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 73
Description
As of 2019, 30 US states have adopted abortion-specific informed consent laws that require state health departments to develop and disseminate written informational materials to patients seeking an abortion. Abortion is the only medical procedure for which states dictate the content of informed consent counseling. State abortion counseling materials have been criticized for containing inaccurate and misleading information, but overall, informed consent laws for abortion do not often receive national attention. The objective of this project was to determine the importance of informed consent laws to achieving the larger goal of dismantling the right to abortion. I found that informed consent counseling materials in most states contain a full timeline of fetal development, along with information about the risks of abortion, the risks of childbirth, and alternatives to abortion. In addition, informed consent laws for abortion are based on model legislation called the “Women’s Right to Know Act” developed by Americans United for Life (AUL). AUL calls itself the legal architect of the pro-life movement and works to pass laws at the state level that incrementally restrict abortion access so that it gradually becomes more difficult to exercise the right to abortion established by Roe v. Wade. The “Women’s Right to Know Act” is part of a larger package of model legislation called the “Women’s Protection Project,” a cluster of laws that place restrictions on abortion providers, purportedly to protect women, but actually to decrease abortion access. “Women’s Right to Know” counseling laws do not directly deny access to abortion, but they do reinforce key ideas important to the anti-abortion movement, like the concept of fetal personhood, distrust in medical professionals, the belief that pregnant people cannot be fully autonomous individuals, and the belief that abortion is not an ordinary medical procedure and requires special government oversight. “Women’s Right to Know” laws use the language of informed consent and the purported goal of protecting women to legitimize those ideas, and in doing so, they significantly undermine the right to abortion. The threat to abortion rights posed by laws like the “Women’s Right to Know” laws indicates the need to reevaluate and strengthen our ethical defense of the right to abortion.
ContributorsVenkatraman, Richa (Author) / Maienschein, Jane (Thesis director) / Brian, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Abboud, Carolina (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Ketone bodies are produced in the liver from the acetyl CoA derived from fatty acids that cannot enter the Krebs cycle. This is a sub-analysis of a larger study which had numerous outcome markers. This analysis focuses on the relationship between ketone blood levels and cognition. The study looked at the relationship between Time Restricted Feeding (TRF), a method of intermittent fasting. TRF is something that can be easily adapted into an individual’s lifestyle and has been shown to have multiple advantages. This 8-week study began with 23 enrolled participants, but due to COVID-19 only 11 participants could be tested for cognition and blood ketone levels after week 4. All participants had similar ranges of weight, height, age, BMI, hip, and waist measurements at baseline. Moreover, these demographic variables were not related to ketone levels or cognition. The data indicate that ketone bodies increased in participants practicing TRF and that the increase in ketone bodies in the blood, specifically β-hydroxybutyrate was strongly correlated to increased cognitive function. This is consistent with theories that elevated ketone levels allowed for early hunter-gather communities and other mammals to survive prolonged periods of nutrient deprivation while keeping high cognitive function.
ContributorsTaha, Basel Mahmoud (Author) / Johnston, Carol (Thesis director) / Karen, Sweazea (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Physician-assisted suicide occurs when a physician facilitates a patient's death by prescribing a lethal medication that they understand will be used for the purpose of ending the patient's life. It is a highly contentious subject and, with the recent addition of California to the list of states that allow physician-assisted suicide, is an increasingly relevant subject. Physician-assisted suicide is rarely framed as a healthcare experience, despite being a choice in the process of end-of-life care. The research seeks to bring together the debates about physician-assisted suicide with conversations about health care experiences. The experiences and perspectives of young people are particularly valuable to evaluate now, as their voices will soon be the leaders in the debate over physician-assisted suicide. Within this research, there is an underlying theme of independence of individuals that is present through both the literature review and the body of data collected and analyzed. The study found that there was no significant relationship between the quality of a person's healthcare and their perspectives about physician-assisted suicide.
ContributorsMoeur, Katherine Elizabeth (Author) / Brian, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Graff, Sarah (Committee member) / Stevenson, Christine (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
According to the CDC, diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death in the U.S. and rates are continuing to rise nationally and internationally. Chronically elevated blood glucose levels can lead to type 2 diabetes and other complications. Medications can be used to treat diabetes, but often have side effects. Lifestyle and diet modifications can be just as effective as medications in helping to improve glycemic control, and prevent diabetes or improve the condition in those who have it. Studies have demonstrated that consuming vinegar with carbohydrates can positively impact postprandial glycemia in diabetic and healthy individuals. Continuous vinegar intake with meals may even reduce fasting blood glucose levels. Since vinegar is a primary ingredient in mustard, the purpose of this study was to determine if mustard consumption with a carbohydrate-rich meal (bagel and fruit juice) had an effect on the postprandial blood glucose levels of subjects. The results showed that mustard improved glycemia by 17% when subjects consumed the meal with mustard as opposed to the control. A wide variety of vinegars exists. The defining ingredient in all vinegars is acetic acid, behind the improvement in glycemic response observed with vinegar ingestion. Vinegar-containing foods range from mustard, to vinaigrette dressings, to pickled foods. The benefits of vinegar ingestion with carbohydrates are dose-dependent, meaning that adding even small amounts to meals can help. Making a conscious effort to incorporate these foods into meals, in addition to an overall healthy lifestyle, could provide an additional tool for diabetics and nondiabetics alike to consume carbohydrates in a healthier manner.
ContributorsJimenez, Gabriela (Author) / Johnston, Carol (Thesis director) / Lespron, Christy (Committee member) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The purpose of this thesis is to create an informational book on gluten-free living. It is our hope that by the end of the book readers will have a better understanding that living with a gluten intolerance or auto-immune disorder does not control one's life. Someone just needs to put in a bit more planning and time in order to travel or eat out. The book goes into detail on every condition on the gluten-sensitivity spectrum. It also goes in-depth on medicines, recipes, and travel.
