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- Creators: Barrett, The Honors College
- Creators: Debussy, Claude, 1862-1918
Description
Research indicates that over 7.7% of adults who seek medical care every year at a hospital report a delay in receiving care, having difficulty receiving care, or being unable to receive care due to long waiting times (Kennedy et al. 2004). This continue to stir the need for researchers to explore ways to extend healthcare services in minimal waiting times. This thesis research utilizes Arena, a discrete event simulation software, to analyze waiting times in a typical hospital setting. It goes on to explore the impact of cross training of hospital personnel in meeting the critical needs of patients while minimizing waiting times. Simulation output data were analyzed, and cross training was found to have significant impact on reducing waiting time when: intake of patients is higher than current (original) arrival rate, intake of appointment patients is highest, or intake of emergency patience is highest of the three patient categories.
ContributorsBusisi, Jeanbat (Author) / Theodore, Pavlic (Thesis director) / Feng, Ju (Committee member) / Industrial, Systems & Operations Engineering Prgm (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
While some stress during pregnancy is normal, continuous stress during pregnancy could have negative lasting impacts on a child’s health. The type of stress that is harmful during pregnancy is “the kind that doesn’t let up” (Watson). This type of stress is chronic and is more intense than the normal stresses of everyday life. Researchers have shown that when fetuses are continuously exposed to such levels of stress, their bodies react in unhealthy ways. Given all the data showing that varying stressors experienced by pregnant women negatively affect their children’s postnatal health and development, it is important to identify the specific impacts of these stressors in order to understand how they affect the health of children.
By conducting a literature review, I have found a number of studies reporting links between a pregnant woman’s stress and the development of health issues in her child. For example, researchers of one study found that infants born to women who were depressed during pregnancy had early brain development issues and difficulty regulating emotions and stress (Hayes, et. al). In another study, researchers observed a positive association between maternal anxiety during pregnancy and asthma in offspring (Cookson, et. al). Such findings indicate the significance of the prenatal period in healthy child development. However, while we may suspect that there are some negative outcomes for children born to chronically stressed women, there was interestingly a lack of information in areas where we may expect to find effects on the child. This gap in the literature indicates that we do not fully understand the effects of stress during pregnancy, and it seems that we do not know what really seems important to know about mental health during pregnancy. Thus, the results reflect that the existing knowledge in this area is lacking, making it challenging for medical specialists to understand how they may best intervene in order to promote the healthiest pregnancies and children.
By conducting a literature review, I have found a number of studies reporting links between a pregnant woman’s stress and the development of health issues in her child. For example, researchers of one study found that infants born to women who were depressed during pregnancy had early brain development issues and difficulty regulating emotions and stress (Hayes, et. al). In another study, researchers observed a positive association between maternal anxiety during pregnancy and asthma in offspring (Cookson, et. al). Such findings indicate the significance of the prenatal period in healthy child development. However, while we may suspect that there are some negative outcomes for children born to chronically stressed women, there was interestingly a lack of information in areas where we may expect to find effects on the child. This gap in the literature indicates that we do not fully understand the effects of stress during pregnancy, and it seems that we do not know what really seems important to know about mental health during pregnancy. Thus, the results reflect that the existing knowledge in this area is lacking, making it challenging for medical specialists to understand how they may best intervene in order to promote the healthiest pregnancies and children.
ContributorsKeller, Carrie Angelique (Author) / Maienschein, Jane (Thesis director) / Abboud, Carolina (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
When ants encounter liquid food, they have two options of transporting that food to their nests. The first is the social bucket method in which liquid is carried in the mandibles of the workers back to the nest. The second is trophallaxis in which liquid is imbibed and then transported inside the ant back to the nest. The liquid is then regurgitated to fellow nestmates. Ectatomma have been observed using the social bucket method of transport and were considered members of the Ponerine family. However, a new phylogeny created by Borowiec and Rabeling places Ectatomma near to Formecinae and Myrmicinae, both know for practicing trophallaxis. This seems to suggest either Ectatomma is able to utilize trophallaxis as well or that the evolutionary practice of trophallaxis is more plastic than previously believed. The ability of Ectatomma ruidum to utilize trophallaxis was examined in two experiments. The first experiment examined E. ruidum’s ability to practice worker to worker trophallaxis and the second examined E. ruidum’s ability to perform worker to larva trophallaxis. The results of both experiments indicated that E. ruidum cannot utilize trophallaxis but the larva of E. ruidum may be able to regurgitate to the workers. These results in turn seem to suggest that trophallaxis is a bit more plastic than originally thought.
