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 38
Description
This is a creative thesis project on the topic of the third party logistics industry, and the improvements that are possible through the implementation of goods to person technologies. The scope of the project entails the relationship between Company X, which is a third party logistics provider, and Company Y, a major toy retailer. This thesis identifies current trends for the third party logistics industry such as rising operating costs and average savings achieved through these business relationships. After identifying the negative trends that Company X is vulnerable to such as high human resources costs, and cost of quality issues. Given the findings derived from industry data, a final recommendation was settled on to improve productivity and ultimately reduce the use of temporary labor for Company X. The implementation of a goods to person technology solution provides the opportunity to reduce hours of operation, man hours, as well as direct and indirect costs such as labor. Research has proven that firms operating in the retail industry rely heavily on temporary labor to handle the seasonal demand brought by the holidays, thus this recommendation could be applied to a variety of operations. The data compiled throughout this thesis have major implications for the third party logistics industry and achieving long term profitability in operations management.
ContributorsFonseca, Tanner (Author) / Printezis, Antonios (Thesis director) / Kellso, James (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Business students are trained to be professional problem solver. In order to improve students' ability to solve real-life problem, more and more business schools are encouraging students to attend case competitions and do internships before graduation. In curriculum, students are required to work on business cases and projects in team. However, due to the limited exposure to real-life business scenarios, most undergraduate students feel unprepared when faced with business problems in course projects, case competitions, and internships. Therefore, the goal of this Honors Creative Project is to provide students with an interactive resource to succeed in course projects, case competitions, and even internship projects. By introducing resources that focused on analysis approach and project management, students can learn from some successful experience and become more competitive in job market. After competing at four case competitions with talents all over the nation, we accumulated precious experience in case analysis and teamwork development within a high-pressure environment. In addition, the experiences with internships, consulting and course projects have also aided the participants' development in professionalism and quantitative analytics. Reflecting on what we have learned from our experiences, we strongly believe that the insights gained from the past are not only a treasure for us individually, but also a great resource for our colleagues. We hope to transfer our knowledge to others for their own success where "best practices" can be learned.
ContributorsXiahou, Xiaonan (Co-author) / Thoi, Kenson (Co-author) / Printezis, Antonios (Thesis director) / Arrfelt, Mathias (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Due to the environmental problems caused by global warming, it has become necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the planet. Biofuels, such as ethanol, have proven to release cleaner emissions when combusted. However, large scale production of these alcohols is uneconomical and inefficient due to limitations in standard separation processes, the most common being distillation. Pervaporation is a novel separation technique that utilizes a specialized membrane to separate multicomponent solutions. In this research project, pervaporation utilizing ZIF-71/PDMS mixed matrix membranes are investigated to see their ability to recover ethanol from an ethanol/aqueous separation. Membranes with varying nanoparticle concentrations were created and their performances were analyzed. While the final results indicate that no correlation exists between nanoparticle weight percentage and selectivity, this technology is still a promising avenue for biofuel production. Future work will be conducted to improve this existing process and enhance membrane selectivity.
ContributorsHoward, Chelsea Elizabeth (Author) / Lind, Mary Laura (Thesis director) / Nielsen, David (Committee member) / Greenlee, Lauren (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Materials Science and Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
This study was conducted to better understand the making and measuring of renewable energy goals by the federal government. Three different energy types are studied: wind, solar, and biofuel, for two different federal departments: the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy. A statistical analysis and a meta-analysis of current literature will be the main pieces of information. These departments and energy types were chosen as they represent the highest potential for renewable energy production. It is important to understand any trends in goal setting by the federal government, as well as to understand what these trends represent in terms of predicting renewable energy production. The conclusion for this paper is that the federal government appears to set high goals for renewable energy initiatives. While the goals appear to be high, they are designed based on required characteristics described by the federal government. These characteristics are most often technological advancements, tax incentives, or increased production, with tax incentives having the highest priority. However, more often than not these characteristics are optimistic or simply not met. This leads to the resetting of goals before any goal can be evaluated, making it difficult to determine the goal-setting ability of the federal government.
ContributorsStapleton, Andrew (Co-author) / Charnell, Matthew (Co-author) / Printezis, Antonios (Thesis director) / Kull, Thomas (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The goal of this research project is to create a mixed matrix membrane that can withstand very acidic environments but still be used to purify water. The ultimate goal of this membrane is to be used to purify urine both here on Earth and in space. The membrane would be able to withstand these harsh conditions due the incorporation of a resilient impermeable polymer layer that will be cast above the lower hydrophilic layer. Nanoparticles called zeolites will act as a water selective pathway through this impermeable layer and allow water to flow through the membrane. This membrane will be made using a variety of methods and polymers to determine both the cheapest and most effective way of creating this chemical resistant membrane. If this research is successful, many more water sources can be tapped since the membranes will be able to withstand hard conditions. This document is primarily focused on our progress on the development of a highly permeable polymer-zeolite film that makes up the bottom layer of the membrane. Multiple types of casting methods were investigated and it was determined that spin coating at 4000 rpm was the most effective. Based on a literature review, we selected silicalite-1 zeolites as the water-selective nanoparticle component dispersed in a casting solution of polyacrylonitrile in N-methylpyrrolidinone to comprise this hydrophilic layer. We varied the casting conditions of several simple solution-casting methods to produce thin films on the porous substrate with optimal film properties for our membrane design. We then cast this solution on other types of support materials that are more flexible and inexpensive to determine which combination resulted in the thinnest and most permeable film.
