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- All Subjects: Computer Science
- Creators: Barrett, The Honors College
Description
This study asks the question: does gender-based discrimination exists within Arizona State University's Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), and if so, what are the effects of such discrimination? Within this study, discrimination is defined as: the treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs, rather than on individual merit. The researcher predicted that this study would show that gender-based discrimination operates within the masculine military culture of Army ROTC at ASU, resulting from women's hyper-visibility and evidenced by their lack of positive recognition and disbelief in having a voice in the program. These expectations were based on background research claiming that the token status of women in military roles causes them to be more heavily scrutinized, and they consequentially try to attain success by adapting to the masculine military culture by which they are constantly measured. For the purposes of this study, success is defined as: the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence . This study relies on exploratory interviews and an online survey conducted with male and female Army ROTC cadets of all grade levels at Arizona State University. The interviews and survey collected demographic information and perspectives on individual experiences to establish an understanding of privilege and marginalization within the program. These results do support the prediction that women in Army ROTC at ASU face discrimination based on their unique visibility and lack of positive recognition and voice in the program. Likewise, the survey results indicate that race also has a significant impact on one's experience in Army ROTC, which is discussed later in this study in regard to needs for future research. ASU Army ROTC includes approximately 100 cadets, and approximately 30-40 of those cadets participated in this study. Additionally, the University of Arizona and the Northern Arizona University Army ROTC programs were invited to participate in this study and declined to do so, which would have offered a greater sample population. Nonetheless, the results of this research will be useful for analysis and further discussion of gender-equality in Army ROTC at Arizona State University.
ContributorsAllemang, Lindsey Ann (Author) / Wood, Reed (Thesis director) / Switzer, Heather (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The original version of Helix, the one I pitched when first deciding to make a video game
for my thesis, is an action-platformer, with the intent of metroidvania-style progression
and an interconnected world map.
The current version of Helix is a turn based role-playing game, with the intent of roguelike
gameplay and a dark fantasy theme. We will first be exploring the challenges that came
with programming my own game - not quite from scratch, but also without a prebuilt
engine - then transition into game design and how Helix has evolved from its original form
to what we see today.
for my thesis, is an action-platformer, with the intent of metroidvania-style progression
and an interconnected world map.
The current version of Helix is a turn based role-playing game, with the intent of roguelike
gameplay and a dark fantasy theme. We will first be exploring the challenges that came
with programming my own game - not quite from scratch, but also without a prebuilt
engine - then transition into game design and how Helix has evolved from its original form
to what we see today.
ContributorsDiscipulo, Isaiah K (Author) / Meuth, Ryan (Thesis director) / Kobayashi, Yoshihiro (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
RecyclePlus is an iOS mobile application that allows users to be knowledgeable in the realms of sustainability. It gives encourages users to be environmental responsible by providing them access to recycling information. In particular, it allows users to search up certain materials and learn about its recyclability and how to properly dispose of the material. Some searches will show locations of facilities near users that collect certain materials and dispose of the materials properly. This is a full stack software project that explores open source software and APIs, UI/UX design, and iOS development.
ContributorsTran, Nikki (Author) / Ganesh, Tirupalavanam (Thesis director) / Meuth, Ryan (Committee member) / Watts College of Public Service & Community Solut (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
As the U.S. reckons with the reality of sexual assault and harassment in the wake of the #MeToo movement, it is particularly important to consider sexual assault in the military, an institution that is a massive employer and the face of the U.S. abroad. Media coverage is a catalyst for change, and the nature and scope of coverage is indicative of public and political attitudes. This thesis uses both quantitative and qualitative data to analyze characteristics of military sexual assault cases that complicate media coverage and to identify strengths and weaknesses of the media's approach to such stories. On the quantitative side, it takes advantage of nearly 600 case reports of sexual assault from U.S. military bases in Japan that were categorized to identify themes such as disposition outcomes, alcohol involvement and victim participation in investigations. Qualitatively, this thesis includes interviews with military officials, victims' advocates, journalists and other stakeholders that help to create a more holistic understanding of how media cover military sexual assault. Notably, this thesis finds that a lack of public interest in the military, a lack of congruency between military and civilian systems, and a highly complex hierarchy that limits journalists' access to military sources and data all complicate coverage. Drawing from these conclusions, it recommends that the media avoid episodic reporting, focus on personalizing stories in an institutional context, embrace accountability journalism and dedicate resources to pursuing complex investigations. It also acknowledges the important role of non-traditional media in the future of information sharing on the topic of military sexual assault.
