Matching Items (8)
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- All Subjects: Science
- Creators: School of Molecular Sciences
- Creators: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Resource Type: Text
DescriptionThis project is designed to generate enthusiasm for science among refugee students in hopes of inspiring them to continue learning science as well as to help them with their current understanding of their school science subject matter.
ContributorsSipes, Shannon Paige (Author) / O'Flaherty, Katherine (Thesis director) / Gregg, George (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
Joseph Rotblat (1908-2005) was the only physicist to leave the Manhattan Project for moral reasons before its completion. He would spend the rest of his life advocating for nuclear disarmament. His activities for disarmament resulted in the formation, in 1957, of the Pugwash conferences, which emerged as the leading global forum to advance limits on nuclear weapons during the Cold War. Rotblat's efforts, and the activities of Pugwash, resulted in both being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995. Rotblat is a central figure in the global history of resistance to the spread of nuclear weapons. He also was an important figure in the emergence, after World War II, of a counter-movement to introduce new social justifications for scientific research and new models for ethics and professionalism among scientists. Rotblat embodies the power of the individual scientist to say "no" and thus, at least individually, put limits of conscience on his or her scientific activity. This paper explores the political and ethical choices scientists make as part of their effort to behave responsibly and to influence the outcomes of their work. By analyzing three phases of Rotblat's life, I demonstrate how he pursued his ideal of beneficial science, or science that appears to benefit humanity. The three phases are: (1) his decision to leave the Manhattan Project in 1944, (2) his role in the creation of Pugwash in 1957 and his role in the rise of the organization into international prominence and (3) his winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995. These three phases of Rotblat's life provide a singular window of the history of nuclear weapons and the international movement for scientific responsibility in the 50 years since the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. While this paper does not provide a complete picture of Rotblat's life and times, I argue that his experiences shed important light on the difficult question of the individual responsibility of scientists.
ContributorsEvans, Alison Dawn (Author) / Zachary, Gregg (Thesis director) / Hurlbut, Ben (Committee member) / Francis, Sybil (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is a prevalent genetic disease in Africa, and specifically in Kenya. The lack of available relevant disease education and screening mean that most don't understand the importance of getting testing and many children die before they can get prophylactic care. This project was designed to address the lack of knowledge with supplemental educational materials to be partnered with an engineering capstone project that provides a low cost diagnostic test.
ContributorsShawver, Jamie Christine (Author) / Caplan, Michael (Thesis director) / Snyder, Jan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
This study sought to identify traits that act as possible predictors of academic science proficiency of highly gifted adolescent students. A combination of cognitive, personality, and conative traits were selected for evaluation as predictors of scientific proficiency using student General Ability Index (GAI), Revised NEO Personality Index (NEO-PI R), and Kolbe Index scores to evaluate each, respectively. Statistical correlational analyses revealed that high expressions of the conative trait Fact Finder and the personality traits Ideas and Straight-forwardness predicted higher degrees of academic science proficiency. In contrast, lower expressions of the personality traits Excitement Seeking and Order predicted higher degrees of scientific proficiency. Further, stepwise regression confirmed that the NEO-PI R facets of Excitement Seeking and Ideas traits were significant predictors of science proficiency and suggested that the personality trait Vulnerability may also be a predictor. The repeated appearance of the Excitement Seeking and Ideas facets and the dependence of the other identified traits suggests that these traits were the most promising possible predictors of scientific proficiency in highly gifted students and should be the target of future research.
ContributorsRoss, Christian Hamilton (Author) / Lansdowne, Kimberly (Thesis director) / Oakes, Wendy (Committee member) / Young, Michael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Integrin is a protein in cells that manage cell adhesion. They are crucial to the biochemical functions of cells. L 2 is one type of integrin. Its I domain is responsible for ligand binding. Scientists understand how Alpha L I domain binds Mg2+ at a pH of 7 but not in acidic environments. Knowing the specificity of integrin at a lower pH is important because when tissues become inflamed, they release acidic compounds. We have cloned, expressed, and purified L I-domain and using NMR analysis, we determined that wild type Alpha L I domain does not bind to Mg2+ at a pH of 5.
