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: Simonson, Mark
- Creators: School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies
Description
Abolitionist activism in 1850's America was divided among two groups of thought: disunionists, who understood the American Constitution to be a pro-slavery document, and political abolitionists, who believed the Constitution was antislavery. This paper traces the origins and structures of each argument, specifically focusing on the philosophies of Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison. It supplements their views with the works of other prominent abolitionists such as Lysander Spooner, Wendell Phillips and Gerrit Smith. In analyzing their rhetoric and beliefs, this paper examines the core of the contention between disunionists and political abolitionists and asserts that the chief divide between the two groups involved questions of whether the wording of the Constitution supported slavery, whether the drafters of the Constitution intended the document to condone slavery, and whether the intentions of the Constitution could be divorced from its interpretation at the hands of the American government and public. Furthermore, this paper argues that the conflict between disunionists and political abolitionists is not confined to the pages of history. It makes parallels between modern activism and the abolitionist writings of the 1850's, attempting to show that the same anti-Constitution reasoning of the disunionists permeates many present-day activists and scholars. It presents Frederick Douglass, Wendell Phillips and Gerrit Smith as proponents of a philosophy of radical constitutionalism which supports legal and cultural reform grounded in a respect for the ideals they believed were embedded within the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. This paper advocates constitutional radicalism as the most just and effective method of American reform, echoing Douglass in his faith in American idealism and the power of law and civic duty to promote national justice.
ContributorsFendler, Austin Michael (Author) / Hanlon, Christopher (Thesis director) / Simonton, Matt (Committee member) / School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Leveraged buyouts have gone in and out of popularity over the last four decades. The first wave began in the 1980's with the rising popularity of junk bonds, followed by years of economic downturn, and then a rise and respective fall from the dot com era. However, in the 2000's, attitudes were high and a period of low interest rates, covenant-lite loans, and relaxed lending conditions gave rise to some of the largest leveraged buyouts in US history. As the name implies, leveraged buyouts are predominantly structured with debt, around 70% of the total transaction value. Private equity firms execute leveraged buyouts on companies in strong industries, who have proven, stable cash flows, with the intent of cutting costs, divesting unneeded assets, and making the chain more efficient. After a time period of five to seven years, the private equity firm exits the deal through an initial public offering of the target company, a sale to another buyer, or dividend recapitalization. The Blackstone Group is one of the largest private equity firms in the US, and, with the favorable leveraged buyout conditions, especially in the real estate market, it wanted to build its real estate portfolio with an acquisition of Hilton Hotels & Resorts. At the time of consideration, Hilton was one of the largest hotel companies in the world, but was beginning to lag compared to its competitors Marriott and Starwood. After months of talks, Hilton agreed to be bought out by Blackstone at $47.50/share, for a total purchase price of $26bn. Blackstone had injected $5.7 of its own equity into the deal. The Great Recession caused a lot of investors to worry about Hilton's debt obligations, and Blackstone was able to restructure a significant portion of the debt to benefit both themselves and their creditors. As new CEO, Christopher J. Nassetta was able to strengthen Hilton by rearranging management, increasing franchising fees, expanding its capital-lite segments, and building more rooms internationally, Hilton was able to grow quicker than its competitors from 2007-2013 while minimizing operating expenses. On December 2, 2013, Hilton went public on the NYSE as HLT. Its enterprise value increased from $26bn to $33bn, and Blackstone was able to achieve an internal rate of return of 19%, while continuing to own 75% of Hilton's shares.
ContributorsNelson, Corey Mitchell (Author) / Simonson, Mark (Thesis director) / Aragon, George (Committee member) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the history of the Bitcoin arbitrage premium to see if the possibility of 'risk-free' gains existed previously and whether or not the opportunity is still present today. It investigates market structure and price discrepancies in $147B of trading volume across 53 different exchanges between July 2010 and February 2017. This paper aggregates exchange trading into five minute buckets of transaction volume in order to see what exchange volume could have been successfully arbitraged within the context of two cases. The first requires trades to close within the same 5-minute interval and the second requires a 10-minute delay before the position is closed. It finds that the monthly average spreads of these cases have fallen below 3% in 2017 from nearly 10% in 2010. Once exchange fees are included, these spreads fall below 2% on average.
