Matching Items (147)
Description
The Performance Based Studies Research Group (PBSRG) has developed industry-tested leadership and management techniques that have been proven to increase organizational performance. The Leadership Society of Arizona (LSA) has worked closely with PBSRG to develop an educational framework that introduces these leadership concepts to college students. LSA is now endeavoring to make this curriculum more accessible for K-12 students and educators. As part of a thesis creative project, the author has developed a strategy to connect with and enable local high schools, teachers, and students to engage with the professional industry and higher education. This strategy will allow LSA to connect with up to 150 high school students over the summer of 2016. By making this education easily accessible, the author has accomplished a milestone in the larger effort encompassed by LSA. The course chosen to present to high school students is an abridged variation of the Barrett Honors College course "Deductive Logic: Leadership and Management Techniques". The class framework is designed to instantiate a self-sustaining program for future summer school courses. The summer school course will allow high school students to learn, understand, and apply college level concepts into their education, work, and personal lives. The development of the framework for the program encompasses networking/partnering efforts, marketing package creation, and the delivery of the summer school course over the months of June and July in 2016.
ContributorsDunn, Melissa Anne (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Industrial, Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Currently, treatment for multiple myeloma (MM), a hematological cancer, is limited to post-symptomatic chemotherapy combined with other pharmaceuticals and steroids. Even so, the immuno-depressing cancer can continue to proliferate, leading to a median survival period of two to five years. B cells in the bone marrow are responsible for generating antigen-specific antibodies, but in MM the B cells express mutated, non-specific monoclonal antibodies. Therefore, it is hypothesized that antibody-based assay and therapy may be feasible for detecting and treating the disease. In this project, 330k peptide microarrays were used to ascertain the binding affinity of sera antibodies for MM patients with random sequence peptides; these results were then contrasted with normal donor assays to determine the "immunosignatures" for MM. From this data, high-binding peptides with target-specificity (high fluorescent intensity for one patient, low in all other patients and normal donors) were selected for two MM patients. These peptides were narrowed down to two lists of five (10 total peptides) to analyze in a synthetic antibody study. The rationale behind this originates from the idea that antibodies present specific binding sites on either of their branches, thus relating high binding peptides from the arrays to potential binding targets of the monoclonal antibodies. Furthermore, these peptides may be synthesized on a synthetic antibody scaffold with the potential to induce targeted delivery of radioactive or chemotherapeutic molecular tags to only myelomic B cells. If successful, this would provide a novel alternative to current treatments that is less invasive, has fewer side effects, more specifically targets the cause of MM, and reliably diagnoses the cancer in the presymptomatic stage.
ContributorsBerry, Jameson (Co-author) / Buelt, Allison (Co-author) / Johnston, Stephen (Thesis director) / Diehnelt, Chris (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Socks + Boxers began as a simple idea on a trip through Victoria's Secret as a solution to the lack of choice in quality and affordable undergarments for men. Currently, there is no central hub for men's socks and underwear. Customers shopping for men's undergarments have few choices currently: purchase an inexpensive, average quality, predetermined pack of Hanes, Fruit of the Loom, or other common undergarment brand from a store like Walmart or Target; shop for individual pieces of expensive designer underwear at a high-end department store such as Nordstrom; or, finally, purchase slightly above average quality, but fairly expensive, brand name undergarments at physical stores such as American Eagle, Urban Outfitters, or Abercrombie & Fitch, or online stores such as MeUndies. Socks + Boxers seeks to combine the accessibility and reliability of common undergarment brands, the quality and luxury-feel of high-end undergarments, and the concept of choice provided by stores that sell men's undergarment lines into a single business. We also plan to tap into the booming subscription services industry and create a way for customers to easily update and replenish their undergarment wardrobe on a regular basis with exactly what they want. In order to start out on the right foot and begin developing this business plan from the ground up, we began researching and developing a Business Model Canvas, a tool that breaks out necessary pieces of a successful business plan into easy to understand blocks. We took a critical look at the problem at hand, its potential solutions, the value the solutions provide, how we plan to start, grow, and nourish our customer base, and much more. The different pieces of this business model puzzle all come together in the following pages.
ContributorsBernat, Johnathon (Co-author) / Braaten, Joshua (Co-author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
With the help of some Information Measurement Theory (IMT), Kashiwagi Solutions Model (KSM), and deductive logic background, supply chain managers can start utilizing a new way to effectively and efficiently negotiate contracts. Developed by Dr. Dean Kashiwagi, the Best Value Approach has been 98% successful with over 1,800 projects for the past 20 years. The process gives vendors/suppliers the power to use their expertise. In return for not having to follow the rules set by the client/buyer, the vendor must show documentation and plans of risk management, value added processes, and metrics.
