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 - 10 of 65
Description
It goes without saying that marriage, and the concept of two people staying together for the rest of their lives, is not easy. In today's society, divorce is something that is becoming more and more prominent among people. However, despite the divorce phenomenon there are still success stories of couples who last and manage to stick together despite the odds. It is difficult to measure the "successfulness" of any marriage due to the fact that so many different elements comprise them. However, there are endless assessments available to be used as tools for attempting measurement of success. A majority of them are related to measuring relationship quality in terms of individual satisfaction by focusing on each individual's happiness within the relationship. Obviously, every marriage is different and there are many things that can impact a couple's' likeliness to stay together such as the general circumstances surrounding their union and each partner's willingness to persevere. For instance, there are a variety of different factors that influence the overall success of marriages within and surrounding the United States Military. Such as physical proximity, frequency of communication, and a mutual desire to make the relationship work. Cultivating a relationship in which one partner is a service member and one partner is a civilian is stressful for both people involved. Specifically, the intense stress couples experience associated with deployment can often cause severe problems such as depression and anxiety that may lead to divorce or mental health problems later on down the road. Stressors specifically related to the deployment cycle can contribute to depression among both service members and their spouses. Most of these families face unique stressors through the course of military service and deployments, including frequent relocations and recon�gurations of the family system, ambiguous loss and fear for a loved one's safety, and high levels of stress and/or dysfunction among family members (Flake, Davis, Johnson, & Middleton, 2009; Huebner, Mancini, Wilcox, Grass, & Grass, 2007) Separation , unpredictable duty hours, and single parenting (parenting while the veteran is away either being deployed or on training courses) are just a few of the stressors that face partners of veterans on a regular basis (Padden, Connors & Agazio, 2011). Dr. John Gottman, the executive director of the Relationship Research Institute. has conducted extensive research regarding marital stability and divorce prediction on thousands of couples over the last forty years of his career. Using video cameras, heart monitors, and other biofeedback equipment, he and his colleagues have screened interviewed and tracked what couples experience during moments of conflict and closeness. Over the span of the last forty years, Dr. Gottman has created a theory he calls "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse". In the New Testament, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are a metaphor marking the beginning of end times. Dr. Gottman's Four Horsemen on the other hand, are a metaphor marking the beginning of the demise of a marriage. The horsemen include criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stonewalling. They are communication styles among couples that Dr. Gottman says can predict the end of a relationship. This notion holds true especially in the implication of military relationships. Focusing on the predictors of divorce, and inspecting the elements of these relationships in which the military is a condition of the union, discoveries can be made as to what makes these military relationships more difficult. An examination through the lens of Dr. Gottman's horsemen of the circumstances surrounding these unions in which deployment physically separates the two partners demonstrates how deployment in and of itself can cause couples to encompass each of the horsemen and eventually push them towards divorce. Throughout the course of this paper, the different elements that embody each of the four horsemen will be examined and analyzed as they pertain to the deployment process. Upon completion of the examination of these different factors, it can be suggested that deployment in its nature becomes the harbinger of the apocalypse. By encompassing all the different aspects of the first four original horsemen, and pushing military couples towards the behaviors that lead in the direction of divorce, deployment in and of itself can be thought of as predecessor, or harbinger of the apocalypse.
