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- Creators: Barrett, The Honors College
Description
This project offers a multi-perspective overview of why art matters in ecology. Combining the research of others with my own art and insight from within the academic system, I address the breadth of applications that art has in science education. The goal of this project is to show that creative engagement can foster a sustainable mindset, make science-learning more accessible, and encourage progress in social and environmental justice in an integrative, interdisciplinary way.
ContributorsSvitak, Lo (Author) / Barca, Lisa (Thesis director) / Chew, Matthew (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
As patients sustain injuries that hinder their independence, occupational therapists help them regain their independence by improving overall health and happiness. However, it is common for patients to face issues throughout their rehabilitation experiences. In this thesis, I interviewed Caroline Jasper, a pediatric occupational therapist, and Colette Brogan, an adult occupational therapist. Questions included common patient barriers, potential solutions, and advice to provide insight into their respective populations.
ContributorsLowenthal, Rachel (Author) / Kingsbury, Jeffrey (Thesis director) / Miossi, Lindsey (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
This world promises just one thing: continuous change. As humanity has moved through time much has changed in the worlds of science, mathematics, and physics. These shifts in humanity's comprehension often arrive unexpectedly, driven by education, innovation, and experimentation. Such transformative waves resemble a series of technology shocks that are known to cause significant disruptions within an industry and the economy broadly as firms permanently change the ways they produce and distribute goods and services in response to new technologies or information. The recent flurry of innovation and interest in Artificial Intelligence leads us to believe that many industries may be experiencing such a wave of change today. The healthcare industry currently employs the most workers of any other sector in the United States (outside of the government) and is made up of an unprecedented 77% of female workers making the outcomes of changes in its labor market demands particularly important. In this paper we discuss the current state of Artificial Intelligence adoption within the clinical side of healthcare, what sub sectors and occupations are most exposed, and to what extent the FDA approved AI-enabled clinical healthcare products replace or complement those tasks of existing occupations. We also interviewed a few healthcare professionals with different levels of seniority and exposure to AI-enabled products to develop a holistic understanding of current AI adoption, employee preparation, and potential labor market implications over the short and long term. We find that AI implementation within clinical healthcare settings is young in its life cycle yet fast growing. Current use cases are mostly in the earlier stages of the patient’s care journey assisting workers in various capacities in the processes of patient testing, diagnosis, care planning, and post-treatment monitoring. The tasks associated with patient interaction and care administration do not appear to be threatened by AI automation at this point in time. Additionally, approved Artificial Intelligence products for clinical use are disproportionately concentrated in the subsectors of radiology, neurology, and cardiology. Finally, our interviews revealed a concerning lack of consideration and preparation, among healthcare workers, for the potential automation of their fundamental tasks. Going forward, we believe it wise for healthcare workers to monitor the evolution of clinical AI use cases as well as the FDA approval of AI-enabled products and prepare for potential automation by continuing to learn new skills, take on additional responsibilities, and generally inject themselves into as many stages of the patient’s healthcare journey as possible to differentiate among other workers and avoid the coming wave of mass clinical automation.
ContributorsAsheim, Brody (Author) / Dolasinski, Nicholas (Co-author) / Mehta, Ari (Co-author) / McElenney, Nicholas (Co-author) / Calvo, Paula (Thesis director) / Don, Rachael (Committee member) / Medcalf, Rollin (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
In an increasingly technological world, people are spending more time inside than ever and less time outside with one another. Our goal is to create a new game that gets people off the couch and on their feet, spending quality time together. Everyone can recall a fond memory where they were outside with friends and family, and we do not want to let that disappear in today’s world.
Three Way is a student-led effort to put an innovative spin on typical lawn games seen at tailgates and backyard barbecues, such as Cornhole and KanJam. Our mission is to bring new life to classic American tailgate games and provide outdoor fun to students and families alike for decades to come.
