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 57
Description
Abstract "Empty Horizons": A Creative Writing Piece Max Harmon "Empty Horizons" is a creative writing piece composed of two different short stories sharing a common narrator. The first story "Can you dig it?" details a trip the narrator takes to South Dakota to go hunting shortly before starting college. On the trip the narrator contemplates certain aspects of his life and the events of the story serve as a vehicle to explore the narrator's mindset as an eighteen year old about to start a new phase in his life. The second story "Toads, Sharks and Beautiful Encounters with Uncertainty" takes place during the summer before the narrator begins his last semester in college as he attends the funeral of his recently deceased grandmother in Hawaii. During the trip to Hawaii, the narrator meets a girl his age and they are able to bond with each other over feelings of loss and uncertainty. In this story the narrator explores his feelings about life with college graduation on the horizon and comes to terms with some of the anxieties that have been plaguing him since the start of college. By detailing these two distinct and important time periods in the narrator's life the reader is able to gain a sense of understanding in regards to the narrator's own process of beginning life as an adult.
ContributorsHarmon, Max Doyle (Author) / Soares, Rebecca (Thesis director) / Popova, Laura (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
Background: Both puberty and diets composed of high levels of saturated fats have been shown to result in central adiposity, fasting hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance and impaired glucose tolerance. While a significantly insulinogenic phenotypic change occurs in these two incidences, glucose homeostasis does not appear to be affected. Methods: Male, Sprague-dawley rats were fed diets consisting of CHOW or low fat (LF), High Fat Diet and High Fat Diet (HFD) with supplementary Canola Oil (Monounsaturated fat). These rats were given these diets at 4-5 weeks old and given intraperitoneal and oral glucose tolerance tests(IPGTT; OGTT) at 4 and 8 weeks to further understand glucose and insulin behavior under different treatments. (IPGTT: LF-n=14, HFD-n=16, HFD+CAN-n=12; OGTT: LF-n=8, HFD-n=8, HFD+CAN-n=6). Results: When comparing LF fed rats at 8 weeks with 4 week glucose challenge test, area under the curve (AUC) of glucose was 1.2 that of 4 weeks. At 8 weeks, HFD fed rats AUCg was much greater than LF fed rats under both IPGTT and OGTT. When supplemented with Canola oil, HFD fed rats AUC returned to LF data range. Despite the alleviating glucose homeostasis affects of Canola oil the AUC of insulin curve, which was elevated by HFD, remained high. Conclusion: HFD in maturing rats elevates fasting insulin levels, increases insulin resistance and lowers glucose homeostasis. When given a monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) supplement fasting hyperinsulinemia, and late hyperinsulinemia still occur though glucose homeostasis is regained. For OGTT HFD also induced late hyper c-peptide levels and compared to LF and HFD+CAN, a higher c-peptide level over time.
ContributorsRay, Tyler John (Author) / Caplan, Michael (Thesis director) / Herman, Richard (Committee member) / Towner, Kali (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Sickle cell disease is a genetic disorder that can cause substantial helath problems. It is the result of a mutation in the DNA coding for hemoglobin. As a result of changes in two important amino acids, a person suffering from sickle cell disease will have erythrocytes that do not maintain the typical biconcave shape and instead for a crescent shape. Individuals with sickle cell disease may have many health problems tied to their irregular hemoglobin. The unusual shape of the erythrocytes leads to a much shorter cell life, which means that even though bone marrow remains active long past childhood to try to keep up with the loss of erythrocytes, the body is still unable to accommodate the rapid death of erythrocytes. The malformed erythrocytes can also cause vascular occlusion, blocking blood vessels and slowing blood flow. While sickle cell disease has the potential to spread worldwide, it is particularly common in Africa. This may be because people with the sickle cell trait have a high resistance to malaria, making them more likely to survive that ubiquitous disease and pass on their traits to their offspring. However, the mortality rate in young children with sickle cell disease is very high, in part because the spleen, already stressed by filtering out dead erythrocytes, has difficulties filtering out bacteria. One of the keys to stopping the spread of the disease is neonatal screening, but this requires specialized equipment that is fairly uncommon in rural areas, as can be seen in Kenya. Therefore, it would be highly beneficial to develop a more cost-effective and widely available method for testing for sickle cell disease.
