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Description
Massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) offer community spaces where players can interact and develop a diverse range of skills online, such as communication and socialization, that can be applied offline. Designing more inclusive community spaces is crucial to give a more diverse range of individuals the chance to develop these skills. One way to add diversity to an online community space is to attract players with diverse personalities and play styles. This study is a qualitative exploration of personality and play in Final Fantasy XIV (FFXIV). The specific research question is: what kinds of patterns exist in player personality and in the choices players make in a massively multi-player online (MMO) game Subjects were given the Big 5 personality survey to measure the five core personality dimensions. The survey also included FFXIV-specific items about in-game preferences and play styles of the players, and it concluded with open-ended questions that allowed subjects to explain certain choices. Thematic analysis was used to find patterns in the open-ended questions. The results of this exploratory study indicate that the players in this community are mostly casual and play FFXIV for the content and social aspects of the game. They enjoyed the customization options and gameplay of FFXIV. It is important to be open to the different backgrounds of players who join the Free Company (FC) and to accommodate their preferences and choices in the game. Consistent player interactions and activities with other members in their FC help to create a sense of community.
ContributorsFlor, Michelle Kaitlyn (Author) / Wise, Greg (Thesis advisor) / Mean, Lindsey (Committee member) / Halavais, Alexander (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
In the realm of biosensors and nanotechnology, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) nanosensors have demonstrated tremendous potential across diverse real-world applications, from environmental monitoring to healthcare diagnostics. Fabrication of nanosensors allows assembling and designing of DNA molecules at nanoscale with high precision and versatility. Such fabricating DNA nanosensors are quite time consuming. Hence it is important to store them in batches. However synthetic DNA molecules can be prone to degradation over time, especially when exposed to various environmental factors like light, heat, or any other chemical contaminants. To address this issue, a shelf life study of DNA nanosensors using various lyoprotectant conditions was carried out to determine the long term stability of such sensors. This study involves fabrication of the dendritic, double - stranded DNA nanosensors involving five strands L1 through L5 conjugated with pHAb fluorophores via N-hydroxysuccinimide ester reaction and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) enzyme, a core component of the sensor. This sensor was originally a fluorescent ACh-selective nanosensors designed to accommodate the BTX ligand, AChE to image the ACh release in the submandibular region of the living mice to report real time quantitative endogenous ACh release triggered by electrical stimulation. AChE enzyme is a good receptor to detect acetylcholine release in the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS). The primary objective of the study was to assess DNA nanosensors with AChE, however due to the intricate interactions, non-specific binding and cost-effectiveness, the shelf life study was carried out separately. The shelf study includes observing DNA nanosensors with different disaccharide lyoprotectants like trehalose and sucrose that were analyzed under different temperature conditions: room temperature (25ºC) and at 50 ºC for different time intervals, over a week time. Also, Observing AChE with various protectants under 50 ºC with and without lyoprotectants for various time intervals like 24 hours and 48 hours. To replicate the real-world transit scenarios, the study also involves test-shipment of the samples with lyoprotectants for 2-3 days to both cross-country and local (in-state). As a result, the use of lyoprotectants, particularly trehalose, has proven to be more resilient and effective in preserving the stability and integrity of DNA nanosensors and Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) enzymes
ContributorsSrinivasan, Nikita (Author) / Clark, Heather A (Thesis advisor) / Ma, Kristine Y (Committee member) / Beeman, Scott (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
The Patient Guidance Project was created by a team of research assistants in the Arizona Cancer Evolution Center as a source of supplemental education and support for recently diagnosed cancer patients. Extensive background research in the form of literature reviews highlighted disparities between the information patients want and are receiving, as well as between average literacy levels of patients and the literacy levels at which cancer information is commonly provided. The Patient Guidance Project has published comprehensive guides for specific types of cancer, which so far include metastatic melanoma, glioblastoma, prostate cancer, oral cancer, kidney cancer, breast cancer, and colorectal cancer. The content of the guides is intended to bridge the gaps in information for patients with an emphasis on treatment options, treatment side effects, and psychological support resources, which surveys have identified as the topics patients want information on most. Written at a sixth-grade literacy level, which over half of adults in the U.S. read at, the guides are meant to be of benefit to as many people as possible. In the future, the team hopes to expand the Patient Guidance Project to include more cancer types, guides in different languages, and multimodal features to increase their effectiveness.