ContributorsCunningham, Cassius Alexander (Author) / Pratt, Stephen (Thesis director) / Liebig, Juergen (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
The Solis Lofts Development Proposal thesis consisted of a full prospective development
within the City of Tempe. Our team conducted a vast amount of market research to determine
what sector of the market would provide the best return on investment. We organized meetings
with local brokers from Cushman & Wakefield, CBRE, JLL, and Colliers International to learn
more about the current market environment. Also, we organized meetings with local developers,
architects, and lenders. These included Merit Partners, Sunbelt Holdings, MODUS Development,
Catclar Investments, 5Visual, Butler Design Group, and Colonial Capital. Through the research
we conducted we were able to successfully determine that a multifamily development within the
City of Tempe would be a great way to enter the Commercial Real Estate Development field.
Our project consisted of the full land acquisition process, architectural site plan review, financial
analysis, and completion of the product.
within the City of Tempe. Our team conducted a vast amount of market research to determine
what sector of the market would provide the best return on investment. We organized meetings
with local brokers from Cushman & Wakefield, CBRE, JLL, and Colliers International to learn
more about the current market environment. Also, we organized meetings with local developers,
architects, and lenders. These included Merit Partners, Sunbelt Holdings, MODUS Development,
Catclar Investments, 5Visual, Butler Design Group, and Colonial Capital. Through the research
we conducted we were able to successfully determine that a multifamily development within the
City of Tempe would be a great way to enter the Commercial Real Estate Development field.
Our project consisted of the full land acquisition process, architectural site plan review, financial
analysis, and completion of the product.
ContributorsZwillinger, Mason William (Co-author) / Butura, Alex (Co-author) / Liu, Braden (Co-author) / Farnsworth, Yzaac (Co-author) / Sadusky, Brian (Thesis director) / Avrhami, Mathew (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
As urban populations increase, so does the demand for innovative transportation solutions which reduce traffic congestion, reduce pollution, and reduce inequalities by providing mobility for all kinds of people. One emerging solution is self-driving vehicles, which have been coined as a safer driving method by reducing fatalities due to driving accidents. While completely automated vehicles are still in the testing and development phase, the United Nations predict their full debut by 2030 [1]. While many resources are focusing their time on creating the technology to execute decisions such as the controls, communications, and sensing, engineers often leave ethics as an afterthought. The truth is autonomous vehicles are imperfect systems that will still experience possible crash scenarios even if all systems are working perfectly. Because of this, ethical machine learning must be considered and implemented to avoid an ethical catastrophe which could delay or completely halt future autonomous vehicle development. This paper presents an experiment for determining a more complete view of human morality and how this translates into ideal driving behaviors.
This paper analyzes responses to deviated Trolley Problem scenarios [5] in a simulated driving environment and still images from MIT’s moral machine website [8] to better understand how humans respond to various crashes. Also included is participants driving habits and personal values, however the bulk of that analysis is not included here. The results of the simulation prove that for the most part in driving scenarios, people would rather sacrifice themselves over people outside of the vehicle. The moral machine scenarios prove that self-sacrifice changes as the trend to harm one’s own vehicle was not so strong when passengers were introduced. Further defending this idea is the importance placed on Family Security over any other value.
Suggestions for implementing ethics into autonomous vehicle crashes stem from the results of this experiment but are dependent on more research and greater sample sizes. Once enough data is collected and analyzed, a moral baseline for human’s moral domain may be agreed upon, quantified, and turned into hard rules governing how self-driving cars should act in different scenarios. With these hard rules as boundary conditions, artificial intelligence should provide training and incremental learning for scenarios which cannot be determined by the rules. Finally, the neural networks which make decisions in artificial intelligence must move from their current “black box” state to something more traceable. This will allow researchers to understand why an autonomous vehicle made a certain decision and allow tweaks as needed.