ContributorsWold, John (Author) / Caplan, Michael (Thesis director) / LaBelle, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Snyder, Jan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2012-05
Description
Based on paradigms in feminist theory and criticism, I conduct an analysis of two iconic works of twentieth century American feminist literature. Examining Herland (1915) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Rubyfruit Jungle (1973) by Rita Mae Brown, I assess their place within the canon of feminist literature--a canon traditionally thought of as Western. I cyclically explore how this canon parallels movements and institutions in actual feminism, and where the pitfalls in both can be traced. Due to the large span of time betwixt the two novels, I engage the historical progression American women experienced in the twentieth century and pair it with the progress feminist literature was likewise experiencing. Exploring the consequences of depicting women as people rather than male counterparts or others, I analyze the roles of the male gaze, male-less spaces, utopias, construction of female identity, motherhood, and how these culminate in feminine and sexual liberation. Utilizing philosophy from Christine de Pizan’s The Book of the City of Ladies and Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, I trace the origins of the male gaze and male-less spaces in literature and film and how women are essentially othered. I further employ the criticism of Adrienne Rich’s essay “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence” to explore the roles of motherhood and heterosexual norms specifically. My findings deride the authors for their inability to construct legitimately liberated female protagonists. However, I simultaneously offer deference to the authors for engaging the tools and concepts they had available to them at the time in the interest of crafting powerful feminist narratives. I center on the claim that male-less spaces are difficult to fully as well accurately portray in literature, but the authors attempt to do so to move towards a liberation of women and should be lauded for the contributions they made.
ContributorsMazzarella, Annie Lisa (Author) / Soares, Rebecca (Thesis director) / Glover, Richard (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Paraprosdokian is a collection of stories about all different types of lives in Phoenix, AZ. There are several stories that work together, involving lonely teenagers at punk house shows, while the rest standalone: the eclectic interactions of a waiter at a 24-hour diner, a blind fair ride operator with a propensity for accidental murder, a hapless son of a clumsy dental assistant, a literary scholar stuck in an addiction to both Kafka and pornography, a kid who learns that writing is not a formula, and a high school death that nobody cares about. Some pieces unfold parts of 21st century culture that have been knotted in ambivalence, like how men raised on pornography reconcile with intimacy, while others are as simple as trying to encapsulate the experience of growing up in what is often perceived as an artless suburbia. The project aims at mixing prose with photography to create, as Ben Lerner describes it, “a constellation of language and image”—a complete artistic product. Using the work of a local Arizona photographer, the collection complicates a reader’s elementary notion of a “picture book” by forcing the reader to view photographs beyond exposition or symbolism. The title of the collection comes from a term used in comedic rhetoric that refers to a figure of speech in which the latter part of a statement or phrase reorients one’s understanding of the whole. Under this definition, the collection seeks to amend its author and reader’s orientation to Phoenix in a quest for empathy, giving pathetic characters a chance to speak without ever sacrificing a touch of humorous joy.
ContributorsFritz, Chandler Harrison (Author) / Soares, Rebecca (Thesis director) / Farmer, Steve (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Microvillus Inclusion disease is a fatal disease found in the Navajo population caused by a single nucleotide polymorphism. It is characterized by intractable diarrhea and is often fatal early in life.1 The current method of diagnosis is sending duodenal biopsies for histopathological examination and confirmatory testing through genomic sequencing. The purpose of this experiment was to create a more simple and cost-effective diagnostic method for detecting Microvillus Inclusion disease. Three methods were explored (RFLP2, ARMS3,4, and Tentacle Probes5,6) and two methods were tested to determine their ability and their efficiency in detecting the SNP that causes the disease.2 Tests using the RFLP2 method and synthetic DNA resulted in 9% false-positive rate and 11% false-negative rate in a blind trial for detecting both target (mutation present) and non-target (mutation absent) DNA when gel analyzing software was used to compare Rf values after gel electrophoresis. Using the ARMS method3, a nine-sample randomized test was run that ended up with 22% false-positive rate and 19% false-negative rate from a blind trial when using a gel analyzing software to determine presence of the SNP by band intensity. Disclaimer: No DNA from human patients was used in this study. Only synthetic DNA used.
