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.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6
Description
This paper sought to answer the question of how to improve the American healthcare system. The Affordable Care Act aimed to do this by increasing access to insurance. What this has done, however, is exacerbate the already rising rate of physician shortages. As a way to fix this problem, it is suggested that state legislatures and the federal government adopt the rising trend of expanding scope of practice to the extent of the care providers' certification. This is a movement has garnered support throughout the country and 20 states already allow for nearly autonomous practice by advanced practice nurses (APNs). This paper looked at systematic review, peer-reviewed papers, state/federal legislation and labor statistics to demonstrate how this move could increase access to healthcare providers as well as decrease cost by nearly 25%. This paper also evaluated how to formalization of nursing education has had positive impacts on the French healthcare system. Additionally, it evaluated a more specific look at Arizona and used data provided by the Arizona Board of Nursing and The Arizona Medical Board to make a compelling argument as to why this is a viable option for solving the disparity between rural and urban healthcare. The conclusion of the paper was to push policy makers to make the statutory constraints of the profession closer to the certification the people receive in their education as opposed to relying on case law. Additionally, it would be helpful to use technological innovations, like project echo, to help these professionals practice in rural areas. This will ultimately lead to a healthcare system that better serves the needs of all populations, as well as decreasing the overall cost of care.
ContributorsKingsbury, Andrew (Author) / Brian, Jennifer (Thesis director) / McGregor, Joan (Committee member) / Reddy, Swapna (Committee member) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Intestinal Transplant is becoming more prevalent with time as an powerful alternative to other therapies for intestinal failure such as parenteral nutrition. The small intestine is an organ especially susceptible to ischemia, or the lack of blood and oxygen supply to an organ. I studied ischemia at Yale Medical School in the lab of Dr. John Geibel. The purpose of this study was to find which kind of solution best protects the intestine from ischemia as well as which segments of the intestine are more susceptible to ischemic damage. This was done by cold static storage as well as through perfusing the organ with a unit developed in the lab called the Intestinal Perfusion Unit (IPU). Intestines were procured from deceased donors following the protocol for handling human specimen and then flushed with either the University of Wisconsin (UW) solution or the Histidine-tryptophan-ketoglutarate solution (HTK). It was found that the jejunum is more susceptible ischemia than the ileum. It was also found that in the jejunum, when using UW solution there was less damage then when using HTK. Clinically, this means that in transplant, if the ileum part is used, there is less risk for ischemic damage. The potential applications of this research raise many ethical issues related to organ transplantation more broadly. The ethical issues include but are not limited to: consent, distribution and need-based donation, transplant tourism, and cost and access. The costs for transplant are exorbitant for the average American. Private insurance companies and Medicare have no policy for intestinal transplant and are therefore not covering many patients in need. In this thesis, I briefly explore the role of insurance companies in the equitable distribution of innovative medical interventions.
ContributorsAgarwal, Raghav (Author) / Brian, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Finotti, Michele (Committee member) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The concept of when human death occurs had for most of history been determined by criteria for cardiac death, defined as the cessation of a heartbeat and respiration. However, in the mid-1900's, a new definition of death emerged in the form of brain death, characterized by an irreversible cessation of brain and brainstem function. This definition was needed after resuscitation of the heart was made possible and a growing number of patients were in a state of ventilatory support but had undetectable brain function. The success of organ transplantation and the growing need for more organ procurements further reinforced the advantage of using neurological criteria to declare death. These advancements in medicine have created a need for a definition of death other than cardiac death and have led to the acceptance of brain death, though it is still the subject of controversy. It has been attacked as a concept with weak scientific foundations and ethical justifications, since the brain itself is not well understood and the definition is used to the advantage of the organ donation system. Those in opposition to the use of neurological criteria to pronounce death argue that it is not always correctly detected and is conceptually incoherent. It would help to resolve this point of controversy if accurate methods to detect brain death were standardized for all physicians to use when declaring death, so that no declarations could be termed inaccurate or incomplete. The definition of brain death needs more rigorous and updated scientific backing in its ability to be detected if it is to be imposed upon individuals by law, as it is in the United States. It is also possible that new research and developments in medical treatments will make the current definition of death subject to change, and understanding the underlying problems of the current definition of brain death will help eliminate issues in a new definition of death.
