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 Sustainability
Description
At Arizona State University, the Disability Resource Center provides disabled students transportation around campus. This transportation service known as DART is composed of approximately 20 student workers and 9 carts that pick riders up based on pre-determined pick-up times and locations. With the current system, the scheduling of drivers to riders is inefficient, and in response, a tool was developed to schedule the rides in a faster manner. A demonstration of the new tool resulted in a time reduction of 98%.
ContributorsFranke, Alexandra Nicole (Author) / Clough, Michael (Thesis director) / Jennings, Cheryl (Committee member) / Industrial, Systems & Operations Engineering Prgm (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
My thesis combines two different perspectives. The first is supply chain management, and the second is volunteering. The inspiration for this topic came from Joy Field's seminar titled "Job Design and Work Allocation for Volunteers in Nonprofit Organizations." My thesis differs from her seminar because I decided to expand her topic to include all types of organizations, not just non-profits. The idea of relating supply chain and volunteering is appealing because I believe getting the most out of each volunteer's experience and those on the receiving end is very important. Additionally, her seminar appealed to me because I have volunteered before and it relates to my major of supply chain management. Volunteer management relates to supply chain management from an operations perspective. A common objective within supply chain operations is maximizing productivity, resources, and value. Mismanaging people can lead to an increased amount of waste in the form of money, time, and resources. That is why it is important to get the most out of the entire experience in order for both the volunteers and the organization to achieve the most benefit. The purpose of this paper is to describe best practices in volunteer management for organizations to consider. I will explore three phases of the volunteer management process: before, during, and after. Additionally, I will provide a personal volunteer experience and assess its effectiveness. My source material consisted of various research articles and journals, and the end result will be an outline of recommendations for organizations to utilize when using volunteers.
ContributorsCohen, Joshua (Author) / Printezis, Antonios (Thesis director) / Sandell, Paul (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
Cancer poses a significant burden on the global health system and represents a leading cause of death worldwide. For late-stage cancers, the traditional treatments of chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery are not always viable, and they can pose unnecessary health risks to the patients. New immunotherapies, such as adoptive cell transfer, are being developed and refined to treat such cancers. T cell immunotherapies in particular, where a patient’s T cell lymphocytes are isolated and amplified to be re-infused into the patient or where human cell lines are engineered to express T cell receptors for the recognition of common cancer antigens, are being expanded on because for some cancers, they could be the only option. Constructing an optimal pipeline for cloning and expression of antigen-specific TCRs has significant bearing on the efficacy of engineered cell lines for ACT. Adoptive T cell transfer, while making great strides, has to overcome a diverse T cell repertoire – cloning and expressing antigen-specific TCRs can mediate this understanding. Having identified the high frequency FluM1-specific TCR sequences in stimulated donor PBMCs, it was hypothesized that the antigen-specific TCR could be reconstructed via Gateway cloning methods and tested for expression and functionality. Establishing this pipeline would confirm an ability to properly pair and express the heterodimeric chains. In the context of downstream applications, neoantigens would be used to stimulate T cells, the α and β chains would be paired via single-cell or bulk methods, and instead of Gateway cloning, the CDR3 hypervariable regions α and β chains alone would be co-expressed using Golden Gate assembly methods.
ContributorsHirneise, Gabrielle Rachel (Author) / Anderson, Karen (Thesis director) / Mason, Hugh (Committee member) / Hariadi, Hugh (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor, Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Urbanization has global impacts on ecosystems and transforms landscapes into man-made constructs. As urbanization continues to encroach on landscapes it is important to understand its effects on biodiversity and the long term health of our planet. In terms of species numbers, urban floras can actually be more diverse than their native surroundings and I am specifically interested in the species that have been introduced into these settings, their provenance, and the historical circumstances of how they were established. I collected plants in the alleys of Tempe, Arizona over a 5 month period to get a baseline understanding of the local diversity; then collected data from herbarium records using SEINet http://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/ to trace the origin of the introduced species and the first record of their appearance. I also used on-line information from the City of Tempe to investigate the relationship of land use change, development, and population growth to the introductions of some non-native plants. Finally, I used SIENet records to investigate the relationship of collection intensity throughout the decades to the introductions of some non-native plants. A total of 130 specimen were collected representing 83 different species from 32 different families. Most of the introduced species were from climates similar to Arizona. New occurrence records were spread out over the decades that Tempe has been around, and I was only able to weakly link them to the historical and collection intensity data. Knowing the biodiversity of an area can give clues into the ecosystem services that biodiversity provides, as well as management implications. Additionally, knowing the history of what is out there may give insights into what the biodiversity of the future may look like.