ContributorsWilliams, Erica (Author) / Maley, Carlo (Thesis director) / Baciu, Cristina (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2022-12
Description
This project consists of a police officer training manual and supplemental paper. The goal being to address current flaws in police officer training and implement new ideas in the area of communication, stress management, and cultural awareness. Utilizing expertise from qualitative interviews as well as support found in existing literature this project was able to create a training curriculum that has the potential to lessen the gaps in police officer training.
ContributorsHenderson, Isabelle (Author) / Holohan, Brynn (Co-author) / DeCarolis, Claudine (Thesis director) / Robinson, Kevin (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor)
Created2023-05
Description
I center my analysis on Amazon’s recent foray into alternative history The Man in the High Castle premised on Philip K. Dick’s 1962 novel of the same name. Amazon Studio’s production The Man in the High Castle builds upon the premise of an alternative history where World War II ends differently. Here, the diegetic narrative depicts a United States split into three distinct regions: the east coast, now part of the German Reich; the Neutral Zone, or most of the Midwest and the Rocky Mountains; and the west coast, controlled by Japanese Empire. The film version debuted in 2015 as a series extending to four seasons of 10 episodes a piece by 2019. I argue that the show takes cues from modern political tensions, the rise of the alt-right and “post-truth” media manipulations, to intentionally destabilize viewers’ memories of the historical past. By blurring the boundaries between the diegetic reality of the show and our accepted version of history, The Man in the High Castle disrupts the facility in which the viewer assumes alignment with memory and past, opting instead for a complicated refiguring of the political present. Here I articulate how film as a medium tampers with the viewer’s ontological understanding of image by collapsing history and fiction together. Additionally, the capacity of film to provoke empathy from viewers complicates the universal condemnation of Nazism we are familiar with and permits viewers to see the banality of evil in this reimagined history. Finally, I discuss how film as a medium capitalizes on the incompleteness of memory and the loopholes of history to fabricate viewer memory.
ContributorsAbele, Kelsey Taylor (Author) / Brouwer, Daniel (Thesis advisor) / Carlson, Adina (Committee member) / Hedberg Olenina, Ana (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
Cellular metabolism is an essential process required for tissue formation, energy production and systemic homeostasis and becomes dysregulated in many disease states. In the context of human cerebral cortex development, there’s a limited understanding of how metabolic pathways, such as glycolysis, impacts proliferation and differentiation of cortical cells. The technical challenges of studying primary in vivo cortical tissue at a cellular and molecular level led to the development of human pluripotent stem cell (PSC) derived cortical organoids. Cortical organoids are a highly tractable model system that can be used for high-throughput investigation of early stages of development and corresponding glycolytic programs. Through transplantation of cortical organoids into the developing mouse cortex, human cortical cells can also be studied in an in vivo environment that more closely resembles endogenous development where the impact of metabolism in typical developmental programs and disease states can be studied. While current data is preliminary, initial observations suggest that cortical populations increase glucose uptake over time and regulation of glucose uptake rates occur in cell type-specific manner. Additionally, mouse transplantation data suggests that glycolytic activity is downregulated post-transplantation, suggesting that the in vitro environment contributes metabolic state. The more dynamic range of metabolic states in vivo may impact the rate of differentiation and maturation in cellular populations in the transplant model. I hypothesize that the more endogenous-like regulation of glycolysis may impact the proliferative window and expansion of key progenitor cell types in the human brain, particularly the intermediate progenitor cells.
