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- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Description
Gerrymandering involves the purposeful manipulation of districts in order to gain some political advantage. Because legislators have a vested interest in continuing their tenure, they can easily hijack the redistricting process each decade for their and their political party's benefit. This threatens the cornerstone of democracy: a voter’s capability to select an elected official that accurately represents their interests. Instead, gerrymandering has legislators to choose their voters.
In recent years, the Supreme Court has heard challenges to state legislature-drawn districts, most recently in Allen v. Milligan for Alabama and Moore v. Harper for North Carolina. The highest court of the United States ruled that the two state maps were gerrymandered, and in coming to their decision, the 9 justices relied on a plethora of amicus briefs- one of which included the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method, a computational method used to find gerrymandering.
Because of how widespread gerrymandering has become on both sides of the political aisle, states have moved to create independent redistricting commissions. Qualitative research regarding the efficacy of independent commissions is present, but there is little research using the quantitative computational methods from these SCOTUS cases. As a result, my thesis will use the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to answer if impartial redistricting commissions (like we have in Arizona) actually preclude unfair redistricting practices.
My completed project is located here:
https://dheetideliwala.github.io/honors-thesis/
ContributorsDeliwala, Dheeti (Author) / Bryan, Chris (Thesis director) / Strickland, James (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor)
Created2023-12
ContributorsDeliwala, Dheeti (Author) / Bryan, Chris (Thesis director) / Strickland, James (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor)
Created2023-12
ContributorsDeliwala, Dheeti (Author) / Bryan, Chris (Thesis director) / Strickland, James (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor)
Created2023-12
Description
For this study, my overarching goal was to understand the possibilities of humanity’s future in space exploration. Addressing the future of space exploration not only opens doors for a multitude of discoveries but may answer questions that can be essential to our survival on Earth. This study, more specifically, aimed to determine how college students at Arizona State University, engineering and astronomy students in particular, visualize the future of space exploration, as in the future, they will become the leading experts at the forefront of all space-related developments. The method through which I have conducted this study is a short survey, consisting of a variety of questions, designed to encourage students to develop their own unique interpretations of space exploration and ultimately, its imminent future. The results ultimately demonstrated that most participants in the study believed that political obstacles were the most prevalent concern in the further development of space exploration. There also appeared to be a moderate outlook on the future success and vitality of space exploration among student scientists and engineers. From a statistical standpoint, there appeared to be no alarming difference of opinion between these two ASU student groups.
ContributorsMontano, Sebastian (Author) / Voorhees, Matthew (Thesis director) / Aganaba, Timiebi (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / School of Earth and Space Exploration (Contributor)
Created2023-12
Description
This creative project details 5 engineers who made contributions to the ways that we live life today, yet have received little to no recognition for their efforts. The 5 engineers presented are Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, George Stephenson, Charles Babbage, David Alter, and Nikola Tesla. Each engineer is detailed via a portrait and a biography that covers a little bit of their life and the contributions that they made.
ContributorsNieves, Timothy (Author) / Davis, Turner (Thesis director) / Green, Heather (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2023-12
Description
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia is one of the world’s coldest capital cities with roughly 1.5 million residents. About fifty percent of the city’s residents are off the electrical grid and millions continue to live nomadic lifestyles, raising livestock for food. Problematically, residents often turn to raw coal - Mongolia’s largest export - as a means to cook food and stay warm. Project Koyash is a philanthropic engineering initiative that was founded in the Arizona State University Program Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) to combat the air quality crisis plaguing the ger districts of Ulaanbaatar. Koyash has already deployed 13 fully functional and autonomous units consisting of a solar powered air filtration system in Ulaanbaatar. Koyash innovated a solution of solar panels, air filters, batteries, inverters, PCB Arduinos, and other necessary components for providing crucial humanitarian services. The team is working to send more units and develop a local supply chain for the systems. This thesis project explores the development of Koyash, assesses the human health implications of air pollution, and reflects on the entire process.