ContributorsHerrera, Sofia Carolina (Author) / Lind, Mary Laura (Thesis director) / Khosravi, Afsaneh (Committee member) / Hestekin, Jamie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The scarcity of fresh water worldwide has necessitated improved technology for desalinating sea water. Reverse osmosis membranes are currently limited by their inclination for fouling, in which a layer forms on the surface of the membrane and impedes water flux. This yields shortened membrane lifespan and increased energy costs. Current technology uses interfacially polymerized polyamide thin film composite membranes, which form nodules, leaves, and other structures that lead to rough film surfaces and may contribute to fouling propensity. In this study, polyamide latex was designed in order to cast a smoother membrane with comparable performance. Polyamide latex particles were formed using a modified procedure based on Lind et. al [10] and characterized for sphericity using scanning electromagnetic microscopy (SEM).
ContributorsMccloskey, Cailen Marie (Author) / Lind, Mary Laura (Thesis director) / Jamieson, Heather (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
My thesis combines two different perspectives. The first is supply chain management, and the second is volunteering. The inspiration for this topic came from Joy Field's seminar titled "Job Design and Work Allocation for Volunteers in Nonprofit Organizations." My thesis differs from her seminar because I decided to expand her topic to include all types of organizations, not just non-profits. The idea of relating supply chain and volunteering is appealing because I believe getting the most out of each volunteer's experience and those on the receiving end is very important. Additionally, her seminar appealed to me because I have volunteered before and it relates to my major of supply chain management. Volunteer management relates to supply chain management from an operations perspective. A common objective within supply chain operations is maximizing productivity, resources, and value. Mismanaging people can lead to an increased amount of waste in the form of money, time, and resources. That is why it is important to get the most out of the entire experience in order for both the volunteers and the organization to achieve the most benefit. The purpose of this paper is to describe best practices in volunteer management for organizations to consider. I will explore three phases of the volunteer management process: before, during, and after. Additionally, I will provide a personal volunteer experience and assess its effectiveness. My source material consisted of various research articles and journals, and the end result will be an outline of recommendations for organizations to utilize when using volunteers.
ContributorsCohen, Joshua (Author) / Printezis, Antonios (Thesis director) / Sandell, Paul (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
The purpose of this thesis is to gain a more nuanced understanding of what research is currently going on in the academic realm of supply chain management. This thesis is composed of two parts. The first part contains summaries and personal takeaways from four different supply chain management seminars that were put on by professors who were visiting the ASU campus. These seminars include general topics such as RFID readability, supply chain cash conversion cycles, risk management within the healthcare supply chain, and building trust and trustworthiness in global business. The second part of the thesis will then use a literature review to expand upon the topic of risk management within the healthcare supply chain, and to explore how previous research ties into the current happenings of the industry, as well as its future implications.
ContributorsHemzacek, Noah (Author) / Printezis, Antonios (Thesis director) / Choi, Thomas (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The recovery of biofuels permits renewable alternatives to present day fossil fuels that cause devastating effects on the planet. Pervaporation is a separation process that shows promise for the separation of ethanol from biologically fermentation broths. The performance of thin film composite membranes of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and zeolite imidazolate frameworks (ZIF-71) dip coated onto a porous substrate are analyzed. Pervaporation performance factors of flux, separation factor and selectivity are measured for varying ZIF-71 loadings of pure PDMS, 5 wt%, 12.5 wt% and 25 wt% at 60 oC with a 2 wt% ethanol/water feed. The increase in ZIF-71 loadings increased the performance of PDMS to produce higher flux, higher separation factor and high selectivity than pure polymeric films.
ContributorsLau, Ching Yan (Author) / Lind, Mary Laura (Thesis director) / Durgun, Pinar Cay (Committee member) / Lively, Ryan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
In this research, construction of a model membrane system using Polyvinylidene Chloride-Co Acrylonitrile and Linde Type A zeolites is described. The systems aims to separate out flow through zeolite pores and flow through interfaces between zeolites and polymers through the use of pore filled and pore open zeolites. Permeation tests and salt rejection tests were performed, and the data analyzed to yield approximation of separated flow through zeolites and interfaces. This work concludes the more work is required to bring the model system into a functioning state. New polymer selections and new techniques to produce the membrane system are described for future work.
ContributorsShabilla, Andrew Daniel (Author) / Lind, Mary Laura (Thesis director) / Lin, Jerry (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2014-05