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
Gamification is used to provide an entertaining alternative to educate an individual on a topic that has proven to be difficult, confusing, or undesirable. This thesis describes the design of a video game whose goal was to provide a way for coders and non-coders to educate themselves on programming scopes while also being entertained in the process. Reaching the goal required using the puzzle genre to create a concept where programming scopes would serve as the primary mechanic while also using various other programming concepts to complement it. These concepts include variables, values, functions, programming statements, and conditions.
In order to ensure that the game worked both as an educational tool as well as an entertaining one, informal testers were used with various degrees of experience in both coding and video games. After reaching the end of the game, each of the testers demonstrated that they understood the programming concepts in their video game form. However, this understanding came after additional verbal help was supplied and illustrated that the tutorial section of the game would need to be re-worked in order to efficiently demonstrate each concept.
In order to ensure that the game worked both as an educational tool as well as an entertaining one, informal testers were used with various degrees of experience in both coding and video games. After reaching the end of the game, each of the testers demonstrated that they understood the programming concepts in their video game form. However, this understanding came after additional verbal help was supplied and illustrated that the tutorial section of the game would need to be re-worked in order to efficiently demonstrate each concept.
ContributorsLucero, Elijah Ray (Author) / Bazzi, Rida (Thesis director) / Selgrad, Justin (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
We live in an era where the notion of feminism is widespread. Just walking on the Arizona State University campus, one can see people wearing t-shirts and holding coffee cups that say "FEMINIST," working from computers covered in stickers calling for gender equity. I, myself, am a feminist. On any given day, I fit in perfectly with many others on campus - sporting a t-shirt that says, "Raise Boys and Girls the Same Way," and lugging around my laptop covered in feminist propaganda stickers. I subscribe to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's definition of feminism. In essence, a feminist is "a person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes," regardless of religion, ethnicity, race, and class (Adichie, 2012). Through the lens of this definition and those like it, women have made many advancements (though there is still significant progress to be made in this arena, particularly for women of color) – more women participate in the workforce and education, women have gained greater autonomy over their bodies, and domestic responsibilities are, in many societies, no longer only assumed by women.
ContributorsFletcher, Rachel Aliya (Author) / Ali, Souad T. (Thesis director) / Gallab, Abdullahi A. (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor, Contributor, Contributor, Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / Watts College of Public Service & Community Solut (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Apple’s HomeKit framework centralizes control of smart home devices and allows users to create home automations based on predefined rules. For example, a user can add a rule to turn off all the lights in their house whenever they leave. Currently, these rules must be added through a graphical user interface provided by Apple or a third-party app on iOS. This thesis describes how a text-based language provides users with a more expressive means of creating complex home automations and successfully implements such a language. Rules created using this text-based format are parsed and interpreted into rules that can be added directly into HomeKit. This thesis also explores how security features should be implemented with this text-based approach. Since automations are run by the system without user interaction, it is important to consider how the system itself can provide functionality to address the unintended consequences that may result from running an automation. This is especially important for the text-based approach since its increase in expressiveness makes it easier for a user to make a mistake in programming that leads to a security concern. The proposed method for preventing unintended side effects is using a simulation to run every automation prior to actually running the automation on real-world devices. This approach allows users to code some conditions that must be satisfied in order for the automation to run on devices in the home. This thesis describes the creation of such a program that successfully simulates every device in the home. There were limitations, however, with Apple's HomeKit framework, which made it impractical to match the state of simulated devices to real devices in the home. Without being able to match the current state of the home to the current state of the simulation, this method cannot satisfy the goal of ensuring that certain adverse effects will not occur as a result of automations. Other smart home control platforms that provide more extensibility could be used to create this simulation-based security approach. Perhaps as Apple continues to open up their HomeKit platform to developers, this approach may be feasible within Apple's ecosystem at some point in the future.