ContributorsYavari, Bryan (Author) / Hartwell, Leland (Thesis director) / Schoepf, Jared (Thesis director) / Diddle, Julianna (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
American Sign Language (ASL) is used for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) individuals to communicate and learn in a classroom setting. In ASL, fingerspelling and gestures are two primary components used for communication. Fingerspelling is commonly used for words that do not have a specifically designated sign or gesture. In technical contexts, such as Computer Science curriculum, there are many technical terms that fall under this category. Most of its jargon does not have standardized ASL gestures; therefore, students, educators, and interpreters alike have been reliant on fingerspelling, which poses challenges for all parties. This study investigates the efficacy of both fingerspelling and gestures with fifteen technical terms that do have standardized gestures. The terms’ fingerspelling and gesture are assessed based on preference, ease of use, ease of learning, and time by research subjects who were selected as DHH individuals familiar with ASL.
The data is collected in a series of video recordings by research subjects as well as a post-participation questionnaire. Each research subject has produced thirty total videos, two videos to fingerspell and gesture each technical term. Afterwards, they completed a post-participation questionnaire in which they indicated their preference and how easy it was to learn and use both fingerspelling and gestures. Additionally, the videos have been analyzed to determine the time difference between fingerspelling and gestures. Analysis reveals that gestures are favored over fingerspelling as they are generally preferred, considered easier to learn and use, and faster. These results underscore the significance for standardized gestures in the Computer Science curriculum for accessible learning that enhances communication and promotes inclusion.
ContributorsKarim, Bushra (Author) / Gupta, Sandeep (Thesis director) / Hossain, Sameena (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
This thesis details a Python-based software designed to calculate the Jones polynomial,
a vital mathematical tool from Knot Theory used for characterizing the topological and
geometrical complexity of curves in 3-space, which is essential in understanding physical
systems of filaments, including the behavior of polymers and biopolymers. The Jones
polynomial serves as a topological invariant capable of distinguishing between different
knot structures. This capability is fundamental to characterizing the architecture of
molecular chains, such as proteins and DNA. Traditional computational methods for
deriving the Jones polynomial have been limited by closure-schemes and high execu-
tion costs, which can be impractical for complex structures like those that appear in
real life. This software implements methods that significantly reduce calculation times,
allowing for more efficient and practical applications in the study of biological poly-
mers. It utilizes a divide-and-conquer approach combined with parallel computing and
applies recursive Reidemeister moves to optimize the computation, transitioning from
an exponential to a near-linear runtime for specific configurations. This thesis provides
an overview of the software’s functions, detailed performance evaluations using protein
structures as test cases, and a discussion of the implications for future research and
potential algorithmic improvements.
ContributorsMusfeldt, Caleb (Author) / Panagiotou, Eleni (Thesis director) / Richa, Andrea (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies, Sch (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
Our Idea: As a team of engineers, two in the engineering field and one in computer
science and software development, we wanted to find a way to put these skills to use in our
company. As we did not have a revolutionary idea to build our own product, we wanted to base
our company on the assumption that people have great ideas and lack the ability to execute on
these ideas. Our mission is to enable these people and companies to make their ideas a reality,
and allow them to go to market with a clean and user friendly product. We are using our skills
and experience in hardware and device prototyping and testing, as well as software design and
development to make this happen.
Implementation: To this point, we have been working with a client building a human
diagnostic and enhancement AI device. We have been consulting on mostly the design and
creation of their first proof of concept, working on hardware and sensor interaction as well as
developing the software allowing their platform to come to life. We have been working closely
with the leaders of the company, who have the ideas and business knowledge, while we focus on
the technology side. As for the scalability and market potential of our business, we believe that
the potential market is not the limiting factor. Instead, the limiting factor to the growth of our
business is the time we have to devote. We are currently only working with one client, and not
looking to expand into new clients. We believe this would require the addition of new team
members, but instead we are happy with the progress we are making at the moment. We believe
we are not only building equity in business we believe in, but also building a product that could
help the safety and wellness of our users.
ContributorsMiller, Kyle (Author) / Engerholm, Liam (Co-author) / Schildgen, Nathan (Co-author) / Byrne, Jared (Thesis director) / Lee, Christopher (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2024-05