ContributorsHelmbrecht, Hawley Elizabeth (Author) / Caplan, Michael (Thesis director) / Carpentieri, David (Committee member) / Dubois, Courtney (Committee member) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Imaging analysis of local drug delivery is important because in both studies involving chemotherapy targeted toward glioblastoma and antimicrobial addressing infection, the drug concentration and distribution are unknown. There are a variety of studies focused on the local delivery of drug to a targeted location, but we are presenting a way of quantifying the concentration of the drug and the distribution of the drug during a period of time. This study aims to do that by utilizing Materialise Mimics to analyze the MRI images of local drug delivery in glioblastoma in canines and antimicrobial gel in rabbit femurs. The focus of the technique is to register the anatomy in T1-weighted spin echo images to the drug delivery in T2 flow attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) images in order to see where the drug went and did not go relative to the anatomical part. Both studies focus on addressing effective volumes of drug to a designated anatomical area, in which the delivery can be difficult as it involves bypassing the blood brain barrier in the first study and achieving effective volumes while preventing toxicity to the kidneys in the second study. The goal of this project lies in determining the drug volumes and location for the specified duration and anatomical part.
ContributorsJehng, Hope (Author) / Caplan, Michael (Thesis director) / Sirianni, Rachael (Committee member) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The purpose of this study, which was done in conjunction with the Arizona Heart Foundation, was to evaluate whether pyridoxine accelerates ulcer wound healing in diabetic patients with ulcers in the lower extremities. In this study, 100 mg of pyridoxine per day was given to patients in the experimental group (while they receive normal wound treatment) while patients in the control group received normal treatment of wounds without the pyridoxine. Over time, wound healing was evaluated by photographing and then measuring the size of patients' ulcer wounds on the photographs. Results from the experimental group were compared with those of the control group to evaluate the efficacy of the pyridoxine treatment. In addition, comparisons of the healing rates were made with respect to whether the patients smoked, had hypertension or hypotension, and the patients' body mass indexes. It has been found that there was no statistically significant difference in the mean healing rates between the control groups and experimental groups. In addition, it has been found that smoking, BMI and blood pressure did not have a statistically appreciable effect on the difference in mean healing rates between the control and experimental groups. This is evidence that pyridoxine did not have a statistically significant effect on wound healing rates.
ContributorsHaupt, Shawn Anthony (Author) / Caplan, Michael (Thesis director) / Pauken, Christine (Committee member) / Pagan, Pedro (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
Revision hip procedures represent a large financial burden on hospitals and the problem will continue to worsen as the baby boomer generation ages and life expectancy goes up. The future problem is a complex issue that bridges scientific and anecdotal evidence and must be solved. A review of the current total hip arthroplasty procedure in regards to the physical properties of the materials used for hip prostheses is given. Revision procedures can be caused by infection or basic wear and tear from the stress that that implant is subjected to daily. Infections on these implants often present themselves as medical biofilms. The mechanisms of biofilm formation include a complex system of enzymes that work to initiate a phenotypic response based on an established quorum sensing within the colony of bacteria. Surgical methods to treat infection include irrigation and debridement as well as loading drug cement spacers with antimicrobial in hopes of delivering the antibiotic locally. Research is being done to better model the transport of drug through the tissue surrounding the implant, and will hopefully one day be available for use in individual patients.
ContributorsMcDermand, Matthew Paul (Author) / Caplan, Michael (Thesis director) / Vernon, Brent (Committee member) / McLemore, Ryan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
Diabetes is a growing epidemic in developing countries, specifically in rural Kenya. In addition to the high cost of glucose testing, many diabetics in Kenya do not understand the importance of testing their blood glucose, let alone the nature of the disease. This project addresses the insufficiency of educational materials regarding diabetes in rural Kenya. The resulting documents can easily be adjusted for use in other developing countries.
ContributorsBuchak, Jacqueline (Author) / Caplan, Michael (Thesis director) / Snyder, Jan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2014-05