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- Creators: Arizona State University
- Creators: Beiner, Susan
Description
The Hohokam of central Arizona left behind evidence of a culture markedly different from and more complex than the small communities of O'odham farmers first encountered by Europeans in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries A.D. Archaeologists have worked for well over a century to document Hohokam culture history, but much about Pre-Columbian life in the Sonoran Desert remains poorly understood. In particular, the organization of the Hohokam economy in the Phoenix Basin has been an elusive and complicated subject, despite having been the focus of much previous research. This dissertation provides an assessment of several working hypotheses regarding the organization and evolution of the pottery distribution sector of the Hohokam economy. This was accomplished using an agent-based modeling methodology known as pattern-oriented modeling. The objective of the research was to first identify a variety of economic models that may explain patterns of artifact distribution in the archaeological record. Those models were abstract representations of the real-world system theoretically drawn from different sources, including microeconomics, mathematics (network/graph theory), and economic anthropology. Next, the effort was turned toward implementing those hypotheses as agent-based models, and finally assessing whether or not any of the models were consistent with Hohokam ceramic datasets. The project's pattern-oriented modeling methodology led to the discard of several hypotheses, narrowing the range of plausible models of the organization of the Hohokam economy. The results suggest that for much of the Hohokam sequence a market-based system, perhaps structured around workshop procurement and shopkeeper merchandise, provided the means of distributing pottery from specialist producers to widely distributed consumers. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the results of this project are broadly consistent with earlier researchers' interpretations that the structure of the Hohokam economy evolved through time, growing more complex throughout the Preclassic, and undergoing a major reorganization resulting in a less complicated system at the transition to the Classic Period.
ContributorsWatts, Joshua (Author) / Abbott, David R. (Thesis advisor) / Barton, C Michael (Committee member) / Van Der Leeuw, Sander (Committee member) / Janssen, Marcus (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Adolescents' clay sculpture has been researched significantly less than their drawings. I spent approximately six weeks in a ceramics class located at a high school in a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona in order to explore how gender affected subject matter preference in students' three dimensional clay sculpture. Gender studies on children's drawings reveal that males favor fantasy, violence, aggression, sports, and power, while females favor realism, domestic and social experience, physical appearance, care and concern, nature and animals. My three main research questions in this study were 1) How did gender affect subject matter in adolescents' three-dimensional clay sculpture? 2) What similarities or differences existed between females' and males' subject matter preference in sculpture and their subject matter preference in drawing? 3) Assuming that significant gender differences existed, how successful would the students be with a project that favored opposite gender themed subject matter? I found that although males and females had gender differences between subject matter in their clay sculptures, there were exceptions. In addition, the nature of clay affected this study in many ways. Teachers and students need to be well prepared for issues that arise during construction of clay sculptures so that students are able to use clay to fully express their ideas.
ContributorsMarsili, Teresa (Author) / Stokrocki, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Young, Bernard (Committee member) / Erickson, Mary (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Social media has forced us to more publicly define who we should be apart from who we are. In the age of technology, there is an increased societal pressure to hide imperfection - to keep the raw, sensitive aspects of our lives to ourselves. For my honors thesis/creative project, I chose to explore the disparities between the lives we share in person and the lives we share online. As a BFA student in Ceramics, I wanted to use the skills and techniques I've acquired throughout my years in college to visually represent my personal observations of social media use, identity in the age of technology, and the taboo of imperfection. My motivation for this project was to question, what is reality? I believe social media has led to an environment of under sharing. We share what's easy, what's happy, what's comfortable. Either that, or we focus on the negative, discounting the blessings and privilege we are so lucky to have. Positive or negative, this platform is a shallow way to communicate and understand humanity. There is always some underlying insecurity, anxiety, or tragedy behind every success or celebration. After reflecting on these insights, I continued my research by exploring aspects of different imagery, form, and function in clay. Ultimately, I decided to create a series of four interactive head sculptures. My main objectives for these sculptures were to embody issues of mental health, reference social media, and to have the viewer interact with the pieces.
