycle, these cases would not differ much in the way that they would be covered today, even with the new methods of disseminating information that we have today, such as social media and news websites that are accessible by everyone. Crime as entertainment has been a product not just of the media and popular culture but also from American consumers who continue to give media and pop culture producers a consumer who wishes to view their content and to continue to further the interest in crime. Media and popular culture are not the only people to blame for the popularization of crime as a product; people in the United States, and globally, are just as much responsible for the creation of crime as entertainment.
ContributorsCooke, Emilie (Author) / Kobojek, Kimberly (Thesis director) / Gordon, Karen (Committee member) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05