ContributorsMorales, Alexandria (Author) / Andrews, Madeline (Thesis advisor) / Newbern, Jason (Committee member) / Stabenfeldt, Sarah (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
This research examines supply chain performance and antecedents to better supply chain performance in manufacturing organizations, with a focus on manufacturing organizations following engineer-to-order and assemble-to-order production models. The variables of supply chain integration, internal communication, employee satisfaction, leader support, and the alignment of information and communication technology are empirically supported in affecting supply chain performance, and thus carry managerial and organizational implications in how they can be influenced, ideally for the benefit of manufacturing organizations. The data gathered for this study was obtained through interviews with sourcing professionals, as well as surveys distributed to corporate manufacturing employees. The findings on these variables fall in line with previous research explored in the report, adding credibility to previous studies, as well as their associated recommendations and implications. Organizational management and leadership, to improve supply chain performance, must strategically integrate information and communication technology, be clear and consistent in their messaging to employees, engage in effective conflict resolution, and provide support for necessary transparency and communication-enhancing initiatives.
ContributorsKoeppen, Matthew (Author) / Wiedmer, Robert (Thesis director) / Hogan, Michael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how humans experience relationships with machines such as love and sex dolls and robots. This study places a particular emphasis on in-depth, rich, and holistic understanding of people’s lived experiences in the context of human-machine relationships and draws on human-machine communication scholarship by examining media evocation perspectives, the role of illusions, and the topic of care. Therefore, this study uses a funneled serial interview design employing three waves of semi-structured interviews (N = 47) with 29 love and sex doll owners and users. Utilizing a phronetic iterative qualitative data analysis approach coupled with metaphor analysis, the findings of this study reveal how participants experience dolls as evocative objects and quasi-others. Moreover, the findings illustrate how participants actively construct and (re)negotiate authenticity in their human-machine relationships, driven by a cyclical process between doll characteristics (agency and presence) and doll owner characteristics (imagination and identity extension) that results in an illusion of being cared for. This study extends previous scholarship by: 1) showcasing a new type of mute machines, namely humanoid mute relational machines; 2) adding empirical evidence to the largely theoretical work on dolls and doll owners; 3) adding empirical evidence to and extending media evocation perspectives by illustrating the suitability of participant metaphors for understanding machines’ evocative nature; and 4) proposing an integrative model of care and illusions that lays the foundation for a new relational interaction illusion model to be examined in future research. This study also discusses practical implications for doll owners, the public, and doll developers.
ContributorsDehnert, Marco (Author) / Sharabi, Liesel L (Thesis advisor) / Tracy, Sarah J (Thesis advisor) / Edwards, Autumn P (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024
Description
College graduates are expected to acquire certain skill sets that are necessary andsought after by potential employers, as many industries in the United States continue to
grow a global footprint. Employers also value good communication skills, and
communication classes are a staple of most general education curricula, including those
taught on community college campuses. The diversity of the student populations on
community college campuses in the United States is vast, as is the cultural wealth
accompanying this diversity. Diverse and internationalized student populations at
community colleges include local students living in communities surrounding community
colleges and international students studying abroad in the United States. This action
research study infused intercultural intelligence activities into a third culture
Communication 100 classroom using the prescribed course objectives to prepare both
local and international students to enter a global, or a glocal-local (glocal) workforce.
This was done by having local and international students communicate, share, and teach
each other and their instructor via their cultural capital in a third culture classroom.
Mixed methods were employed by collecting student reflection journals after completing
four class activities that introduced them to the principles of cultural intelligence.
Students in an experimental class and two control classes completed the Global
Perspectives Inventory (GPI) as a pre- and post-assessment. The experimental students’
GPI scores indicated they perceived themselves to have grown more on all seven
variables in the study and felt more prepared to enter a global workforce. In the
experimental class, results from both qualitative and quantitative data indicated that the
international and local Latine students had comparable cultural intelligence skills upon
entering the class and that they felt they learned more about the world by working with
each other. Their perceptions changed in a positive direction regarding their intercultural
intelligence growth, and they felt more prepared to enter a global and glocal workforce
due to their participation in the Communication 100 third culture classroom.
ContributorsPetit, Annique (Author) / Judson, Eugene (Thesis advisor) / Hesse, Maria (Committee member) / Amavisca Reyes, Nora (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024