Studies during and following the height of the Coronavirus pandemic show that psychological and physical health levels decrease, due to factors such as reduced human contact and anxiety. However, there is little to no research on how quality of life levels would change over the course of the pandemic for families who have the added stress of having a child with a developmental complication. To answer this question, this study utilized longitudinal data from the Babble Boot Camp, a project under the ASU Speech Language Genetics Lab, to analyze quality of life measures in families who have children with Classic Galactosemia (CG). CG is an inborn metabolic disorder that causes an intolerance to galactose, a sugar in dairy, the effects of which can be deadly. These children often show signs of developmental delays in multiple areas within the first few years of life. Studying quality of life surveys before, during, and after the most intense phase of the pandemic, this study investigates the difference between these families and those with typical children.

As the COVID-19 pandemic took the world by storm, the hotel industry struggled to remain afloat. Many resorted to innovative solutions to maintain their business and jobs. As the hotel industry grappled with ideas that could keep their business afloat, an idea called EasyHub was born. EasyHub is a hypothetical mobile device application that bridges the user and a paired SMART device or an entire ecosystem of SMART devices. While the design for EasyHub was initially intended to help hotels increase their accessibility, it soon became apparent that EasyHub could potentially be a product of much greater market value. As the idea of EasyHub became more developed, the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning to subdue, and the hotel industry was on the mend. Assuming that EasyHub is found useful, it could theoretically boost demand to businesses that use them. Many hotels already utilize SMART devices to some degree making them prime targets for EasyHub. This research paper seeks to determine if EasyHub can aid hotels’ recovery from the pandemic-induced recession by increasing revenue. Surveys were conducted among hoteliers and a general audience to determine the impact of EasyHub on guests’ decisions to stay at a hotel. The results indicate that EasyHub would not be a significant factor in guests’ decision-making of hotels; however, this may be due to a lack of clarity about the product, as many respondents expressed a desire for more information. Further development and testing of EasyHub is necessary before a market analysis and its full potential can be assessed.

The climate conversation is growing more important and necessary than ever. The media has a way of promoting a "doom and gloom" sentiment over conservation efforts and what the public has the power to do in terms of making a change. Now due to the effects of COVID-19 on the population's attention spans and memories, there is a need for a way to communicate climate science effectively and to encourage those who feel discouraged by climate change to find their inner power. The answer lies in photography. Making science accessible and intriguing through the art of photography is what can get people more interested and empowered to fight against climate change and alter their attitudes towards environmentalism. This thesis explains psychological research and the reasons why people feel helpless in terms of our global future. In then dives into human subjects research conducted on ASU's campus and how the survey results argue in favor of the paper's hypothesis. Additionally, ways to get involved and reasons why we need to remain hopeful are discussed.

With recent reports indicating that there is a relatively low number of pregnant people vaccinated against COVID-19 in the United States (~30% per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, October, 2021), this study aims to understand the reasons for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among the pregnant population in the state of Arizona. Using a mixed-methods approach, this cross-sectional study employs both semi-structured qualitative interviews (n = 40) and a quantitative survey instrument (n = 400) to better understand the reasons for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among pregnant people, with data collected over the course of a few months. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression are employed to analyze the quantitative data and the semi-structured interviews are inductively coded to analyze themes across participant interviews. The results from this study are not only able to help better address disparities in COVID-19 vaccinations among pregnant people, but they also provide implications for vaccine hesitancy overall in order to develop interventions to address vaccine hesitancy. Future research is warranted to better understand regional differences in vaccine hesitancy and differences across populations.

The COVID-19 pandemic’s unprecedented nature caused significant disruptions in the global supply chain industry, resulting in setbacks for supply chain operations. The repercussions of the supply chain challenges impacted various industries. This thesis seeks to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the supply chain industry, with a focus on how disruptions have affected the efficiency and resilience of companies within this sector. Data analytics will be leveraged to analyze these disruptions and improve supply chain operations.

