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In a world where tweets, texts, posts, likes and favorites are a part of our daily lives, it's hard not to believe everything we see. Every little detail of one's personal life is easily shared with the world with the click of a button. And because of this, the beauty

In a world where tweets, texts, posts, likes and favorites are a part of our daily lives, it's hard not to believe everything we see. Every little detail of one's personal life is easily shared with the world with the click of a button. And because of this, the beauty standards that society has created is jumping from the pages of magazines and TV shows to apps such as Instagram and Facebook. The majority of social media users are young teens and adults, but the popularity of these apps is rising among kids as young as five years old as well. These are some of the most impressionable years of one's life. So, by seeing these standards that qualify someone as "beautiful," individuals are likely to strive toward these standards. And while some may seem impossible to attain, individuals are willing to go to extreme lengths to get there. Qualities like the "thigh gap" are slowly becoming more popular, and are putting individuals at risk. In a country where the ideal woman is skinny, and most of the celebrities and models showcase these nearly impossible standards, it's hard not to fall into the trap. With the addition of editing software and filters to already existing social media applications, the ability to edit and enhance photos is in the hands of the user. Photos can be edited so dramatically different from the original that what we're seeing doesn't even exist. This project explores the false reality that social media is creating and the negative effects it has on young girls and women. It also offers a solution to the problem.
ContributorsHenry, Lauren Nicole (Author) / Sanft, Alfred (Thesis director) / Heywood, William (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / The Design School (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
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Description
This thesis details our experience assisting BASE Equity Partners, a private equity firm based in New York City, on three prospective agricultural dealership deals over the course of this past academic year. The firm is currently structured as a Fundless Sponsor. This distinct structural trait is common for a type

This thesis details our experience assisting BASE Equity Partners, a private equity firm based in New York City, on three prospective agricultural dealership deals over the course of this past academic year. The firm is currently structured as a Fundless Sponsor. This distinct structural trait is common for a type of private equity firm known among practitioners as pledge funds. This creates an interesting element for our experience as there is very limited academic research on these types of firms, which, since the Great Recession, have become popular players in middle-market private equity deals. We, first, provide some historical context on pledge funds and identify their primary differences with traditional private equity. The remainder of the paper documents our experience working on the agricultural dealership deals. We have organized this portion after the manner in which we received assignments. We go into detail on the specific projects with which we were tasked, our interactions with the partners and the major takeaways we had from this learning experience. This thesis paper will enrich the academic knowledge regarding pledge funds—and private equity generally—by documenting a real experience of what it is like performing analyst-level tasks at a real firm. Additionally, we were privy to information that is highly confidential, and though we have protected the confidentiality of the companies through pseudonyms and redaction of confidential material, all of the financial data shown, models provided and qualitative discussion is real.
ContributorsTang, Ivan (Co-author) / Johnson, Bradley (Co-author) / Panosian, Tro (Co-author) / Simonson, Mark (Thesis director) / Bonadurer, Werner (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor)
Created2015-05
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Description
Although previous research has explored the relationship between social media use and well-being, many studies are contradictory of each other and conclude varying findings relating to social media use and outspokenness. This study explores the relationship between active and passive social media use, perceived social media expertise, and outspokenness using

Although previous research has explored the relationship between social media use and well-being, many studies are contradictory of each other and conclude varying findings relating to social media use and outspokenness. This study explores the relationship between active and passive social media use, perceived social media expertise, and outspokenness using the potentially mediating variable of perceived social acceptance. 162 participants, recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and ASU’s SONA systems, completed a survey relating to their own use of social media, perceived social acceptance, and outspokenness. Contradictory to my first hypotheses, no significant correlations were found between social media use and social media expertise. However, correlation analyses revealed that active social media use is related to an increased amount of perceived social media expertise (r = 0.23, p < .004). Perceived social media expertise was significantly positively correlated with outspokenness (r = 0.19, p < 0.015); however, it was not correlated with perceived social acceptance. When examining these relationships separately by gender, a strong association was found for males between active social media use and outspokenness, whereas passive social media use and outspokenness were negatively correlated for females. The results of this study add to previous research in the field of social media and outspokenness and lend new ideas for future research on these topics, such as exploring the gender differences that are associated with these variables. Further research in the area is needed for a more complete understanding of how one’s social media use affects his/her outspokenness and how gender modifies these effects.
ContributorsRubino, Kelli Erika (Co-author) / Rubino, Kelli (Co-author) / Mickelson, Kristin (Thesis director) / Halavais, Alexander (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
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Description
This study looked at the Women's March's use of social media to communicate their organization's mission. Data was collected from their official Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts. Facebook posts were collected manually, Twitter data was collected with a Google Sheets add-on and Instagram was collected by Picodash. All the posts