ContributorsSnodgrass, Allison (Co-author) / Snodgrass, Amanda (Co-author) / Johnston, Carol (Thesis director) / Jacobs, Mark (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
This paper encompasses part of the complex topic of relationships between consumers, organic products, and advertising in America with a particular focus on Tempe, Arizona. Background research included in this paper includes how the term "organic" was developed and regulated to fit the federal standards that are implied through the use of the USDA organic label that was introduced in October of 2002. Further research considers the factors that have empirically and overwhelmingly contributed to motivations of attitude development and purchasing behaviors of the average organic consumer in America, tracking changes and potential causes over the past several decades. A large proportion of this paper analyzes the results of a survey conducted in Tempe between late 2014 and early 2015. This survey, shown in the appendices, includes responses from 310 Tempe consumers regarding questions of demographics, knowledge and perception of organic products, perceived access to organic products, consumer values, and purchasing behaviors. The results of the survey reflect the values displayed in previous studies on national surveys, with some discrepancies that appear to set Tempe apart from the national average. However, the results of the survey are limited by their exclusion and limited parsing of multiple confounds. Additionally, the respondents of the survey were not proportionate to the actually population of Tempe and therefore cannot be accurately generalized to the Tempe population as a whole. The third and final section of this paper deals with the relationship between advertisers and consumers. This considers how advertising helps to develop product values and perceptions through various methods. Future directions for advertising of organic products is also addressed, as advertisers can potentially become a source of developing scientific information if properly utilized. Further directives and gaps in research are addressed in the final portion of the paper and include how to increase consumer knowledge, the problems faced by organic advocates, what is important about what we already know, and where to go from here.
ContributorsAttanasio, Amber-Leigh Lace (Author) / Brian, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Phillips, Elizabeth Capaldi (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The development of the Diabetic Physiological state is influenced by the Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products (RAGE). This receptor was discovered in 1992, and the accumulation of research on this subject has been extensive. Structural characterization studies of the RAGE protein have shown that it is a transmembrane protein that binds a number of different motile ligands. The diversity of ligands that can attach to the binding domain is the primary factor that allows for RAGE to exhibit its wide-range effects on host cells. Two different studies were completed: one study dealt with the role of IAPP in beta cell death, and the second study was related to RAGE influence on cardiomyocytes and, more specifically, it was related to cardiac cell death. After the completion of the two studies, a comprehensive report was written for each topic. The two papers were merged into a single document. Molecular studies are important for understanding the underlying mechanisms that motivate pathophysiological presentation. In addition to a molecular understanding of the development of diabetes, a clinical research study was completed through the examination of appropriate literature sources. This clinical aspect allowed for the progression of different phases in the research process. A relationship between vinegar and lower plasma glucose was found. The exact mechanism behind this relationship will be studied in the future.
ContributorsGonzalez, Matthew Joseph (Author) / Johnston, Carol (Thesis director) / Collins, Michael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The objective of this randomized, single-blind crossover study was to examine the effect of vinegar on the blood glucose response to meal ingestion. This study was associated with a companion study Is Apple Cider Vinegar Effective for Reducing Heartburn Symptoms Related to Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease. Glucose meters were utilized to measure blood glucose levels immediately prior to, and at four ½ hour intervals following meal ingestion. Previous studies have demonstrated that vinegar modulates the meal-time glucose response. Hence an alternative hypothesis was used: that a significant difference will be observed between the control and the vinegar groups. The results from the study were not significant likely due to a small sample size. The test meal eaten with a drink composed of vinegar diluted in water appeared to be most effective at decreasing the overall change in postprandial blood glucose. The vinegar drink also played a role in decreasing the peak glucose level at 30 minutes post-meal.
ContributorsPadgitt-Cobb, Lillian Katelyn (Author) / Johnston, Carol (Thesis director) / Redding, Kevin (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Physical activity as a health or nutrition related intervention might stimulate appetite and increase hunger due to increased energy expenditure. This study analyzed the effect of a postprandial 15-minute walk on the hunger and energy intake of 10 obese, pre-diabetic adults. Subjects participated in three 4-hour trials: a walk treatment (consume highly glycemic meal, walk for 15 minutes at a moderate pace, and rest for 4 hours), a fiber treatment (consume highly glycemic meal enriched with soluble fiber and rest for 4 hours), and a control treatment (consume highly glycemic meal without fiber and rest for 4 hours). The effects of each treatment on hunger and energy intake were measured using a Likert scale analysis (ranging from "completely satisfied" to "extremely hungry") at 4 hours post-treatment and pre/ post 24-hour dietary logs. The results showed no significant increase or decrease on hunger or energy intake for both the walk and the fiber treatment compared to the control treatment. This denies the idea that physical activity might increase short-term hunger, and supports the use of physical activity as a viable nutrition related intervention tool.
ContributorsTerrell, Alayna Franci (Author) / Johnston, Carol (Thesis director) / Vega Lopez, Sonia (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
While there is extensive information available about organizations that receive donated organs for transplant, much less is known about those that accept tissue and whole bodies for medical education and research. Throughout the United States, nontransplant anatomical donation organizations exist within an ambiguous sector of the donation industry, unencumbered by federal regulations. Although these companies adhere to the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, the lack of a single entity responsible for overseeing their operations has led to public skepticism and animosity among competing businesses. Legislation has the potential to legitimize the industry. For it to be successful, however, the intricacies of a complex market that deals directly with the movement of human remains and intangible issues of human integrity and morality, must be thoroughly understood.
ContributorsGlynn, Emily Sanders (Author) / Brian, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Fisher, Rebecca (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2015-05