ContributorsHauck, Chad Steven (Author) / Franz, Nico (Thesis director) / Makings, Elizabeth (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
This proposal lays out the business case for Isagenix International to adopt circular packaging that is compatible with the circular economy. I first give a brief background on plastic packaging and the environmental risks that go along with it. After explaining how a linear economy is unsustainable, I introduce the concept of a circular economy. I then explain the competitive advantages that Isagenix can gain over its competitors from pursuing circular or sustainable packaging, and provide a benchmarking analysis of other companies’ sustainable packaging goals. After establishing the reasons that Isagenix should pursue this initiative, I go into an explanation of how Isagenix should design packaging for circularity and educate consumers on how to recycle their packaging products. Lastly, I propose my three recommendations for action that Isagenix should start with to begin transitioning all of their packaging to be circular.
ContributorsPatel, Tanvi (Author) / Dooley, Kevin (Thesis director) / Cloutier, Scott (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Current applications of the traditional vapor-compression refrigeration system are not feasible. Space cooling and refrigeration systems that employ vapor-compression refrigeration cycles utilize harmful refrigerants, produce large amounts of carbon dioxide, and have high energy consumption. Adsorption cooling technology is seen as a possible alternative to traditional vapor-compression refrigeration systems. The low-grade heat requirement and eco-friendly adsorbent and refrigerant materials make adsorption cooling an attractive technology. Adsorption cooling technology employs the adsorption principle—the phenomenon in which an adsorbate fluid adheres to the surfaces and micropores of an adsorbent solid. The purpose of this study was to explore the adsorption cooling process through the use of a prototype adsorption test bed design. A basic intermittent adsorption cooling cycle was utilized for the test bed design. Several requirements for the design include low-cost, simple fabrication, and capable of holding a vacuum. In this study, an experiment was carried out to analyze the desorption process, in which the original weight of adsorbed water was compared to the weight of the desorbed water. The system pressure was decreased to sub-atmospheric absolute pressure of 16.67 kPa in order to increase the desorption rate and drive the desorption process. A hot water pump provided 81.6 °C hot water to heat the adsorption bed. The desorption process lasted for a duration of 162 minutes. The experiment resulted in 3.60 g (16.04%) of the initial adsorbed water being desorbed during the desorption process. The study demonstrates the potential of adsorption cooling. This paper outlines the design, fabrication, and analysis of a prototype adsorption cooling test bed.
ContributorsCaballes, Christopher C. (Author) / Phelan, Patrick (Thesis director) / Bocanegra, Luis (Committee member) / School for Engineering of Matter,Transport & Enrgy (Contributor) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
There is an increasing need to understand and develop clean cooking technologies in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The provision of clean energy where modern energy is not available is important in advancing the 17 sustainable development goals as set by the United Nations. Green charcoal is a cooking fuel technology made from ground and compressed biochar, an organic material made from heating a feedstock (biomass, forest residues, agriculture waste, invasive species, etc.) in an oxygen deprived environment to high temperatures. Green charcoal behaves similarly to wood charcoal or coal but is different from these energy products in that it is produced from biomass, not from wood or fossil fuels. Green charcoal has gained prominence as a cooking fuel technology in South-East Asia recently. Within the context of Nepal, green charcoal is currently being produced using lantana camara, an invasive species in Nepal, as a feedstock in order to commoditize the otherwise destructive plant. The purpose of this study was to understand the innovation ecosystem of green charcoal within the context of Nepal’s renewable energy sector. An innovation ecosystem is all of the actors, users and conditions that contribute to the success of a particular method of value creation. Through a series of field interviews, it was determined that the main actors of the green charcoal innovation ecosystem are forest resources governance agencies, biochar producers, boundary organizations, briquette producers, distributors/vendors, the political economy of energy, and the food culture of individuals. The end user (user segment) of this innovation ecosystem is restaurants. Each actor was further analyzed based on the Ecosystem Pie Model methodology as created by Talmar, et al. using the actor’s individual resources, activities, value addition, value capture, dependence on green charcoal and the associated risk as the building blocks for analysis. Based on ecosystem analysis, suggestions were made on how to strengthen the green charcoal innovation ecosystem in Nepal’s renewable energy sector based on actor-actor and actor-green charcoal interactions, associated risks and dependence, and existing knowledge and technology gaps. It was determined that simply deploying a clean cooking technology does not guarantee success of the technology. Rather, there are a multitude of factors that contribute to the success of the clean cooking technology that deserve equal amounts of attention in order to successfully implement the technology.