ContributorsMegehee, Mary Grace (Author) / Beiner, Susan (Thesis director) / Chung, Samuel (Committee member) / School of Art (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
There is a wide intersection where animal and human lives interact or mimic each other behaviorally or biologically. A lot of the products that are part of our day-to-day were first validated by animals, and eventually found their way to us. From food to beauty products to scientific developments, animals deal with a lot behind the scenes. Some humans are cognizant of what is happening backstage, while others only see the final presentation. Either way, all of us have our opinions in support or against animal treatment. The project is heavily inspired from my experience in a neurorehabilitation lab, so the foundation is similar to the structure and function of neurons. Through this project, I am focusing on one aspect of this debate, which is animal testing in the scietific setting. The goal of the project is not to force the viewer to choose one side, but to understand the big picture and the reasoning of the opposing side.
ContributorsSharma, Bhavya (Author) / Beiner, Susan (Thesis director) / Roberson, Robert (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
Achieving a viable process for advanced manufacturing of ceramics and metal-ceramic composites is a sought-after goal in a wide range of fields including electronics and sensors for harsh environments, microelectromechanical devices, energy storage materials, and structural materials, among others. In this dissertation, the processing, and manufacturing of ceramics and ceramic composites are addressed, specifically, a process for three-dimensional (3D) printing of polymer-derived ceramics (PDC), and a process for low-cost manufacturing as well as healing of metal-ceramic composites is demonstrated.Three-dimensional printing of ceramics is enabled by dispensing the preceramic polymer at the tip of a moving nozzle into a gel that can reversibly switch between fluid and solid states, and subsequently thermally cross-linking the entire printed part “at once” while still inside the same gel was demonstrated. The solid gel converts to fluid at the tip of the moving nozzle, allowing the polymer solution to be dispensed and quickly returns to a solid state to maintain the geometry of the printed polymer both during printing and the subsequent high-temperature (160 °C) cross-linking. After retrieving the cross-linked part from the gel, the green body is converted to ceramic by high-temperature pyrolysis. This scalable process opens new opportunities for low-cost and high-speed production of complex three-dimensional ceramic parts and will be widely used for high-temperature and corrosive environment applications, including electronics and sensors, microelectromechanical systems, energy, and structural applications.
Metal-ceramic composites are technologically significant as structural and functional materials and are among the most expensive materials to manufacture and repair. Hence, technologies for self-healing metal-ceramic composites are important. Here, a concept to fabricate and heal co-continuous metal-ceramic composites at room temperature were demonstrated. The composites were fabricated by infiltration of metal (here Copper) into a porous alumina preform (fabricated by freeze-casting) through electroplating; a low-temperature and low-cost process for the fabrication of such composites. Additionally, the same electroplating process was demonstrated for healing damages such as grooves and cracks in the original composite, such that the healed composite recovered its strength by more than 80%. Such technology may be expanded toward fully autonomous self-healing structures.
ContributorsMahmoudi, Mohammadreza (Author) / Minary-Jolandan, Majid (Thesis advisor) / Rajagopalan, Jagannathan (Committee member) / Cramer, Corson (Committee member) / Kang, Wonmo (Committee member) / Bhate, Dhruv (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
I propose a new approach for the analysis of social transformations within the context of colonialism. Drawing on concepts used by historical sociologists, combined with insights from historians and archaeologists, I forge a synthesis of relational mechanisms that concatenated into processes of categorical change. Within the social sciences, mechanisms are formally defined as specific classes of events or social interactions that are causally linked and tend to repeat under specific conditions, potentially resulting in widespread social transformations. Examples of mechanisms include formal inscription through spatial segregation and adjustments in individual position through socioeconomic mobility.
For New Spain, historians have identified at least three macroscale shifts in the social structure of the viceroyalty. I examine the mechanisms that led to these changes in two distinct contexts. The Port of Veracruz (Mexico), located along the main axis of colonial exchange, offers a shifting baseline for comparison of the long-term trajectory of colonial interaction and categorical change. I undertake a finer grain study at the borderland presidios of Northwest Florida, where three presidios were sequentially occupied (AD 1698-1763) and historically linked to Veracruz through formal recruitment and governmental supply.