This paper analyzes responses to deviated Trolley Problem scenarios [5] in a simulated driving environment and still images from MIT’s moral machine website [8] to better understand how humans respond to various crashes. Also included is participants driving habits and personal values, however the bulk of that analysis is not included here. The results of the simulation prove that for the most part in driving scenarios, people would rather sacrifice themselves over people outside of the vehicle. The moral machine scenarios prove that self-sacrifice changes as the trend to harm one’s own vehicle was not so strong when passengers were introduced. Further defending this idea is the importance placed on Family Security over any other value.
Suggestions for implementing ethics into autonomous vehicle crashes stem from the results of this experiment but are dependent on more research and greater sample sizes. Once enough data is collected and analyzed, a moral baseline for human’s moral domain may be agreed upon, quantified, and turned into hard rules governing how self-driving cars should act in different scenarios. With these hard rules as boundary conditions, artificial intelligence should provide training and incremental learning for scenarios which cannot be determined by the rules. Finally, the neural networks which make decisions in artificial intelligence must move from their current “black box” state to something more traceable. This will allow researchers to understand why an autonomous vehicle made a certain decision and allow tweaks as needed.
ContributorsBeaulieu, Natalie Nicole (Author) / Berman, Spring (Thesis director) / Cooke, Nancy (Committee member) / Watts College of Public Service & Community Solut (Contributor) / School for Engineering of Matter,Transport & Enrgy (Contributor) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
The Solis Lofts Development Proposal thesis consisted of a full prospective development within the City of Tempe. Our team conducted a vast amount of market research to determine what sector of the market would provide the best return on investment. We organized meetings with local brokers from Cushman & Wakefield, CBRE, JLL, and Colliers International to learn more about the current market environment. Also, we organized meetings with local developers, architects, and lenders. These included Merit Partners, Sunbelt Holdings, MODUS Development, Catclar Investments, 5Visual, Butler Design Group, and Colonial Capital. Through the research we conducted we were able to successfully determine that a multifamily development within the City of Tempe would be a great way to enter the Commercial Real Estate Development field. Our project consisted of the full land acquisition process, architectural site plan review, financial analysis, and completion of the product.
ContributorsFarnsworth, Yzaac (Co-author) / Liu, Braden (Co-author) / Zwillinger, Mason (Co-author) / Butura, Alex (Co-author) / Sadusky, Brian (Thesis director) / Avrhami, Mathew (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Half of the global population lives in cities, 80% of GDP is generated in cities, 70% of carbon emissions are produced in cities (Prakash 2). The actions of city-dwellers are becoming more and more important. The following paper is an exploration into how cities are coping with this responsibility- particularly how they’ve kicked the door in for the natural building movement.
This thesis reflects the importance of bottom-up change. Government regulations might help make certain solutions more affordable, but this won’t help if the market doesn’t first demand it. This is why it’s up to green builders and product developers to innovate solutions that accentuate the modern way of life.
This thesis reflects the importance of bottom-up change. Government regulations might help make certain solutions more affordable, but this won’t help if the market doesn’t first demand it. This is why it’s up to green builders and product developers to innovate solutions that accentuate the modern way of life.