ContributorsDieu, Megan (Author) / Chhetri, Netra (Thesis director) / Henderson, Mark (Committee member) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor, Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Photovoltaic panels are commonly used for their versatility in on-site generation of clean electricity in urban environments, specifically on rooftops. However, their implementation on rooftops poses potential (positive and negative) impacts on the energy use of buildings, and urban climates. The negative impacts are compounded if PV is installed on top of a high-albedo rooftop. This study quantitively investigates these impacts from PV installation on top of a building with a white roof in Phoenix, AZ. We supplemented our measurements with EnergyPlus simulations to model the energy implications for archetypical residential and retail buildings and calculated the energy penalty to generation ratio as well as sensible heat flux for each combination of panel height and building type. Results indicate that the daily cooling energy penalty to due blockage of outgoing longwave radiation can be 4.9—11.2% of the PV generation. In addition, while we observed a small decrease in nighttime sensible heat flux to the ambient, PV cases increased the daytime heat flux by more than a factor of 10. This study highlights the potential unintended consequences of rooftop PV under certain conditions and provides a broader perspective for building designers and urban planners.
ContributorsBrown, Kyle (Author) / Sailor, David (Thesis director) / Phelan, Patrick (Committee member) / Department of Physics (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
College and university campuses can play an important role in a student’s life, and campus outdoor spaces have the ability to positively impact various aspects of student health and well-being. It has long been understood that natural environments can promote health and well being, and in recent years research has begun to examine the impact of parks and landscapes in urban settings on subjective well-being (SWB). Subjective well-being (aka “happiness”) refers to
one’s self-reported measure of well-being and is thought of as having a high level of positive affect, low level of negative affect, and high degree of life satisfaction (Diener, 1984).
This study was conducted to assess the interrelationships between affective experiences, SWB, and usage of campus outdoor spaces in order to learn how outdoor spaces on the Arizona State University (ASU) Tempe campus can be enhanced to increase SWB and usage. In total, 832 students completed a survey questionnaire 1,140 times for six campus outdoor spaces. The results showed that students experience the greatest amount of happiness in the Secret Garden
and James Turrell ASU Skyspace, relaxation/restoration is the affective experience most strongly related to SWB, and SWB is negatively correlated with frequency of visits but positively link with duration of visits. To improve student happiness and usage of outdoor spaces on campuses, planners and designers should work on increasing the relaxing/restorative qualities of existing
locations, creating new spaces for relaxation/restoration around campus, reducing the perception of crowding and noise in large spaces, increasing fun/excitement by adding stimuli and/or opportunities for activity and entertainment, and adding equipment necessary for students to perform the activities they want. In addition to the ASU Tempe campus, the methodology and
findings of this research could be used to improve outdoor spaces on other college and university campuses and other types of outdoor environments.
one’s self-reported measure of well-being and is thought of as having a high level of positive affect, low level of negative affect, and high degree of life satisfaction (Diener, 1984).
This study was conducted to assess the interrelationships between affective experiences, SWB, and usage of campus outdoor spaces in order to learn how outdoor spaces on the Arizona State University (ASU) Tempe campus can be enhanced to increase SWB and usage. In total, 832 students completed a survey questionnaire 1,140 times for six campus outdoor spaces. The results showed that students experience the greatest amount of happiness in the Secret Garden
and James Turrell ASU Skyspace, relaxation/restoration is the affective experience most strongly related to SWB, and SWB is negatively correlated with frequency of visits but positively link with duration of visits. To improve student happiness and usage of outdoor spaces on campuses, planners and designers should work on increasing the relaxing/restorative qualities of existing
locations, creating new spaces for relaxation/restoration around campus, reducing the perception of crowding and noise in large spaces, increasing fun/excitement by adding stimuli and/or opportunities for activity and entertainment, and adding equipment necessary for students to perform the activities they want. In addition to the ASU Tempe campus, the methodology and
findings of this research could be used to improve outdoor spaces on other college and university campuses and other types of outdoor environments.
ContributorsDavis, Kara (Author) / Cheng, Chingwen (Thesis director) / Cloutier, Scott (Committee member) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / The Design School (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
This honors thesis is focused on two separate catalysis projects conducted under the mentorship of Dr. Javier Pérez-Ramírez at ETH Zürich. The first project explored ethylene oxychlorination over supported europium oxychloride catalysts. The second project investigated alkyne semihydrogenation over nickel phosphide catalysts. This work is the subject of a publication of which I am a co-author, as cited below.