ContributorsSerdy, Taylor B (Author) / Martin, Thomas (Thesis director) / Mowzoon, Nura (Committee member) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Batman is one of the most iconic characters in the history of popular culture. Ever since his creation in 1939, the character and his stories have gone through several changes. In my thesis, I explore and analyze the character within the nearly 20-year period in which he went through the most significant changes (1968-1986). Overall, these changes can be summarized as a shift from a lighthearted superhero consistently placed in campy situations to a dark and brooding vigilante who brutally dispatches his enemies. While analyzing the different versions of this character in this period of time, I reference the conclusions of two scholars: Travis Langley and Chuck Tate. Langley wrote a general psychological analysis of Batman by considering the essential characteristics of the character found in all forms of media. Tate concluded that Batman only uses hostile aggression for the sake of deriving pleasure form the pain he causes to criminals. After analyzing the comics as my primary sources, I have concluded that the general findings of Tate and Langley actually ignore the subtle details of changes in the humanity and self-awareness of the character through time. The lighthearted version of Batman in the late 60's is actually a self-obsessed narcissist, but as time passes, the darker mood of the character can be attributed to an increased acknowledgment of the destructive nature of his unique lifestyle. As the character grows more accepting of himself and his own reasons for continuing this lifestyle, his motivations become less self-centered. Overall, the central change of the character throughout time can be traced back to the status of his inner conflict between normal, human desires and the pure desire for constant vengeance.
ContributorsRivera-Passapera, Hiram Alfonso (Author) / Martin, Thomas (Thesis director) / Miller, April (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
"The Legal Adventures of Frankie and Rosie" is a creative project that explores the nontraditional format of comics to express creative nonfiction. The project is a set of 30 independent comics that focuses on two primary college-going students who are based off of the authors. The characters, Frankie and Rosie narrate their stories through dialogue. The authors use this narrative model to archive their college experience at ASU. Representing creative nonfiction through comics yields an amalgamated format that can be challenging for both the writers to produce as well as for the readers to consume. Ultimately, the project serves as an attempt to test whether or not the comic medium can stand by itself as an appropriate format to express creative nonfictional narratives without becoming a diluted combination of its purer predecessors.
ContributorsBennewitz, Dana (Co-author) / Ray, Payel (Co-author) / Martin, Thomas (Thesis director) / Scott Lynch, Jacquelyn (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
In this article we present a low-cost force-sensing quadrupedal laminate robot platform. The robot has two degrees of freedom on each of four independent legs, allowing for a variety of motion trajectories to be created at each leg, thus creating a rich control space to explore on a relatively low-cost robot. This platform allows a user to research complex motion and gait analysis control questions, and use different concepts in computer science and control theory methods to permit it to walk. The motion trajectory of each leg has been modeled in Python. Critical design considerations are: the complexity of the laminate design, the rigidity of the materials of which the laminate is constructed, the accuracy of the transmission to control each leg, and the design of the force sensing legs.
ContributorsShuch, Benjamin David (Author) / Aukes, Daniel (Thesis director) / Sodemann, Angela (Committee member) / Engineering Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
There are three known materials that readily undergo fission, allowing their use as a base for nuclear fuel: uranium-235, a naturally-occurring but uncommon isotope; plutonium, created from irradiated natural uranium; and uranium-233, produced from thorium. Of the three, uranium-235 and plutonium feature heavily in the modern nuclear industry, while uranium-233 and the thorium fuel cycle have failed to have significant presence in the field. Historically, nuclear energy development in the United States, and thorium development in particular, has been tied to the predominant societal outlook on the field, and thorium was only pursued seriously as an option during a period when nuclear energy was heavily favored, and resources seemed scarce. Recently, thorium-based energy has been experiencing a revival in interest in response to pollution concerns regarding fossil fuels. While public opinion is still wary of uranium, thorium-based designs could reduce reliance on fossil fuels while avoiding traditional drawbacks of nuclear energy. The thorium fuel cycle is more protected against proliferation, but is also much more expensive than the uranium-plutonium cycle in a typical reactor setup. Liquid-fueled molten salt reactor designs, however, bypass the prohibitive expense of U-233 refabrication by avoiding the stage entirely, keeping the chain reaction running with nothing but thorium input required. MSRs can use any fissile material as fuel, and are relatively safe to operate, due to passive features inherent to the design.