ContributorsALAM, RAHAT (Author) / Wang, Xu (Thesis director) / Podolnikova, Nataly (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Both technological and scientific fields continue to revolutionize in a similar fashion; however, a major difference is that high-tech corporations have found models to continue progressions while still keeping product costs low. The main objective was to identify which, if any, components of certain technological models could be used with the vaccine and pharmaceutical markets to significantly lower their costs. Smartphones and computers were the two main items investigated while the two main items from the scientific standpoint were vaccines and pharmaceuticals. One concept had the ability to conceivably decrease the costs of vaccines and drugs and that was "market competition". If the United States were able to allow competition within the vaccine and drug companies, it would allow for the product prices to be best affected. It would only take a few small companies to generate generic versions of the drugs and decrease the prices. It would force the larger competition to most likely decrease their prices. Furthermore, the PC companies use a cumulative density function (CDF) to effectively divide their price setting in each product cycle. It was predicted that if this CDF model were applied to the vaccine and drug markets, the prices would no longer have to be extreme. The corporations would be able to set the highest price for the wealthiest consumers and then slowly begin to decrease the costs for the middle and lower class. Unfortunately, the problem within the vaccine and pharmaceutical markets was not the lack of innovation or business models. The problem lied with their liberty to choose product costs due to poor U.S. government regulations.
ContributorsCalderon, Gerardo (Author) / Johnston, Stephen (Thesis director) / Diehnelt, Chris (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
In vitro fertilization, or IVF, is currently a worldwide medical procedure designed to give infertile men and women the ability to have children of their own. An IVF procedure takes place outside of a woman’s body, often in a laboratory setting. However, before scientists used the procedure on humans, they initially performed IVF on animals for selective breeding and agricultural purposes. After scientists realized that the procedure had potential to become a treatment option for infertility, they expanded their research subjects to include using the technique on humans. During the procedure’s initial development, scientists began to conduct numerous IVF trials on humans that often ended in early miscarriages. This thesis shows us the history of how some of the first attempts at IVF in humans using various options such as donated egg cells and cryopreserved embryos, often ended in early miscarriages. At that time, most members of the scientific community and general public responded to those trials by regarding them as insignificant. In 1998, the success rate of women under the age of 38 having children with the use of IVF was 22.1%. Over time, scientists began to acknowledge those published findings that detailed various “failed” human IVF experiments. Scientists learned to use them as a guide for what to do differently in future IVF experiments. Because of that, scientists have since developed more effective IVF methods which have ultimately improved the procedure’s success rate. In 2016, the success rate of IVF had increased to 39.6% for women. Therefore, what we might initially think of as a “failure” is in reality not a failure at all, but rather is a “purported failure” because we can use it as a stepping-stone towards an end goal. By looking at the history of IVF research, my thesis illustrates how some of the most important science comes from acknowledging the purported failures along with the triumphant successes.
ContributorsTuoti, Whitney (Author) / Maienschein, Jane (Thesis director) / Abboud, Carolina (Committee member) / Fitzpatrick, Susan (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
STEAMtank is a project beneath that falls under the umbrella of InnovationSpace, an initiative of the Design School at Arizona State University. STEAMtank is the product of the product of the honors thesis of Abigail Peters, who envisioned a K-8 STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) museum that was hosted on campus at ASU and was free to the community to promote STEAM education for underrepresented communities. STEAMtank is now in its second iteration, with six teams creating six attractions for the museum. Alongside these projects, presented here is a concept design for a museum exhibit focused entirely around chemistry, a particular branch of science that is lacking from all K-8 focused STEAM exhibits in Phoenix.
ContributorsFarrington, Logan (Author) / Hedges, Craig (Thesis director) / Reeves, James (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor)
Created2022-05