Project 1 Abstract: Ethylene Oxychlorination
The current two-step process for the industrial process of vinyl chloride production involves CuCl2 catalyzed ethylene oxychlorination to ethylene dichloride followed by thermal cracking of the latter to vinyl chloride. To date, no industrial application of a one-step process is available. To close this gap, this work evaluates a wide range of self-prepared supported CeO2 and EuOCl catalysts for one-step production of vinyl chloride from ethylene in a fixed-bed reactor at 623 773 K and 1 bar using feed ratios of C2H4:HCl:O2:Ar:He = 3:3 6:1.5 6:3:82 89.5. Among all studied systems, CeO2/ZrO2 and CeO2/Zeolite MS show the highest activity but suffer from severe combustion of ethylene, forming COx, while 20 wt.% EuOCl/γ-Al2O3 leads to the best vinyl chloride selectivity of 87% at 15.6% C2H4 conversion with complete suppression of CO2 formation and only 4% selectivity to CO conversion for over 100 h on stream. Characterization by XRD and EDX mapping reveals that much of the Eu is present in non-active phases such as Al2Eu or EuAl4, indicating that alternative synthesis methods could be employed to better utilize the metal. A linear relationship between conversion and metal loading is found for this catalyst, indicating that always part of the used Eu is available as EuOCl, while the rest forms inactive europium aluminate species. Zeolite-supported EuOCl slightly outperforms EuOCl/γ Al2O3 in terms of total yield, but is prone to significant coking and is unstable. Even though a lot of Eu seems locked in inactive species on EuOCl/γ Al2O3, these results indicate possible savings of nearly 16,000 USD per kg of catalyst compared to a bulk EuOCl catalyst. These very promising findings constitute a crucial step for process intensification of polyvinyl chloride production and exploring the potential of supported EuOCl catalysts in industrially-relevant reactions.
Project 2 Abstract: Alkyne Semihydrogenation
Despite strongly suffering from poor noble metal utilization and a highly toxic selectivity modifier (Pb), the archetypal catalyst applied for the three-phase alkyne semihydrogenation, the Pb-doped Pd/CaCO3 (Lindlar catalyst), is still being utilized at industrial level. Inspired by the very recent strategies involving the modification of Pd with p-block elements (i.e., S), this work extrapolates the concept by preparing crystalline metal phosphides with controlled stoichiometry. To develop an affordable and environmentally-friendly alternative to traditional hydrogenation catalysts, nickel, a metal belonging to the same group as Pd and capable of splitting molecular hydrogen has been selected. Herein, a simple two-step synthesis procedure involving nontoxic precursors was used to synthesize bulk nickel phosphides with different stoichiometries (Ni2P, Ni5P4, and Ni12P5) by controlling the P:Ni ratios. To uncover structural and surface features, this catalyst family is characterized with an array of methods including X-ray diffraction (XRD), 31P magic-angle nuclear magnetic resonance (MAS-NMR) spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Bulk-sensitive techniques prove the successful preparation of pure phases while XPS analysis unravels the facile passivation occurring at the NixPy surface that persists even after reductive treatment. To assess the characteristic surface fingerprints of these materials, Ar sputtering was carried out at different penetration depths, reveling the presence of Ni+ and P-species. Continuous-flow three-phase hydrogenations of short-chain acetylenic compounds display that the oxidized layer covering the surface is reduced under reaction conditions, as evidenced by the induction period before reaching the steady state performance. To assess the impact of the phosphidation treatment on catalytic performance, the catalysts were benchmarked against a commercial Ni/SiO2-Al2O3 sample. While Ni/SiO2-Al2O3 presents very low selectivity to the alkene (the selectivity is about 10% at full conversion) attributed to the well-known tendency of naked nickel nanoparticles to form hydrides, the performance of nickel phosphides is highly selective and independent of P:Ni ratio. In line with previous findings on PdxS, kinetic tests indicate the occurrence of a dual-site mechanism where the alkyne and hydrogen do not compete for the same site.
This work is the subject of a publication of which I am a co-author, as cited below.