ContributorsRice, Kelly (Author) / Cloutier, Scott (Thesis director) / Garshasby Moakhar, Mohsen (Committee member) / Dean, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Ninety-five employees across three market leading Mexican-based corporations were interviewed to empirically evaluate the level of leadership and teamwork found within the organizations. Employees interviewed ranged in hierarchal ranking from upper-management, middle to lower management, and bluecollar positions. Based on the interviews, employees were judged on four essential characteristics of leadership and three essential traits of teamwork. Each element was scored out of five (=1 not exhibited, =2 rarely exhibited, =3 somewhat exhibited, =4 often exhibited, =5 always exhibited) and summed to compose an overall score for each of the values. Leadership and teamwork were defined using globalized oriented standards to compare how Mexican companies would be assessed if they were to enter international competition. The paper finds that high levels of productivity exists even with deficits of leadership and teamwork are present. It concludes that the managerial strategy is successful due to the culturally accepted behaviors of the Mexican society. It proposes that as Mexico continues to become a more globalized nation, the cultural mannerism will directly contradict working philosophies common to developed nations. Additionally, it suggests that if certain cultural practices were eliminated, Mexico would experience faster assimilation into the global market sphere.
ContributorsCuellar, Daniela Norma (Author) / Roberts, Nancy (Thesis director) / Darra, Manjira (Committee member) / Choubey, Chandra (Committee member) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
A previous study identified a subset of participants who required multiple swallows to clear a single bolus (Weinhold & McKay, 2017). Presence of multiple swallows was positively correlated with orofacial myofunctional disorder (OMD), suggesting that multiple swallows might be a potential screening marker for OMD. Since bolus size was not controlled in the study, reviewers questioned whether multiple swallows might have been a consequence of larger bolus size. In 2018, Pennington and Weinhold replicated this study by using a consistent 5ml bolus and revealed a similar correlation between OMD and multiple swallows. However, the test instrument used in that study to identify OMD yielded an OMD incidence of 60%. Accordingly, a new test instrument was developed to increase specificity of scoring for future studies. The new instrument identified 30% of participants as having OMD, which is more in line with the literature. The current study replicated Weinhold & McKay (2017) by utilizing the new test instrument as well as a predetermined average sip size for each participant. Utilizing both a controlled bolus of 5ml, and a participant-specific bolus size failed to eliminate multiple swallows. Linear regression revealed no significant relationship between size of bolus and number of swallows for either study; therefore, the hypothesis that the size of the unmeasured boluses in Weinhold & McKay caused differences in number of swallows was rejected. The suggestion that multiple swallows are indicative of OMD was strengthened, prompting further investigation into the relationship between number of swallows per bolus and OMD. Ultrasound images of three stages of the oral swallow were compared for the OMD and non-OMD groups. No statistical differences were noted in tongue constriction, which did not support our hypothesis that the OMD participants would display less constriction. However, baseline tongue position of /𝑎/ for participants with OMD was significantly lower than the baseline of participants without OMD. Pertinence of these findings relative to the oral stages of the swallow are addressed, as well as implications of oral stage dysfunction in general.
ContributorsPennington, Amanda Jean (Author) / Weinhold, Juliet (Thesis director) / Gardner, Joshua (Committee member) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Prochlorococcus marinus (MED4), a genus of marine picocyanobacteria that proliferates in open oligotrophic ocean, is one of the most abundant photosynthetic microbes in the world, estimated to contribute up to 10% of the ocean’s primary production. The productivity of these microorganisms is controlled by macronutrient availability in the surface waters. The ratio of macronutrients in the ocean was defined, by Alfred Redfield, as an elemental ratio of 106C:16N:1P. However, the C:N:P ratio varies based on region, season, temperature and irradiance, as well as the composition of the primary producers. In oligotrophic gyres, these nutrient ratios are elevated from the Redfield stoichiometry, but whether this ratio exerts influence on the growth rate of the organism has not been investigated. Elemental stoichiometry of available nutrients can affect the aggregation of organic carbon and exportation of the particles to the ocean depths. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of nutrient limitation on aggregation and transparent exopolymeric particle (TEP) production which aids in aggregation. My findings suggested that nutrient limitation reduces TEP production and does not increase aggregate volume concentration. With continued warming, certain regions of the ocean will become more oligotrophic, which further decreases the nutrient supply available for Prochlorococcus. My research shows that this could lead to decreased exportation of organic carbon matter to the depths of the sea.
ContributorsRoy, Kevin Thomas (Author) / Neuer, Susanne (Thesis director) / Cadillo-Quiroz, Hinsby (Committee member) / Cruz, Bianca (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05