ContributorsPhan, Alice (Co-author) / Holtzman, Krista (Co-author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Since 1994, the Performance Based Studies Research Group at Arizona State University has utilized an approach to industry called Best Value (BV). Since its origin, this approach has been used in 1860 tests creating $6.4 billion dollars of projects and services delivered, at a customer satisfaction rating of 95%. Best Value (BV) is rooted in simplicity, and seeks to help organizations hire experts, plan ahead, minimize risk, optimize resources, and optimize resources. This is accomplished largely through the use of a tool the PBSRG calls the Kashiwagi Solution Model (KSM). Kashiwagi Solution Models can be used across every industry from construction to Wall Street to help achieve sustainable success in what is perhaps the most efficient and effective manner available today. Using Best Value (BV) and the Kashiwagi Solution Model (KSM), the author identified groups on Wall Street and throughout the world who deal in a unique entity called "Over-The-Counter (OTC) Derivatives". More specifically, this paper focuses on the current status and ramifications of derivative contracts that two parties enter with the sole intention of speculating. KSMs are used in Information Measurement Theory, which seeks to take seemingly complex subjects and simplify them into terms that everyone can understand. This document uses Information Measurement Theory to explain what OTC derivatives are in the simplest possible way, so that little prior knowledge of finance is required to understand the material. Through research and observation, KSMs can be used to identify the characteristics of groups who deal in OTC derivatives, which contributed to the financial crisis in 2008 and have grown in size and complexity. This document uses dominant information in order to see the potential problems within the OTC derivatives market from 30,000 feet, and offer solutions to those problems. Keywords: simplicity, best value approach, identify characteristics, dominant information
ContributorsBills, Andrew Marius (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Rivera, Alfredo (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The Experimental Data Processing (EDP) software is a C++ GUI-based application to streamline the process of creating a model for structural systems based on experimental data. EDP is designed to process raw data, filter the data for noise and outliers, create a fitted model to describe that data, complete a probabilistic analysis to describe the variation between replicates of the experimental process, and analyze reliability of a structural system based on that model. In order to help design the EDP software to perform the full analysis, the probabilistic and regression modeling aspects of this analysis have been explored. The focus has been on creating and analyzing probabilistic models for the data, adding multivariate and nonparametric fits to raw data, and developing computational techniques that allow for these methods to be properly implemented within EDP. For creating a probabilistic model of replicate data, the normal, lognormal, gamma, Weibull, and generalized exponential distributions have been explored. Goodness-of-fit tests, including the chi-squared, Anderson-Darling, and Kolmogorov-Smirnoff tests, have been used in order to analyze the effectiveness of any of these probabilistic models in describing the variation of parameters between replicates of an experimental test. An example using Young's modulus data for a Kevlar-49 Swath stress-strain test was used in order to demonstrate how this analysis is performed within EDP. In order to implement the distributions, numerical solutions for the gamma, beta, and hypergeometric functions were implemented, along with an arbitrary precision library to store numbers that exceed the maximum size of double-precision floating point digits. To create a multivariate fit, the multilinear solution was created as the simplest solution to the multivariate regression problem. This solution was then extended to solve nonlinear problems that can be linearized into multiple separable terms. These problems were solved analytically with the closed-form solution for the multilinear regression, and then by using a QR decomposition to solve numerically while avoiding numerical instabilities associated with matrix inversion. For nonparametric regression, or smoothing, the loess method was developed as a robust technique for filtering noise while maintaining the general structure of the data points. The loess solution was created by addressing concerns associated with simpler smoothing methods, including the running mean, running line, and kernel smoothing techniques, and combining the ability of each of these methods to resolve those issues. The loess smoothing method involves weighting each point in a partition of the data set, and then adding either a line or a polynomial fit within that partition. Both linear and quadratic methods were applied to a carbon fiber compression test, showing that the quadratic model was more accurate but the linear model had a shape that was more effective for analyzing the experimental data. Finally, the EDP program itself was explored to consider its current functionalities for processing data, as described by shear tests on carbon fiber data, and the future functionalities to be developed. The probabilistic and raw data processing capabilities were demonstrated within EDP, and the multivariate and loess analysis was demonstrated using R. As the functionality and relevant considerations for these methods have been developed, the immediate goal is to finish implementing and integrating these additional features into a version of EDP that performs a full streamlined structural analysis on experimental data.
ContributorsMarkov, Elan Richard (Author) / Rajan, Subramaniam (Thesis director) / Khaled, Bilal (Committee member) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Since its inception in the early 1990s, the concept of gene vaccines, particularly DNA vaccines, has enticed researchers across the board due to its simple design, flexible modification, and overall inexpensive cost of manufacturing. However, the past three decades have proven to be less fruitful than anticipated as scientists have yet to tackle the issue of inducing a strong enough response in humans and non-human primates to protect against foreign pathogens, an issue that has since been coined as the “simian barrier.” This appears to be a human/primate barrier as protective vaccines have been produced for other mammals. Despite millions of dollars in research along with some of the world’s brightest minds chipping in to resolve this, there has yet to be any truly viable solution to overcoming this barrier. With current research illustrating effective applications of RNA vaccines in humans, these studies may be uncovering the solution to the largely unsolved simian barrier dilemma. If vaccines using RNA, the transcribed version of DNA, are effective in humans, the problem may be inefficient transcription of the DNA. This may be attributable to a DNA promoter that has insufficient activity in primates. Additionally, with DNA vaccines being even cheaper and easier to manufacture than RNA vaccines, along with having no required cold chain for distribution, this concept remains more promising than RNA vaccines that are further along in clinical trials.
ContributorsWillis, Joshua Aaron (Author) / Johnston, Stephen (Thesis director) / Sykes, Kathryn (Committee member) / Shen, Luhui (Committee member) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-12