ContributorsSharp, Trevor Ryan (Co-author) / Sharp, Trevor (Co-author) / Bazzi, Rida (Thesis director) / Doupe, Adam (Committee member) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Since its introduction to the iPhone X in 2017, Apple’s Face ID has been regarded as more accurate than facial recognition systems used by their competitors due to the use of depth information and infrared images to capture accurate face data. The goal of this thesis is to explore the usability of current smartphone facial recognition systems as represented by the latest generation of Apple’s Face ID. To that end, a research study was conducted to test the usability of Apple’s Face ID on the iPhone XR under diverse, simulated conditions designed to replicate real-life scenarios under which a consumer may need to use Face ID. The goal of the study was to make observations on Face ID usability and create a preliminary understanding of areas in which technology may struggle and/or fail. From the results of the research study, Face ID on the iPhone XR generally performed well under low-light conditions and adapted to minor changes in the conditions under which a face capture is done, but did not do as well when the user did not maintain full eye contact with the camera or when the capture is done at an angle.
ContributorsTang, Xina (Author) / Bazzi, Rida (Thesis director) / Ulrich, Jon (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-12
Description
This paper explores the news and entertainment media spheres before and after September 11, 2001 with regards to Islamophobia and how America views Muslims. Specific data figures and examples were used to highlight how news media has changed following the attack on the Twin Towers, while movies, television shows, and video games were used for the entertainment sphere. Specific examples of dehumanization of Arab characters were used to underscore exactly how American entertainment media refuse to use Middle Eastern characters in positive roles. The research showed that the favorable views in news media increased following 9/11, however the frequency of news stories also increased significantly. Entertainment media also has made leaps and bounds with regards to positive Arab influence, however much work is yet to be done in the entertainment industry.
ContributorsSyed, Nofil (Author) / Ali, Souad T. (Thesis director) / Mousa, Neimeh (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Sexual violence is a problem that is present in communities worldwide for individuals of every gender identity and religious communities are certainly not immune, including Muslim communities. This project will explore how sexual violence manifests in Muslim communities while also discussing how sexual violence is rooted in cultural patriarchy rather than the religion of Islam itself. Islam is a religion of radical gender equality. The religious discrimination against women that has been witnessed throughout the past fourteen centuries is actually the remnant of unequal gender dynamics found in pre-Islamic patriarchal culture. Sexual violence is explicitly prohibited in Islam, as evidenced by the Qur’an and ahadith (records of the Prophet Muhammad’s life) and has no place in the global Muslim community, referred to as the Ummah.
This paper also delves into feminism in Islam and argues that Muslim women should not be forced to choose between their faith and their human rights; rather, women should be able to obtain an education and should play an essential role in the interpretation of religious texts.
The purpose of this thesis project is twofold: to examine the intersection of Islam, women, and sexual violence prevention as well as to develop and apply a sexual violence prevention curriculum that can be implemented within Muslim communities. The textual analysis of this project will include discussions regarding the primary source of the Qur’an as well as the secondary sources of ahadith and existing literature written by Muslim scholars, primarily female Muslim scholars. This will allow for an analysis of how women are portrayed in Islam as well as how Islamic texts and traditions challenge the patriarchy and rape culture in which sexual violence manifests. Using this foundational knowledge, the goals of the sexual violence prevention curriculum will be to facilitate a discussion between Muslims regarding what sexual violence looks like and what rape culture is, create support networks for survivors, discuss what to do if a friend discloses that they are a survivor or victim of sexual violence, reduce roadblocks to reporting, and analyze literature on feminism in Islam in order to support a movement for sexual violence prevention.
This paper also delves into feminism in Islam and argues that Muslim women should not be forced to choose between their faith and their human rights; rather, women should be able to obtain an education and should play an essential role in the interpretation of religious texts.
The purpose of this thesis project is twofold: to examine the intersection of Islam, women, and sexual violence prevention as well as to develop and apply a sexual violence prevention curriculum that can be implemented within Muslim communities. The textual analysis of this project will include discussions regarding the primary source of the Qur’an as well as the secondary sources of ahadith and existing literature written by Muslim scholars, primarily female Muslim scholars. This will allow for an analysis of how women are portrayed in Islam as well as how Islamic texts and traditions challenge the patriarchy and rape culture in which sexual violence manifests. Using this foundational knowledge, the goals of the sexual violence prevention curriculum will be to facilitate a discussion between Muslims regarding what sexual violence looks like and what rape culture is, create support networks for survivors, discuss what to do if a friend discloses that they are a survivor or victim of sexual violence, reduce roadblocks to reporting, and analyze literature on feminism in Islam in order to support a movement for sexual violence prevention.
ContributorsHill, Samantha (Author) / Ali, Souad T. (Thesis director) / Frick, Kimberly (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-12