Matching Items (28)
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- All Subjects: Creative Project
- Creators: School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
Description
Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a malignant, aggressive and infiltrative cancer of the central nervous system with a median survival of 14.6 months with standard care. Diagnosis of GBM is made using medical imaging such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT). Treatment is informed by medical images and includes chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgical removal if the tumor is surgically accessible. Treatment seldom results in a significant increase in longevity, partly due to the lack of precise information regarding tumor size and location. This lack of information arises from the physical limitations of MR and CT imaging coupled with the diffusive nature of glioblastoma tumors. GBM tumor cells can migrate far beyond the visible boundaries of the tumor and will result in a recurring tumor if not killed or removed. Since medical images are the only readily available information about the tumor, we aim to improve mathematical models of tumor growth to better estimate the missing information. Particularly, we investigate the effect of random variation in tumor cell behavior (anisotropy) using stochastic parameterizations of an established proliferation-diffusion model of tumor growth. To evaluate the performance of our mathematical model, we use MR images from an animal model consisting of Murine GL261 tumors implanted in immunocompetent mice, which provides consistency in tumor initiation and location, immune response, genetic variation, and treatment. Compared to non-stochastic simulations, stochastic simulations showed improved volume accuracy when proliferation variability was high, but diffusion variability was found to only marginally affect tumor volume estimates. Neither proliferation nor diffusion variability significantly affected the spatial distribution accuracy of the simulations. While certain cases of stochastic parameterizations improved volume accuracy, they failed to significantly improve simulation accuracy overall. Both the non-stochastic and stochastic simulations failed to achieve over 75% spatial distribution accuracy, suggesting that the underlying structure of the model fails to capture one or more biological processes that affect tumor growth. Two biological features that are candidates for further investigation are angiogenesis and anisotropy resulting from differences between white and gray matter. Time-dependent proliferation and diffusion terms could be introduced to model angiogenesis, and diffusion weighed imaging (DTI) could be used to differentiate between white and gray matter, which might allow for improved estimates brain anisotropy.
ContributorsAnderies, Barrett James (Author) / Kostelich, Eric (Thesis director) / Kuang, Yang (Committee member) / Stepien, Tracy (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
We created an Android application, Impromp2, which allows users to search for and save events of interest to them in the Phoenix area. The backend, built on the Parse platform, gathers events daily using Web services and stores them in a database. Impromp2 was designed to improve upon similarly-purposed apps available for Android devices in several key ways, especially in user interface design and data interaction capability. This is a full-stack software project that explores databases and their performance considerations, Web services, user interface design, and the challenges of app development for a mobile platform.
ContributorsNorth, Joseph Robert (Author) / Balasooriya, Janaka (Thesis director) / Nakamura, Mutsumi (Committee member) / Faucon, Philippe (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
"The Legal Adventures of Frankie and Rosie" is a creative project that explores the nontraditional format of comics to express creative nonfiction. The project is a set of 30 independent comics that focuses on two primary college-going students who are based off of the authors. The characters, Frankie and Rosie narrate their stories through dialogue. The authors use this narrative model to archive their college experience at ASU. Representing creative nonfiction through comics yields an amalgamated format that can be challenging for both the writers to produce as well as for the readers to consume. Ultimately, the project serves as an attempt to test whether or not the comic medium can stand by itself as an appropriate format to express creative nonfictional narratives without becoming a diluted combination of its purer predecessors.
ContributorsBennewitz, Dana (Co-author) / Ray, Payel (Co-author) / Martin, Thomas (Thesis director) / Scott Lynch, Jacquelyn (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Covering subsequences with sets of permutations arises in many applications, including event-sequence testing. Given a set of subsequences to cover, one is often interested in knowing the fewest number of permutations required to cover each subsequence, and in finding an explicit construction of such a set of permutations that has size close to or equal to the minimum possible. The construction of such permutation coverings has proven to be computationally difficult. While many examples for permutations of small length have been found, and strong asymptotic behavior is known, there are few explicit constructions for permutations of intermediate lengths. Most of these are generated from scratch using greedy algorithms. We explore a different approach here. Starting with a set of permutations with the desired coverage properties, we compute local changes to individual permutations that retain the total coverage of the set. By choosing these local changes so as to make one permutation less "essential" in maintaining the coverage of the set, our method attempts to make a permutation completely non-essential, so it can be removed without sacrificing total coverage. We develop a post-optimization method to do this and present results on sequence covering arrays and other types of permutation covering problems demonstrating that it is surprisingly effective.
ContributorsMurray, Patrick Charles (Author) / Colbourn, Charles (Thesis director) / Czygrinow, Andrzej (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Physics (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
Rainbow Connection is an integrated choir with members on and off the autism spectrum. It was founded in the spring of 2012 by Barrett students Ali Friedman, Megan Howell, and Victoria Gilman as part of an honors thesis creative project. Rainbow Connection uses the rehearsal process and other creative endeavors to foster natural relationship building across social gaps. A process-oriented choir, Rainbow Connection's main goals concern the connections made throughout the experience rather than the final musical product. The authors believe that individual, non-hierarchical relationships are the keys to breaking down systemized gaps between identity groups and that music is an ideal facilitator for fostering such relationships. Rainbow Connection operates under the premise that, like colors in a rainbow, choir members create something beautiful not by melding into one homogenous group, but by collaboratively showcasing their individual gifts. This paper will highlight the basic premise and structure of Rainbow Connection, outline the process of enacting the choir, and describe the authors' personal reactions and takeaways from the project.