ContributorsGalbiati, Joseph Nicco (Author) / Martin, Thomas (Thesis director) / Foy, Joseph (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
This project is investigating the impact curvature, buckling, and anisotropy play when used passively to enhance jumping capability. In this paper we employ a curved structure to allow a rigid link to collapse preferentially in one direction when it encounters aerodynamic drag forces. A joint of this nature could be used for passively actuated jump gliding, where wings would collapse immediately on takeoff and passively redeploy during descent, allowing the jumping robot to extend its horizontal range via gliding. A passively actuated joint is simpler and more lightweight than active solutions, allowing for a lighter glider and higher jumps. To test this, several prototype collapsing gliding wings of different diameters were tested by dropping them from a consistent height above the ground and by launching them upwards and recording their initial velocity. A model was constructed in Python using the data gathered through the experiments and was tuned so that its outputs were as close as possible to the experimental results. As expected, increasing the wing diameter increased the total fall time, and increasing the payload mass decreased the total fall time. Orientation of the wings around the vertical axis of the glider relative to the direction of horizontal motion was also found to have an effect on the length of time between when the gliding platform was launched and when it made contact with the ground, with a configuration where the axis between the wings was parallel to the direction of motion granting added stability.
ContributorsLighthouse, Guston Heqian (Author) / Aukes, Daniel (Thesis director) / Sodemann, Angela (Committee member) / Engineering Programs (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Captive animals live in extremely controlled environments, within which they are seldom required to forage or hunt for their food, protect their territory from invaders, or generally seek out common resources necessary for survival in the wild. Typically, captive species will exhibit fewer behaviors than their wild counterparts, but this can be remedied through enrichment programs. This study recorded observations of Hamadryas Baboons at the Phoenix Zoo, who exhibited decreased foraging and drinking behaviors as well as an alternative form of social hierarchy. Analysis of these observations suggested further enrichments to encourage the emergence of these behaviors be adopted including an open water source, mobile visual barriers for the exhibit, and providing novel food items which require higher levels of processing.
ContributorsSmolinski, Hannah Joy (Author) / Martin, Thomas (Thesis director) / Caron, Martha (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Domestic violence comes in a variety of forms along with multiple terms and definitions. Domestic violence can seep into a relationship like a plague if a young, adolescent girl is not aware of the signs. Unfortunately, many young girls in abusive relationships are unaware of how to prevent the abusive behavior from continuing since the girls are overall unaware of the warning signs. One study of 146 teenage girls in which 44% of the girls chose to respond passively when given a hypothetical scenario of an abusive event (Murphy and Smith 13). Through novels and media, young girls are led to believe that it is appropriate to be treated poorly by young boys. One study of eight young adult novels was conducted and demonstrated just how teen romance novels can negatively influence a young girl's perception of Teen Dating Violence (Storer and Strohl 7). As the young girls get older, the idea that abuse is acceptable becomes solidified in their heads. Many women face multiple forms of abuse, such as more than half of 1,401 women in a study by Coker et al. (2000) were experiencing some form of abuse (553). Specifically, a National Violence Against Women Survey was conducted and 59% of the victims, who were stalked by current partners, were at a higher risk to experience psychological abuse by their assailant (Tjaden and Thoennes "Stalking" 6,11). The abuse often leads to the victim having mental health problems such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Golding 126). Women in abusive relationships have a greater chance of having a poorer quality of life (Tollestrup et al. 431). Nevertheless, leaving an abusive relationship is very difficult to do since many women have a bias that their risk is not as high as another woman who is in the same predicament (Martin et al. 109). To make matters worse, half of all women who do leave end up returning to their abusive partner (Strube "Decision" 238). It has been discovered that if there are few resources available to the victim, she will stay with her abusive partner (Gelles 667). Other key factors that play an important role in if the victim stays, include economic issues and love for the abuser (Strube and Barbour "Factors" 840), or a lack of support from friends and family (Landenburger 703). Fortunately, 61 of 98 women in a study left their abusive partner, which could have been due to the fact that 57.1% of the 98 women had employment (Strube and Barbour "Decision" 788). Women may also have trouble leaving due to entrapment in which the victim justifies all investments of time and money to make the abuser happy (Strube "Decisions" 241). Entrapment can also be related to learned helplessness in which the victim lacks the motivation to make change (242). While a woman is in the relationship, she may experience the responses to dissatisfaction, which include: exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect (Rusbult et al. "Exit" 1231). In addition, the woman may encounter the four coping styles which are: self-punishing, aggressive, early disengagement, and reluctant mid-life disengagement responses (Pfouts 102). Although the woman may experience these responses, she may have difficulty leaving the abusive relationship since she may think that the consequences of leaving are more detrimental than what they actually are (Strube "Decision" 241). College women are also at risk for being in abusive relationships as 20% to 30% experience abuse (Shorey et al. 187). However, college women have a high rate of leaving the abusive relationship since they may have more resources than a woman who is dependent economically on her abuser (Edwards et al. 2920). College women also experience high levels of revenge rather than forgiveness (Davidson et al. 3217). Fortunately, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Many women experience growth from such a traumatic experience. This growth can be developing strength and healthier relationships in the future (McMillen and Fisher 173). In fact, one study by Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence G. Calhoun (1995) was referred to by Patricia Frazier et al. (2001). The study concluded that 50% to 60% of women across multiple studies experienced growth (1048). In the end, those who forgive will have less anxiety and depression (Thompson et al. 313). In order to alleviate the occurrence of domestic abuse, preventative measures should begin with adolescents. These young girls must first develop skills to be assertive before entering a relationship. Support groups and shelters should be widespread, and stricter laws should be enforced that result in negative consequences for those who break them. Education should include women learning about the warning signs of abuse as well as classes for parents to teach them how domestic violence can impact their teenage children. Health education should also include teaching children about what a healthy relationship should consist of. In addition, many health care providers do not screen women for abuse (Smith et al. 4), which means that medical professionals should screen better for abuse and intervene if necessary. As for law enforcement, they should be better trained in how to be sensitive and deal with women who are being abused. As for me, during my teenage years my significant other abused me. However, I chose to end the cycle. I was young and read many young romance novels, listened to music that portrayed women in a poor light, and thus, fell for the bad boy that I would always hear about in music, or read about in books. I knew very little about relationships, and so I was a perfect target. I knew even less of the warning signs as I was not taught about them in school, and I did not grow up in a household that demonstrated any abuse. That being said, I thought that all people were innately good. My perpetrator, on the other hand, grew up drastically different than I did since he has seen his mother get brutally beaten multiple times by many men who came and went in her life. In the end, I learned to forgive and move on. Today, I choose to share my story to raise awareness of the fact that I am not the only one who is a victim. Domestic violence is growing among the youth, and I would like to put an end to this epidemic by presenting empirical data from studies followed by my own personal story.
ContributorsMorrison, Jacqueline Attala (Author) / Martin, Thomas (Thesis director) / Creaser, Wanda (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
ContributorsDurfee, Kristen (Author) / Martin, Thomas (Thesis director) / Brady, Jennifer (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Women’s roles in society have changed significantly throughout the years. The movement to support the rights of women has been ongoing throughout the evolution of society but has been especially prevalent in the last century. The 1960s are when women began to enter the workforce instead of being limited to presuming roles as homemakers. Since that point in time, women have continued to thrive in the workforce and have pursued a larger variety of positions in various fields. Even though the opportunities for women continue to grow, there still seems to be an underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) related fields. The underrepresentation of women pursuing physician and entrepreneurship roles in STEM will be analyzed and the challenges this group of people specifically encounter will be examined. Our first proposal to encourage women to enter STEM focuses on middle-school initiatives and incubator programs. The second proposal, based on commonalities females face within the workforce, is finding a better work/home life balance with the development of new maternity/paternity leave policies. Through these initiatives, we believe that the gender gap in STEM can be bridged.
ContributorsWillbrandt, Mary Madison (Co-author) / Torres, Julianna (Co-author) / Martin, Thomas (Thesis director) / Fette, Donald (Committee member) / Tech Entrepreneurship & Mgmt (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05