My analysis draws on two independent lines of evidence. Historically, I examine census records, maps, and other colonial documents. Archaeologically, I assess change in interaction mainly through technological style analysis, compositional characterization, and the distribution of low visibility plain and lead-glazed utilitarian wares. I document the active expression of social categories through changing consumption of highly visible serving vessels.
This study demonstrates that colonial transformations were driven locally from the bottom up and through the top-down responses of local and imperial elites who attempted to maintain control over labor and resources. Social changes in Florida and Veracruz were distinct based upon initial conditions and historical contingencies, yet simultaneously were influenced by and contributed to broad trajectories of macroscale colonial transformations.
For New Spain, historians have identified at least three macroscale shifts in the social structure of the viceroyalty. I examine the mechanisms that led to these changes in two distinct contexts. The Port of Veracruz (Mexico), located along the main axis of colonial exchange, offers a shifting baseline for comparison of the long-term trajectory of colonial interaction and categorical change. I undertake a finer grain study at the borderland presidios of Northwest Florida, where three presidios were sequentially occupied (AD 1698-1763) and historically linked to Veracruz through formal recruitment and governmental supply.
My analysis draws on two independent lines of evidence. Historically, I examine census records, maps, and other colonial documents. Archaeologically, I assess change in interaction mainly through technological style analysis, compositional characterization, and the distribution of low visibility plain and lead-glazed utilitarian wares. I document the active expression of social categories through changing consumption of highly visible serving vessels.
This study demonstrates that colonial transformations were driven locally from the bottom up and through the top-down responses of local and imperial elites who attempted to maintain control over labor and resources. Social changes in Florida and Veracruz were distinct based upon initial conditions and historical contingencies, yet simultaneously were influenced by and contributed to broad trajectories of macroscale colonial transformations.
ContributorsEschbach, Krista (Author) / Stark, Barbara L. (Thesis advisor) / Smith, Michael E. (Thesis advisor) / Alexander, Rani T (Committee member) / Worth, John E. (Committee member) / Bearat, Hamdallah (Committee member) / Peeples, Matthew A. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
“Tell It to the Frogs: Fukushima’s nuclear disaster and its impact on the Japanese Tree Frog” is a representation of the work from Giraudeau et. al’s “Carotenoid distribution in wild Japanese tree frogs (Hyla japonica) exposed to ionizing radiation in Fukushima.” This paper looked to see if carotenoid levels in the tree frog’s vocal sac, liver, and blood were affected by radiation from Fukushima’s power plant explosion. Without carotenoids, the pigment that gives the frogs their orange color on their necks, their courtship practices would be impacted and would not be as able to show off their fitness to potential mates. The artwork inspired by this research displayed the tree frog’s degradation over time due to radiation, starting with normal life and ending with their death and open on the table. The sculptures also pinpoint where the carotenoids were being measured with a brilliant orange glaze. Through ceramic hand building, the artist created larger than life frogs in hopes to elicit curiosity about them and their plight. While the paper did not conclude any changes in the frog’s physiology after 18 months of exposure, there are still questions that are left unanswered. Why did these frogs not have any reaction? Could there be any effects after more time has passed? Is radiation leakage as big of a problem as previously thought? The only way to get the answers to these questions is to be aware of these amphibians, the circumstances that led them to be involved, and continued research on them and radiation.