This study looked at the Women's March's use of social media to communicate their organization's mission. Data was collected from their official Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts. Facebook posts were collected manually, Twitter data was collected with a Google Sheets add-on and Instagram was collected by Picodash. All the posts were shifted through multiple times to identify the key narratives of the Women's March. These narratives were then compared to the stated "Unity Principles" of the organization to see if they aligned with what the Women's March attempted to fight for. The five narratives were "everyone should have access to affordable health care," "women should have access to positions of power and be respected," "immigrants should be welcomed within the United States," "society will be stronger if it addresses issues intersectionally," and "everyone should be safe in the world and treated as equals." Analysis showed that each of these narratives reflected the "Unity Principles" in some form. While certain narratives were related to more principles than others, it does not diminish the importance of each message.
Created2018-05
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Description
A new class of entrepreneurs is emerging in China, who are using a business model approach to solve societal problems. A small but growing niche of these so called "social entrepreneurs" is attempting to address long standing problems in the agricultural sector stemming from the three agricultural issues of farmers,

A new class of entrepreneurs is emerging in China, who are using a business model approach to solve societal problems. A small but growing niche of these so called "social entrepreneurs" is attempting to address long standing problems in the agricultural sector stemming from the three agricultural issues of farmers, agriculture and rural areas. In order to understand what social entrepreneurship means in the Chinese context, the motivations behind it, and the opportunities and problems related specifically to agricultural sector, interviews were conducted with social entrepreneurs, research institutes, and social fostering organizations in multiple tier-one cities in mainland China. Results show that the concept of social enterprise is comprehended in a very different way in the Chinese context relative to the general usage of the term in the literature. Social enterprises in the agricultural sector are divided into categories of Community Supported Agriculture-based organic farms, farmers' markets, food educators and city farmers. This is a growing group of entrepreneurs who could be better supported on the basis of resources and protection by the government, law and policy, universities, and a united producer and consumer front.
ContributorsGray, Christopher Stephan (Author) / Aggarwal, Rimjhim (Thesis director) / Ostrom, Amy (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor)
Created2013-12
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Description
Current farming demographics in the United States indicate an aging and overwhelmingly white group of farmers, stimulating the need for engaging a younger and more diverse population. There is an opportunity to engage these populations through farm-based internship and apprenticeship programs, which are immersive programs on small-scale, sustainable farms. These

Current farming demographics in the United States indicate an aging and overwhelmingly white group of farmers, stimulating the need for engaging a younger and more diverse population. There is an opportunity to engage these populations through farm-based internship and apprenticeship programs, which are immersive programs on small-scale, sustainable farms. These programs are unique in providing hands-on training, housing, meals, and a stipend in return for labor, presenting a pathway to social empowerment. The potential outcomes of increasing diversity and inclusion in farm programs are absent from the research on the benefits of diversity and inclusion in other work environments, such as the corporate setting. This paper presents the results of a study aimed at determining levels of diversity and inclusion in United States farm-based internship programs, and the viability of these programs as an effective opportunity to engage marginalized young people in farming. The study of 13 farm owners and managers across the U.S. found that the participants are focused on fostering education and training, environmental benefits, and a sense of community in their respective programs. All participants either want to establish, or believe they currently have, an inclusive workplace on their farm, but also indicated a barrier to inclusivity in the lack of a diverse applicant pool. Future recommendations for removing that barrier and involving more young, diverse interns include increased outreach and access to these programs, the use of inclusive language, and further research.
ContributorsLascola, Dania (Co-author) / Biel, Braden (Co-author) / Cloutier, Scott (Thesis director) / MacFadyen, Joshua (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
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Description
This creative project aimed to combine knowledge, qualifications, and experience in networking and marketing to host a live music event. As a social media industry employee, an avid concertgoer, and a digital marketer, I felt sufficiently able to complete this task. The process included working within the Barrett budget to

This creative project aimed to combine knowledge, qualifications, and experience in networking and marketing to host a live music event. As a social media industry employee, an avid concertgoer, and a digital marketer, I felt sufficiently able to complete this task. The process included working within the Barrett budget to secure a venue and acts with the option of paid marketing for the event. Once I secured The Graduate Hotel and three acts— bands Study Habit and Moose Titans and DJ/emcee Malcolm Alexndr—it was time to publicize the event. I found a photographer and organized a photo shoot then created social media profiles and a website with these photos. In total, the attendance was roughly 100 people, and the night was a smash success.

Keywords: event planning, social media, music
ContributorsGilliam, Taylor Mikel (Author) / Shockley, Gordon (Thesis director) / Hultsman, Wendy (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
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Description
Unlike the autosomes, recombination on the sex chromosomes is limited to the pseudoautosomal regions (PARs) at each end of the chromosome. PAR1 spans approximately 2.7 Mb from the tip of the proximal arm of each sex chromosome, and a pseudoautosomal boundary between the PAR1 and non-PAR region is thought to