ContributorsNowicki, Gregory Arthur (Author) / Wahal, Sunil (Thesis director) / Simonson, Mark (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
The death of Pericles and the Peloponnesian War saw the clash of two very different political cultures as the conservative aristocracy came into contact with the demagogues. The conflict between them would have profound effects on Athenian politics as well as the outcome of the war itself as both tried to assert dominance in a chaotic period of change. War gave the demagogues the opportunity to achieve power at the expense of the aristocracy, as had happened during the Affair at Pylos, the Mysteries and the Herms, and the Trial of the Generals. However, war also gave aristocrats with oligarchic sympathies the opportunity to lash out against the demagogues and their assault on traditional modes of politics through events such as the Mutilation of the Herms and the Coup of the Four Hundred. The more the demagogues pushed, the more the aristocracy resisted with opportunists such as Alcibiades and Callixeinus manipulating the resulting chaos for personal gain. This vicious battle for control of Athens served to destabilize its society and pave the way for their eventual defeat at the hands of the Spartans. This thesis explores the role the Athenian demagogue played in the Peloponnesian war as well as their relationship to the traditional ruling class within democratic Athens.
ContributorsLanders, Andrew Dale (Author) / Simonton, Matt (Thesis director) / Stantchev, Stefan (Committee member) / School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
The following research seeks to understand the increase in political disengagement, or political apathy, in younger generations of American citizens, with political apathy defined as disinterest and/or lack of caring to vote, advocate, or engage in topics or actions affiliated with politics. Given the historical roots of the U.S. and the struggle of many individuals to gain and hold on to the rights to vote and advocate in the political sphere, it is somewhat puzzling that political apathy is on the rise. Hence, I pose the question of why younger voters, in particular, are disinterested in politics. In doing so, I explore past historical events that correlate with decreases in voter turnout that may have also influenced the start of political apathy. Additionally, I adopt an interdisciplinary lens that draws on the political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes and Karl Marx, the writings of Sigmund Freud, and more current research from the psychological literature on attitudes and associations and from political science. A broader aim of this paper is to increase awareness of political apathy and the potential consequences that younger and future generations may face, as a result.
ContributorsJicha, Amy A. (Author) / Hall, Deborah (Thesis director) / Neal, Tess (Committee member) / School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
The goal of this thesis was to provide in depth research into the semiconductor wet-etch market and create a supplier analysis tool that would allow Company X to identify the best supplier partnerships. Several models were used to analyze the wet etch market including Porter's Five Forces and SWOT analyses. These models were used to rate suppliers based on financial indicators, management history, market share, research and developments spend, and investment diversity. This research allowed for the removal of one of the four companies in question due to a discovered conflict of interest. Once the initial research was complete a dynamic excel model was created that would allow Company X to continually compare costs and factors of the supplier's products. Many cost factors were analyzed such as initial capital investment, power and chemical usage, warranty costs, and spares parts usage. Other factors that required comparison across suppliers included wafer throughput, number of layers the tool could process, the number of chambers the tool has, and the amount of space the tool requires. The demand needed for the tool was estimated by Company X in order to determine how each supplier's tool set would handle the required usage. The final feature that was added to the model was the ability to run a sensitivity analysis on each tool set. This allows Company X to quickly and accurately forecast how certain changes to costs or tool capacities would affect total cost of ownership. This could be heavily utilized during Company X's negotiations with suppliers. The initial research as well the model lead to the final recommendation of Supplier A as they had the most cost effective tool given the required demand. However, this recommendation is subject to change as demand fluctuates or if changes can be made during negotiations.
ContributorsSchmitt, Connor (Co-author) / Rickets, Dawson (Co-author) / Castiglione, Maia (Co-author) / Witten, Forrest (Co-author) / Simonson, Mark (Thesis director) / Hertzel, Michael (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
The objective of this study is to determine if female attorneys are penalized for expressing anger, while male attorneys gain influence when they express anger. I hypothesized that angry male attorneys would be perceived as having more positive traits and less negative traits than calm male attorney. In contrast, I hypothesized that angry female attorneys would be perceived as having more negative traits and less positive traits than calm female attorneys. I hypothesized that, as a result, participants would be more likely to hire the angry male attorney than the calm male attorney, while they would be less likely to hire the angry female attorney than the calm female attorney. After having participants view a video of attorneys giving closing arguments, whether it be angry or calm, male or female and having them answer questions, I found that both attorneys were characterized as having both more positive and negative traits than calm attorneys—regardless of their gender. In regards to the likelihood of being hired, I found that angry male attorneys were more likely to be hired than calm male attorneys. In contrast, angry female attorneys were less likely to be hired than calm female attorneys. Thus, although participants found both male and female angry (versus calm) attorneys high on negative and positive characteristics, they were more likely to hire the angry (versus calm) male attorney, which is consistent with previous research showing men are seen as more competent when expressing anger. These data suggest that there might be a systematic bias against women who try to exert influence in the courtroom by expressing anger.