ContributorsWesterfield, Savannah (Author) / Beiner, Susan (Thesis director) / McGraw, Kevin (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Art (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Experimentation with glaze materials resulted in 2 functional and interesting base glazes with multiple color variants each. A semi-matte stoneware glaze was created, however after being unable to replicate a specific coloring without drying out the glaze, it was discovered that using this glaze to spray over specific studio glazes produced a more pleasant color effect than the glaze by itself. A glossy clear glaze was created. The glaze crazed minimally, and color variants were created with the rare earth metals erbium, praseodymium, and neodymium, resulting in celadon-like glazes that were pink, green, and bluish purple respectively. Finally, A semi-matte stoneware glaze with high spodumene content was created with two specific color variations
ContributorsVilen, Zachary Kwochka (Author) / Beiner, Susan (Thesis director) / Steimle, Timothy (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
ABSTRACT Art educators use a variety of teaching and demonstration methods to convey information to students. With the emergence of digital technology, the standard methods of demonstration are changing. Art demonstrations are now being recorded and shared via the internet through video sharing websites such as YouTube. Little research has been conducted on the effectiveness of video demonstration versus the standard teacher-centered demonstration. This study focused on two different demonstration methods for the same clay sculpture project, with two separate groups of students. The control group received regular teacher-centered demonstration for instruction. The experimental group received a series of YouTube videos for demonstration. Quantitative data include scores of clay sculptures using a four-point scale in three separate categories based on construction abilities. Qualitative data include responses to pre and post-questionnaires along with classroom observations. The data is analyzed to look at the difference, if any, between YouTube instruction and regular teacher-centered instruction on middle school students' ceramic construction abilities. Findings suggest that while the YouTube video method of demonstration appeared to have a slightly greater effect on student construction abilities. Although, both instruction methods proved to be beneficial.
ContributorsLee, Allison (Author) / Erickson, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Young, Bernard (Committee member) / Stokrocki, Mary (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
This work systematically investigates structure-stability relations in various polymer derived ceramic (PDC) systems and metal organic frameworks (MOFs), both of which are hybrid materials. The investigation of silicon carbides (SiC) confirms thermodynamic stabilization of PDCs with increasing mixed bonding (Si bonded to both C, O and/or N). The study of more complex silicon oxycarbide (SiOC) structures shows stabilization of SiOCs with increasing pyrolysis temperature (between 1200 and1500 oC), and points to dissimilarities in the stabilizing effect of different mixed bonding environments (SiO3C, SiO2C2, or SiOC3) and their relative amounts. Analyses of quaternary silicon oxycarbonitride (SiC(N)(O)) materials suggests increased stabilization with increasing N content, and superior stabilization due to SiNxC4-x compared to SiOxC4-x mixed bonds. Investigation of the energetics of metal filler (Nb, Hf, Ta) incorporation in SiOCs shows that choice of metal filler influences the composition, structural evolution, and thermodynamic stability in PDCs. Ta fillers can stabilize otherwise unstable SiO3C mixed bonds. Independent of metal incorporation or lack thereof, in SiOC systems, higher pyrolysis temperature (1200-1500 oC) forms more stable ceramics. The stabilizing effect of order/disorder of the free carbon phase is system-dependent. The work on (MOFs) highlights stabilization trends obtained from the investigation of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) and boron imidazolate frameworks (BIFs) based on azolate linkers. Study of the energetics of metal (Co(II), Cu (II), and Zn (II) ) substitution in isostructural ZIFs shows that in MOFs the stabilizing effect of metal is dependent on both framework topology (diamondoid (dia) > sodalite (SOD)) and dimensionality (2D > 3D). Thermodynamic analyses of metal substitution (Ag(I), Cu(I), and Li (I)) in isostructural ii SOD and dia BIF systems confirm increase in density as a general descriptor for increased stabilization in MOFs. The study of energetics of guest-host interactions during CO2 incorporation in azolate frameworks (i.e., ZIF-8) shows strong dependence of energetics of adsorption on choice of linker and metal. Additionally, several energetically favorable reaction pathways for the formation of CO3-ZIF-8 have been identified. Both PDCs and MOFs show a complex energetic landscape, with identifiable system dependent and general structural descriptors for increased thermodynamic stabilization and tunability of the energetics of guest-host interactions.
ContributorsLeonel, Gerson J (Author) / Navrotsky, Alexandra (Thesis advisor) / Dai, Lenore (Committee member) / Thomas, Mary (Committee member) / Singh, Gurpreet (Committee member) / Friščić, Tomislav (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023