Unlike the autosomes, recombination on the sex chromosomes is limited to the pseudoautosomal regions (PARs) at each end of the chromosome. PAR1 spans approximately 2.7 Mb from the tip of the proximal arm of each sex chromosome, and a pseudoautosomal boundary between the PAR1 and non-PAR region is thought to have evolved from a Y-specific inversion that suppressed recombination across the boundary. In addition to the two PARs, there is also a human-specific X-transposed region (XTR) that was duplicated from the X to the Y chromosome. Genetic diversity is expected to be higher in recombining than nonrecombining regions, particularly because recombination reduces the effects of linked selection, allowing neutral variation to accumulate. We previously showed that diversity decreases linearly across the previously defined pseudoautosomal boundary (rather than drop suddenly at the boundary), suggesting that the pseudoautosomal boundary may not be as strict as previously thought. In this study, we analyzed data from 1271 genetic females to explore the extent to which the pseudoautosomal boundary varies among human populations (broadly, African, European, South Asian, East Asian, and the Americas). We found that, in all populations, genetic diversity was significantly higher in the PAR1 and XTR than in the non-PAR regions, and that diversity decreased linearly from the PAR1 to finally reach a non-PAR value well past the pseudoautosomal boundary in all populations. However, we also found that the location at which diversity changes from reflecting the higher PAR1 diversity to the lower nonPAR diversity varied by as much as 500 kb among populations. The lack of genetic evidence for a strict pseudoautosomal boundary and the variability in patterns of diversity across the pseudoautosomal boundary are consistent with two potential explanations: (1) the boundary itself may vary across populations, or (2) that population-specific demographic histories have shaped diversity across the pseudoautosomal boundary.
ContributorsCotter, Daniel Juetten (Author) / Wilson Sayres, Melissa (Thesis director) / Stone, Anne (Committee member) / Webster, Timothy (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
A combined examination of the Charlie Hebdo attacks on January 7, 2015 and the November 13, 2015 attacks in Paris yields a social media movement that evolved within the 10 months between the attacks, a comparison between these terrorist attacks and those of September 11, 2001 and parallels between American

A combined examination of the Charlie Hebdo attacks on January 7, 2015 and the November 13, 2015 attacks in Paris yields a social media movement that evolved within the 10 months between the attacks, a comparison between these terrorist attacks and those of September 11, 2001 and parallels between American First Amendment principles and France’s free expression laws.

The Charlie Hebdo attacks fueled an online debate over freedom of expression and religion, whereas the purpose of social media evolved into a humanitarian one following the November 13 attacks in Paris. This research looks into the individual evolutions of the related hashtags that surfaced in 2015, including #JeSuisCharlie (and its opposites, such as #JeNeSuisPasCharlie), #DonDuSang, #PorteOuverte and #RechercheParis, among others. Another research point was with the September 11 attacks—with the 9/11 attacks against the United States, few to no channels were available for the kind of immediate discussions and support seen after the Paris attacks. After spending time in Paris during the spring 2015 semester and researching the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attacks and the history of the publication, the conclusion rests on the idea that the online discussions perpetuated by both supporters and dissenters of the magazine contribute to a more robust, open democracy supported by these social media platforms.

A portion of this thesis also delves into the parallels and differences between the American First Amendment and the French free speech laws—all of which pertain to the Charlie Hebdo content and the online responses to the 2015 Paris attacks.

The interviews conducted include a French art history professor at the Sorbonne University in Paris, two creators of the “Je Suis Charlie” Facebook page, an American journalist living in Paris who covered the Charlie Hebdo attack and who was present during the November attacks, and a Muslim-American doctor in Phoenix who founded the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. The ideas surrounding free speech, the value of art such as that found within the pages of Charlie Hebdo, the media’s treatment of religion, traditional democratic freedoms and ties to social media revolutions are all components of this research thesis.
Created2016-05
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This paper examines the relationship between feminism and social media and evaluates the ability of social media to function as an effective platform for the advancement of feminism's objectives. In the decades before social media became an integral part of culture, the popularity of feminism deteriorated and feminist voices were

This paper examines the relationship between feminism and social media and evaluates the ability of social media to function as an effective platform for the advancement of feminism's objectives. In the decades before social media became an integral part of culture, the popularity of feminism deteriorated and feminist voices were unsure that it could be revived or popularized again. However, in recent years, women have used social media as a mechanism to communicate and disseminate feminist ideas. The birth of what is called "hashtag feminism" has been a fundamental shift in the way feminism is done and advocated for in modern culture. In light of this dramatic shift in venue for feminist conversations, academic feminists are asking a series of pertinent questions: Is social media good for feminism and the achievement of feminist objectives? What, if anything, has feminism compromised in order to fit into 140 characters or fewer? This paper argues that social media has provided a platform for feminists to share their stories, which has aided in the building of feminist constituencies. This is the most important work of feminism, because it is making society more receptive to feminist principles and ideas, transforming our culture into one that can accept and fight for feminism's objectives. This paper will examine a series of case studies in which social media has hosted feminist conversations. It will analyze the impact of this social media as a venue for feminist narratives and evaluate the use of social media as a feminist platform in the movement to achieve feminism's objectives.
ContributorsGiel, Katelyn Anne (Author) / Woodall, Gina (Thesis director) / Lake, Milli (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-12