ContributorsFriedman, Alexandra (Co-author) / Gilman, Victoria (Co-author) / Howell, Megan (Co-author) / Rio, Robin (Thesis director) / Schildkret, David (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Music (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
The title means nothing because the stories have little in common, aside from the fact that I wrote them. The common theme of anxiety was unintentional, though it is prevalent in the stories, poetry and my life. Each story is written from a different style, with a different interest in mind. The poetry that breaks up the stories is mine, and also free of common bonds. People whom I love inspired some of them; others stem from people with whom I was (or still am) angry. Some of them are just me trying to write poetry like other successful poets, who seem to know something I don't. I wrote this set of stories and poems because I wanted to see if I could do it. I wanted to challenge myself in a new medium (two new mediums really, if you separate literature and poetry). I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it, if I really set my mind to it. I wanted to have some wealth of words, which I could record myself reading. Overall, I hope that you enjoy these stories and words. I wrote them to entertain myself, and they seem to do that pretty well. If you don't like them, stop reading. If you do like them, keep reading and tell everyone you know about this collection. I'm proud of my work here, so anything beyond that is icing on my cake.
ContributorsRagatz, Zachariah Edward (Author) / Scott, Jason Davids (Thesis director) / Espinosa, Micha (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Since the acceptance of Einstein's special theory of relativity by the scientific community, authors of science fiction have used the concept of time dilation to permit seemingly impossible feats. Simple spacecraft acceleration schemes involving time dilation have been considered by scientists and fiction writers alike. Using an original Java program based upon the differential equations for special relativistic kinematics, several scenarios for round trip excursions at relativistic speeds are calculated and compared, with particular attention to energy budget and relativistic time passage in all relevant frames.
ContributorsAlfson, Jonathan William (Author) / Jacob, Richard (Thesis director) / Covatto, Carl (Committee member) / Foy, Joseph (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Physics (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
This creative project centers on creating evaluative writing about film, in the form of a film review blog. Preliminary writing was done, in which the distinction was made between critical film writing and movie reviewing, as well as an analysis of how film critics have honed in their criticism and what makes their content effective for their audience. The rest of the writing for this project consists of a total of 15 reviews for 15 different movies released in 2017 and 2018. In these reviews, there is a brief introduction of the plot and context in which the film is made, followed by an evaluative analysis of what made the film effective or ineffective in achieving its artistic goals. The reviews involve an amalgamation of the content and topics taught in the Film and Media Studies program at Arizona State University, from screenwriting to cinematography. This process of writing reviews and being edited by the Director and Second Reader allows for the opportunity to find a unique writing voice and create content that is accessible for the wide audience that would be reading the work. All of the writing completed for this project (except for the "My Favorite Film Critics" piece) is compiled together in a WordPress blog, in an easily readable and accessible format. The blog itself serves as a way to reach the desired audience, as well as entice them to engage with the writing and the films being written about. This includes providing images and trailers for each respective film, to add a visual component to the writing. The final product is a unique way to engage with the content taught in the Film and Media Studies program, while simultaneously building a portfolio of writing that will be expanded upon and continued in the future.
ContributorsPolich, Brennan Taylor (Author) / Green, Michael (Thesis director) / Bernstein, Gregory (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The reconstruction of piecewise smooth functions from non-uniform Fourier data arises in sensing applications such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This thesis presents a new polynomial based resampling method (PRM) for 1-dimensional problems which uses edge information to recover the Fourier transform at its integer coefficients, thereby enabling the use of the inverse fast Fourier transform algorithm. By minimizing the error of the PRM approximation at the sampled Fourier modes, the PRM can also be used to improve on initial edge location estimates. Numerical examples show that using the PRM to improve on initial edge location estimates and then taking of the PRM approximation of the integer frequency Fourier coefficients is a viable way to reconstruct the underlying function in one dimension. In particular, the PRM is shown to converge more quickly and to be more robust than current resampling techniques used in MRI, and is particularly amenable to highly irregular sampling patterns.
ContributorsGutierrez, Alexander Jay (Author) / Platte, Rodrigo (Thesis director) / Gelb, Anne (Committee member) / Viswanathan, Adityavikram (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
The objective of the research presented here was to validate the use of kinetic models for the analysis of the dynamic behavior of a contrast agent in tumor tissue and evaluate the utility of such models in determining kinetic properties - in particular perfusion and molecular binding uptake associated with tissue hypoxia - of the imaged tissue, from concentration data acquired with dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) procedure. Data from two separate DCE-MRI experiments, performed in the past, using a standard contrast agent and a hypoxia-binding agent respectively, were analyzed. The results of the analysis demonstrated that the models used may provide novel characterization of the tumor tissue properties. Future research will work to further characterize the physical significance of the estimated parameters, particularly to provide quantitative oxygenation data for the imaged tissue.
ContributorsMartin, Jonathan Michael (Author) / Kodibagkar, Vikram (Thesis director) / Rege, Kaushal (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor)
Created2013-12