Border walls are generally defined as barriers that serve to control the international border by limiting migration, human trafficking, and smuggling. At the US-Mexico border, security also entails situational awareness of the borderlands, which the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the United States Border Patrol (USBP) contend is by making communities aware of what side they are on through their outreach programs, the side of drug and human trafficking or on the side of the “guardians of our nation's borders” as mentioned by a USBP officer in their interview for my project. Additionally, they stated border natives and residents like myself only know half of what their work involves as we “...get all their information out of the news”. I also had to attend these outreach programs since I was in elementary school with officers showing off their canines and reminding me and the rest of the students how much time we would serve by crossing drugs. There is some truth to the agent’s statement, I do believe there is much to learn from the militarization of the borderlands even when you live and experience border security daily for years. However, based on my thesis and my experience as a border native the issue is not if people believe the Department of Homeland Security agencies (DHS) is the nation’s protectors, but if people, news media, and organizations are questioning enough the roles of DHS agencies at the border as shown by their treatment and vilification of migrants and their ability to protect border communities while preserving nature in a time of climate crisis. My thesis brings into question pandemic-era border protocols, such as the Migrant Protection Protocol, and Title 42, as well as CBP and the USBP public messaging and community interactions in the US-Mexico border community in Douglas, Arizona, and Agua Prieta, Sonora. My paper focuses on border history from 1993 impacts and defines present policies, and communities living along the border. As a border resident of Douglas and a previous border resident of Agua Prieta, my thesis is one of few studies to focus on the stories of the border community in both towns, from a Latinx border native of this border community. As will be addressed later in this paper, research in my community is limited, especially in the development of border security that also centers on the communities’ shift in attitudes and perspectives on securitization. Moreso, the documentation and analysis of the researcher are native to the Sonoran borderlands. During my study, I volunteered at the Centro de Recursos de Migrantes next to the Agua Prieta border entry, and conducted interviews with stakeholders in present policies from border residents, non-profit organizations, and government agencies in Agua Prieta and Douglas. My thesis is also meant to discuss the perception and shifts of border securitization along the US-Mexico border according to border residents and non-profit organizations leaders that belong to the border community. During my interview, there was inconsistency about people’s perception of border security and the implementation of protocols at the Douglas border port of entry. My data collection, the extensions of Title 42 and the Supreme Court’s decision on Egbert v. Boule indicate its application was not meant to protect American citizens from Covid-19 by limiting migration but to further extend the power of DHS agencies at the border, while maintaining surveillance and unlimited power over migrants and the border community that is forced to contend with the shifts of the borderlands and the increase of mass migration. I therefore argue that the carceral state enforced and re-produced by state and non-state actors at a local, state, and federal level as shown historically at the border and presently in public health crises shows the continuation of colonial projects by the United States that remain integral to its national sovereignty, capital gain, and legitimacy. During my research, I found that there are multiple academic papers and articles that focus on border fieldwork from the perspectives of researchers who have never actually lived or experienced life at the border, nor have their families been defined by the borderlands. Additionally, the limited border narratives that exist are insufficient in portraying the diversity that exists within the border community and emphasizes a need to decentralize narratives from privileged spaces in the community. Re-conceptualizing the border through the lens of diverse border narratives and re-centering Indigenous and Latinx feminist thinkers that identify, especially queer, trans, and disabled bodies can enable more dialect regarding the effects of border policies that have not only contributed to the militarization and warfare of the border, but the erasure of border history and the disregard to inform the public of current border protocols. Border security confines border communities to normalize militarization and forget its rich and painful history. Migrants and their modes of transportation are portrayed by DHS agencies and government institutions as a large threat to border security as emphasized through outreach programs, DHS agency reports, and political propaganda by government officials that portrays migrants as national threats. A threat that has united white people, who remain tied to the past- believing that Latinx people do not deserve to have rights to seek a better life. Meanwhile these individuals ignore the threat of the current government in the United States that continues to grow in unrestrained power. Despite a desire to portray migrants as “terrorists” at their entrance or attempts to cross to the United States that are not considered “lawful,” migrants are the ones dying at rapid speeds along the border with or without their bodies recovered while DHS agents’ power increases (CBP a,d). We, in my border community, are taught that the direct racial, ethnic, gendered profiling at the border we might face, the tactics applied by officers to slow border crossing, and their cruel treatment, is as an outcome of where we are born. The limit of our rights is a direct consequence of where we chose to live, while the power of CBP and USBP officers only continues to increase. The anger that should be directed to DHS agencies and government officials but is given to vulnerable migrants instead.

A recent analysis has predicted that close to a million Americans will have died from contracting COVID-19 (Sullivan, 2021, para. 1). Unsurprisingly, the most vulnerable people, like those who have been incarcerated, have been hit the hardest (Brennan Center for Justice, 2020, para. 1). The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has created additional stress affecting inmates both physically and mentally. Therefore, the maintenance of good mental health among inmates should be a concern. However, the nature of the correctional environment limits the therapeutic options available to health care professionals. Among the challenges mental health professionals face in ensuring quality care are a poor rapport between the care provider and client, having a client living in an environment where distressing factors are omnipresent, and a lack of resources (Gussak, 2015, p. 2). All of these issues are exacerbated when the client requiring mental health care is in the correctional system. Depression and anxiety are some of the most common disorders affecting the prison population. However, in the correctional system, therapies that have been found effective among a general population have been shown to not benefit 30% to 60% of clients (Abbing, Baars, Van Haastrecht, & Ponstein, 2019, p. 1). Effectively treating depression is of great concern because, as Gussak (2007) found, depression can lead to self-harming behaviors and suicide when left untreated (p. 2). Additionally, addressing and treating anxiety is of particular importance today as COVID-19 has been a significant source of distress; explicitly, one incarcerated journalist reported witnessing entire units of inmates experiencing high levels of anxiety and panic attacks (Popperl et al., 2020, para. 5). Thus, a critical review of the available literature can reveal the particular effectiveness of art therapy in treating depression and anxiety in prison populations. The impacts of implementing more effective therapies in the correctional system are a reduction in recidivism and successful reintegration into society. Consequently, this literature review will suggest a potential application of art therapy for improving the mental health of those incarcerated in the correctional system with the intent of engendering positive social impact.