ContributorsArmstrong, Mia Anne (Author) / Warner, Carolyn (Thesis director) / Gilger, Kristin (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
This paper details the specification and implementation of a single-machine blockchain simulator. It also includes a brief introduction on the history & underlying concepts of blockchain, with explanations on features such as decentralization, openness, trustlessness, and consensus. The introduction features a brief overview of public interest and current implementations of blockchain before stating potential use cases for blockchain simulation software. The paper then gives a brief literature review of blockchain's role, both as a disruptive technology and a foundational technology. The literature review also addresses the potential and difficulties regarding the use of blockchain in Internet of Things (IoT) networks, and also describes the limitations of blockchain in general regarding computational intensity, storage capacity, and network architecture. Next, the paper gives the specification for a generic blockchain structure, with summaries on the behaviors and purposes of transactions, blocks, nodes, miners, public & private key cryptography, signature validation, and hashing. Finally, the author gives an overview of their specific implementation of the blockchain using C/C++ and OpenSSL. The overview includes a brief description of all the classes and data structures involved in the implementation, including their function and behavior. While the implementation meets the requirements set forward in the specification, the results are more qualitative and intuitive, as time constraints did not allow for quantitative measurements of the network simulation. The paper concludes by discussing potential applications for the simulator, and the possibility for future hardware implementations of blockchain.
ContributorsRauschenbach, Timothy Rex (Author) / Vrudhula, Sarma (Thesis director) / Nakamura, Mutsumi (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
Many researchers aspire to create robotics systems that assist humans in common office tasks, especially by taking over delivery and messaging tasks. For meaningful interactions to take place, a mobile robot must be able to identify the humans it interacts with and communicate successfully with them. It must also be able to successfully navigate the office environment. While mobile robots are well suited for navigating and interacting with elements inside a deterministic office environment, attempting to interact with human beings in an office environment remains a challenge due to the limits on the amount of cost-efficient compute power onboard the robot. In this work, I propose the use of remote cloud services to offload intensive interaction tasks. I detail the interactions required in an office environment and discuss the challenges faced when implementing a human-robot interaction platform in a stochastic office environment. I also experiment with cloud services for facial recognition, speech recognition, and environment navigation and discuss my results. As part of my thesis, I have implemented a human-robot interaction system utilizing cloud APIs into a mobile robot, enabling it to navigate the office environment, identify humans within the environment, and communicate with these humans.
ContributorsDSouza, Daniel Anand (Author) / Kambhampati, Subbarao (Thesis director) / Zhang, Yu (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Lie detection is used prominently in contemporary society for many purposes such as for pre-employment screenings, granting security clearances, and determining if criminals or potential subjects may or may not be lying, but by no means is not limited to that scope. However, lie detection has been criticized for being subjective, unreliable, inaccurate, and susceptible to deliberate manipulation. Furthermore, critics also believe that the administrator of the test also influences the outcome as well. As a result, the polygraph machine, the contemporary device used for lie detection, has come under scrutiny when used as evidence in the courts. The purpose of this study is to use three entirely different tools and concepts to determine whether eye tracking systems, electroencephalogram (EEG), and Facial Expression Emotion Analysis (FACET) are reliable tools for lie detection. This study found that certain constructs such as where the left eye is looking at in regard to its usual position and engagement levels in eye tracking and EEG respectively could distinguish between truths and lies. However, the FACET proved the most reliable tool out of the three by providing not just one distinguishing variable but seven, all related to emotions derived from movements in the facial muscles during the present study. The emotions associated with the FACET that were documented to possess the ability to distinguish between truthful and lying responses were joy, anger, fear, confusion, and frustration. In addition, an overall measure of the subject's neutral and positive emotional expression were found to be distinctive factors. The implications of this study and future directions are discussed.
ContributorsSeto, Raymond Hua (Author) / Atkinson, Robert (Thesis director) / Runger, George (Committee member) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Global violent conflict has become an increasing problem in recent decades, especially in the African continent. Civil wars, terrorism, riots, and political violence has wrought havoc not only on civilian lives, but also on economic foundations. Trade networks are a way to measure these economic foundations. To summarize trade networks clustering coefficient as well as trade quantity/value summation measures are used. To understand effects of global trade on violent conflict, Pearson product-moment correlations are utilized. This work details a comparison of African national economies and violent conflict events using clustering coefficient, trade summation measures and Pearson correlation coefficient.