ContributorsReyes, Rosa Natalie (Author) / Salerno, Jessica (Thesis director) / Neal, Tess (Committee member) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
For my Barrett Honors Thesis Creative Project, I will serve as a Sound Designer, Visual Media Designer (including elements of pixel mapping for projection and animation), Assistant Stage Manager and Dramaturg for iTheatre Collaborative's (a local professional theatre company) production of Permanent Collection written by Thomas Gibbons. The purpose is to use dramaturg research to inform aesthetic properties of this theatrical productions. The Sound Design will be a collection of manipulated published music, my own scores, cultural research music and interview voice recordings. The Visual Media Design will be a play between two projection installations I will create. The primary rear static projection will represent the mentioned art pieces in the script. For instance, a character may mention a Bamana mask. My job is to secure, edit and project the mask in a way that makes the mask seem physically present in the art gallery. The second element of Visual Media Design is a dreamscape of transitioning animated projection that floods the stage in an immersive encounter with art. As the Assistant Stage Manager of the production I had the opportunity to engage with the actors directly to learn what they needed in regards to the research I conducted as the Dramaturg. Dramaturgy is the act of dissecting, analyzing and researching theatrical scripts in an effort to ensure the clearest executions of the playwright's intent, the director's artistic vision and audience comprehension. Dramaturgs have a responsibility to the director, audience and play wrights to provide theatrical productions with all available history, context and options. The work of a Dramaturg consists of researching a production including social context and the general information about the circumstances of the production. They also compile program notes for the audience. Dramaturgs must have an understanding of the audience a play is presented to. A dramaturg is an important fixture in the production of a play. Dramaturgy, while it is rooted in theatre, it spans through areas of music and Visual Art making it and relevant to my major, Interdisciplinary Arts and Performance. History, Geography, Sociology and many other subjects will play into this project making it less field specific and more a marathon in exploring and trying to gain perspective on different fields of study. This creative project is about context and gaining perspective. That is the purpose of dramaturgy. Theatre is a discipline rooted in curiosity and empathetic rationality. I was once told by a theatre professor that as an actor one must "assume that every character is you if you were born in their circumstances." I don't think philosophers would agree with this statement and rightfully so. But I believe it does reflect an important world view that theatre requires, "empathy and gaining perspective." Dramaturgy is the practice of these values.
ContributorsBroeder, Elizabeth Ann Marie (Author) / St.Clair, Pr. Charles (Thesis director) / Rice, John (Committee member) / School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
In this paper, I will look at recent game studies in three (3) large categories: (1) how games can be used for educational instruction, (2) how games impact players' social skills and behavioral choices, and (3) how games function as a method for satisfying human needs of play and entertainment. Within each category, several studies will be summarized. I have chosen these three (3) categories in particular because they are the ones I am most interested in and will afford to me the background research with which to define my own path of research and game design.
ContributorsSomers, Michael John (Author) / Devine, Theresa (Thesis director) / McNamara, Danielle (Committee member) / School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
The purpose of this research project is to develop a recommendation for Company X on the strategies it should use to enter a new market. This was done through the compilation and interpretation of data from the company and the construction of a financial model capable of analyzing our different proposed strategies. Company X is a leading producer of silicon chips which seeks to remain one of the leading forces in new technologies. Currently Company X wants to assess the value and risks associated with introducing a new packaging technology (FO-WLP) into their products either by developing the technology in-house or outsourcing production. The first portion of the research consisted mostly of gathering the necessary business acumen to be able to to fully understand our research findings. Market research was conducted to discover what competitors exist and what inputs should be included for the model with help from employees at Company X. The research then proceeded with the identification of three possible strategies and construction of financial models to analyze these options. Using the results from our analysis we were able to develop our recommendation for Company X and lay out the next steps which the Company needs to take before investing in the new technology.
ContributorsRubenzer, Jack (Co-author) / Galaviz, Roberto (Co-author) / Mariani, Stephanie (Co-author) / Mecinas, Freddy (Co-author) / Simonson, Mark (Thesis director) / Hertzel, Mike (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12