ContributorsAdame, Alexis Leilani (Author) / Brian, Jennifer (Thesis director) / McGregor, Joan (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Commodifying the Womb: Ethical Concerns of Assisted Reproductive Technologies through a Marxist Lens
Description
Whether legal, banned or unregulated, states and nations are reconsidering the morality and legality of the practice of surrogacy. Though many advocate for the absolute right to this practice, there are serious ethical concerns about the practice of surrogacy. Using critical theory, this thesis examines the relationships between the systems and people who have fostered a space where assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) thrive. A theoretical analysis of Karl Marx and his literature on women and reproduction adds more comprehensive depth to the last four decades of literature on surrogacy. I respond to Marx and contemporary researchers with a recommendation: surrogacy should be regulated (and not necessarily banned) across states and nations. I also suggest that future discussions should point to market-inalienability as a tool to guide discussion on the state of surrogacy. I argue surrogacy is synonymous with purchasing children. If we are able to have clearer conversations about the ways in which children are treated as commodities, then we can start to understand the ways in which other forms of conception and childbearing practices are also problematic and exploitative.
ContributorsGrabowski, Hannah Kathleen (Author) / Brian, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Suk, Mina (Committee member) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
In the current political moment, sex trafficking is an issues that has gained increased political and media attention. This thesis first analyzes the stories that are told about sex trafficking in policy and the media. Analyzing these stories help us make sense of whose voices, experiences, and needs we listen to, and in relief, whose we do not. Through a case study that evaluates the research, policy work, and advocacy being conducted through the Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research at ASU, I first explore how they are dominating the conversation about sex trafficking in Arizona. I offer four critiques on STIR's approach to sex trafficking. First, I critique the language that STIR uses, and the implications of explaining this social issue as sex trafficking instead of survival sex. I then critique the policy and responses around the experiences of LGBTQ youth, and how the theory of dynamic nominalism informs the way we should represent LGBTQ youth in research. Through analyzing specific responses to sex trafficking prevention that STIR offers, such as calling 911, I will explore the need for intersectionality to protect the wellbeing of youth of color. Lastly, through theoretical critiques of neoliberalism, I will explore the ways in which STIR's research, advocacy, and trainings neglect to explore the systems youth must navigate and exist in, and how those systems fail. Through each of these unique critiques, we notice different silences and important considerations that are missing from the work that is dominating the discussion of sex trafficking in the US. Ultimately, this thesis does not argue that we should not care about sex trafficking, but instead argues we need to care more. It explores the ways that acknowledging the complexity and nuance of this great social problem can provide the ability to create meaningful solutions that care for and listen to youth.
ContributorsCossette, Anastasia Grace (Author) / Brian, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Katsulis, Yasmina (Committee member) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The current American opioid crisis is seeing an exponential number of fatalities. The opioid epidemic is a problem with massive scope, and while no clear reason has been identified, many causal relationships have been linked to its genesis. This thesis examines the role of the pharmaceutical industry in perpetuating the abuse rates we see today. Topics of sociological norms and values, economic incentives that benefitted private business practices, and political-legal means of restitution and market completion are examined to make sense of specific mechanisms that the pharmaceutical industry took advantage of, and the future trajectory of what is to come from the industry as well. Combined with policies (or, lack thereof) that do not provide adequate checks against opioid marketing strategies and incentives, governmental interferences come too little, too late in attempting to solve the issue.
ContributorsHouang, Michael (Author) / Brian, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Silverman, Daniel (Committee member) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05