ContributorsKadambi, Sagarika Sanjay (Author) / Maciejewski, Ross (Thesis director) / Shutters, Shade (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
It goes without saying that marriage, and the concept of two people staying together for the rest of their lives, is not easy. In today's society, divorce is something that is becoming more and more prominent among people. However, despite the divorce phenomenon there are still success stories of couples who last and manage to stick together despite the odds. It is difficult to measure the "successfulness" of any marriage due to the fact that so many different elements comprise them. However, there are endless assessments available to be used as tools for attempting measurement of success. A majority of them are related to measuring relationship quality in terms of individual satisfaction by focusing on each individual's happiness within the relationship. Obviously, every marriage is different and there are many things that can impact a couple's' likeliness to stay together such as the general circumstances surrounding their union and each partner's willingness to persevere. For instance, there are a variety of different factors that influence the overall success of marriages within and surrounding the United States Military. Such as physical proximity, frequency of communication, and a mutual desire to make the relationship work. Cultivating a relationship in which one partner is a service member and one partner is a civilian is stressful for both people involved. Specifically, the intense stress couples experience associated with deployment can often cause severe problems such as depression and anxiety that may lead to divorce or mental health problems later on down the road. Stressors specifically related to the deployment cycle can contribute to depression among both service members and their spouses. Most of these families face unique stressors through the course of military service and deployments, including frequent relocations and recon�gurations of the family system, ambiguous loss and fear for a loved one's safety, and high levels of stress and/or dysfunction among family members (Flake, Davis, Johnson, & Middleton, 2009; Huebner, Mancini, Wilcox, Grass, & Grass, 2007) Separation , unpredictable duty hours, and single parenting (parenting while the veteran is away either being deployed or on training courses) are just a few of the stressors that face partners of veterans on a regular basis (Padden, Connors & Agazio, 2011). Dr. John Gottman, the executive director of the Relationship Research Institute. has conducted extensive research regarding marital stability and divorce prediction on thousands of couples over the last forty years of his career. Using video cameras, heart monitors, and other biofeedback equipment, he and his colleagues have screened interviewed and tracked what couples experience during moments of conflict and closeness. Over the span of the last forty years, Dr. Gottman has created a theory he calls "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse". In the New Testament, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are a metaphor marking the beginning of end times. Dr. Gottman's Four Horsemen on the other hand, are a metaphor marking the beginning of the demise of a marriage. The horsemen include criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stonewalling. They are communication styles among couples that Dr. Gottman says can predict the end of a relationship. This notion holds true especially in the implication of military relationships. Focusing on the predictors of divorce, and inspecting the elements of these relationships in which the military is a condition of the union, discoveries can be made as to what makes these military relationships more difficult. An examination through the lens of Dr. Gottman's horsemen of the circumstances surrounding these unions in which deployment physically separates the two partners demonstrates how deployment in and of itself can cause couples to encompass each of the horsemen and eventually push them towards divorce. Throughout the course of this paper, the different elements that embody each of the four horsemen will be examined and analyzed as they pertain to the deployment process. Upon completion of the examination of these different factors, it can be suggested that deployment in its nature becomes the harbinger of the apocalypse. By encompassing all the different aspects of the first four original horsemen, and pushing military couples towards the behaviors that lead in the direction of divorce, deployment in and of itself can be thought of as predecessor, or harbinger of the apocalypse.
ContributorsSerdy, Taylor B (Author) / Martin, Thomas (Thesis director) / Mowzoon, Nura (Committee member) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
This paper presents work that was done to create a system capable of facial expression recognition (FER) using deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and test multiple configurations and methods. CNNs are able to extract powerful information about an image using multiple layers of generic feature detectors. The extracted information can be used to understand the image better through recognizing different features present within the image. Deep CNNs, however, require training sets that can be larger than a million pictures in order to fine tune their feature detectors. For the case of facial expression datasets, none of these large datasets are available. Due to this limited availability of data required to train a new CNN, the idea of using naïve domain adaptation is explored. Instead of creating and using a new CNN trained specifically to extract features related to FER, a previously trained CNN originally trained for another computer vision task is used. Work for this research involved creating a system that can run a CNN, can extract feature vectors from the CNN, and can classify these extracted features. Once this system was built, different aspects of the system were tested and tuned. These aspects include the pre-trained CNN that was used, the layer from which features were extracted, normalization used on input images, and training data for the classifier. Once properly tuned, the created system returned results more accurate than previous attempts on facial expression recognition. Based on these positive results, naïve domain adaptation is shown to successfully leverage advantages of deep CNNs for facial expression recognition.
ContributorsEusebio, Jose Miguel Ang (Author) / Panchanathan, Sethuraman (Thesis director) / McDaniel, Troy (Committee member) / Venkateswara, Hemanth (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05