D. Albani; K. Karajovic; B. Tata; Q. Li; S. Mitchell; N. López; J. Pérez-Ramírez. Ensemble Design in Nickel Phosphide Catalysts for Alkyne Semi-Hydrogenation. ChemCatChem 2019. doi.org/10.1002/cctc.201801430
Project 1 Abstract: Ethylene Oxychlorination
The current two-step process for the industrial process of vinyl chloride production involves CuCl2 catalyzed ethylene oxychlorination to ethylene dichloride followed by thermal cracking of the latter to vinyl chloride. To date, no industrial application of a one-step process is available. To close this gap, this work evaluates a wide range of self-prepared supported CeO2 and EuOCl catalysts for one-step production of vinyl chloride from ethylene in a fixed-bed reactor at 623 773 K and 1 bar using feed ratios of C2H4:HCl:O2:Ar:He = 3:3 6:1.5 6:3:82 89.5. Among all studied systems, CeO2/ZrO2 and CeO2/Zeolite MS show the highest activity but suffer from severe combustion of ethylene, forming COx, while 20 wt.% EuOCl/γ-Al2O3 leads to the best vinyl chloride selectivity of 87% at 15.6% C2H4 conversion with complete suppression of CO2 formation and only 4% selectivity to CO conversion for over 100 h on stream. Characterization by XRD and EDX mapping reveals that much of the Eu is present in non-active phases such as Al2Eu or EuAl4, indicating that alternative synthesis methods could be employed to better utilize the metal. A linear relationship between conversion and metal loading is found for this catalyst, indicating that always part of the used Eu is available as EuOCl, while the rest forms inactive europium aluminate species. Zeolite-supported EuOCl slightly outperforms EuOCl/γ Al2O3 in terms of total yield, but is prone to significant coking and is unstable. Even though a lot of Eu seems locked in inactive species on EuOCl/γ Al2O3, these results indicate possible savings of nearly 16,000 USD per kg of catalyst compared to a bulk EuOCl catalyst. These very promising findings constitute a crucial step for process intensification of polyvinyl chloride production and exploring the potential of supported EuOCl catalysts in industrially-relevant reactions.
Project 2 Abstract: Alkyne Semihydrogenation
Despite strongly suffering from poor noble metal utilization and a highly toxic selectivity modifier (Pb), the archetypal catalyst applied for the three-phase alkyne semihydrogenation, the Pb-doped Pd/CaCO3 (Lindlar catalyst), is still being utilized at industrial level. Inspired by the very recent strategies involving the modification of Pd with p-block elements (i.e., S), this work extrapolates the concept by preparing crystalline metal phosphides with controlled stoichiometry. To develop an affordable and environmentally-friendly alternative to traditional hydrogenation catalysts, nickel, a metal belonging to the same group as Pd and capable of splitting molecular hydrogen has been selected. Herein, a simple two-step synthesis procedure involving nontoxic precursors was used to synthesize bulk nickel phosphides with different stoichiometries (Ni2P, Ni5P4, and Ni12P5) by controlling the P:Ni ratios. To uncover structural and surface features, this catalyst family is characterized with an array of methods including X-ray diffraction (XRD), 31P magic-angle nuclear magnetic resonance (MAS-NMR) spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Bulk-sensitive techniques prove the successful preparation of pure phases while XPS analysis unravels the facile passivation occurring at the NixPy surface that persists even after reductive treatment. To assess the characteristic surface fingerprints of these materials, Ar sputtering was carried out at different penetration depths, reveling the presence of Ni+ and P-species. Continuous-flow three-phase hydrogenations of short-chain acetylenic compounds display that the oxidized layer covering the surface is reduced under reaction conditions, as evidenced by the induction period before reaching the steady state performance. To assess the impact of the phosphidation treatment on catalytic performance, the catalysts were benchmarked against a commercial Ni/SiO2-Al2O3 sample. While Ni/SiO2-Al2O3 presents very low selectivity to the alkene (the selectivity is about 10% at full conversion) attributed to the well-known tendency of naked nickel nanoparticles to form hydrides, the performance of nickel phosphides is highly selective and independent of P:Ni ratio. In line with previous findings on PdxS, kinetic tests indicate the occurrence of a dual-site mechanism where the alkyne and hydrogen do not compete for the same site.
This work is the subject of a publication of which I am a co-author, as cited below.
D. Albani; K. Karajovic; B. Tata; Q. Li; S. Mitchell; N. López; J. Pérez-Ramírez. Ensemble Design in Nickel Phosphide Catalysts for Alkyne Semi-Hydrogenation. ChemCatChem 2019. doi.org/10.1002/cctc.201801430
ContributorsTata, Bharath (Author) / Deng, Shuguang (Thesis director) / Muhich, Christopher (Committee member) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor, Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05