The tailgate game industry is one that has seen little innovation over time, as favorites like cornhole have been a dominant standout for many years. Even with this lack of new products, this industry has still consistently grown for the last 4 decades, and is projected to continue to grow over the next decade. The global cornhole market is currently $482 million and is forecasted to grow to $1.2 billion by 2033 through a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 8.6%. We believe that because of this growth, there is room for a new product in this space. We have created social media accounts on various platforms (Instagram, X) to reach as wide of an audience as possible, along with creating a website and are in the process of designing merchandise to build excitement around our game. The success of our marketing will be dependent on the amount of views we can create.
Our group brings diverse backgrounds to the table with our experience including sports management, marketing, finance, computer information systems, and data analytics. Collectively, we have played a variety of sports in our lives, most notably football, basketball, baseball, golf, and hockey, and are very passionate about sports in general. We believe our extensive experience in sports gives us an advantage over competitors in the industry.
We have developed a prototype that we have utilized at tabling events to obtain consumer feedback. Our goal is to refine our current design until we are satisfied with it prior to releasing it to the public for sale, so profit is currently not our main goal. We have surveyed students before and after playing our game to see the difference between their expectations and the actual game play, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
ContributorsPonteras, Preston (Author) / Botvinnik, Nicolas (Co-author) / Ilardi, Nicolas (Co-author) / Gaunt, Harrison (Co-author) / Byrne, Jared (Thesis director) / Pierce, John (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Community Resources and Development (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
As climate change accelerates worldwide, coastal communities face escalating threats, including sea level rise, saltwater intrusion, erosion, and flooding, jeopardizing their physical, economic, and cultural integrity. In the coastal community of Charlotteville, a non-profit organization called the Environmental Research Institute of Charlotteville (ERIC) is dedicated to creating a “mutually beneficial relationship between the coastal communities and ecosystems of North East Tobago”. Their work includes the training and staffing of Community-Based Field Technicians (CBFTs) - Charlotteville residents who have been trained by ERIC in their conservation work and practices and now work for the organization within their community. This research delves into the intricate relationship between cultural narratives and community resilience in Charlotteville, Tobago. Through targeted surveys of Charlotteville residents, ERIC, and CBFTs, this research explores how cultural traditions and conservation work can impact a community’s resilience to climate change. Initial findings suggest the profound significance of the sea to Charlotteville residents and potentially echo a collective desire to safeguard marine resources for future generations. Moreover, aligning conservation projects with immediate community needs and securing additional funding could potentially bolster resilience-building initiatives. The CBFTs emerge as a potentially crucial stakeholder, as survey data suggests that they facilitate communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing between ERIC and the community. By beginning to illuminate the complex relationship between cultural heritage, environmental stewardship, and community resilience, this research offers potential insights for fostering resilience in coastal communities worldwide.
ContributorsValencia Neyra, Maria (Author) / Briggs, Georgette (Thesis director) / Martin, Thomas (Committee member) / Fanovich, Lanya (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Sustainable Engineering & Built Envirnmt (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
Honors thesis project that explores and presents a trend towards an increased politicization of the U.S. Supreme Court, while also defining and providing contemporary examples of the concept of politicization. Combines various data sets, public opinion polls and case studies to support this idea. Focuses on relevant and impactful Supreme Court cases, the Court's nomination and decision-making processes, the influence of lobbying groups, and, most notably, the impacts of an increase in politicized media coverage of the Court as well. Includes discussion on the salience of this trend, its various and wide-spread ramifications, and possible reform proposals to counteract this trend.
ContributorsCroteau, Emma (Author) / Hoekstra, Valerie (Thesis director) / Simhony, Avital (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
Through personal experience, my co-founder and I know that young adults often get wrapped up in their work and can forget about the key aspects of life like friendship, mental and physical health, and going to an exciting event. These issues are particularly prevent when someone is planting roots in a new city. In order to form a solution to this daunting feeling of unfamiliarity and disconnectedness, we have created The Loop which is an app that aims to combat these problems in young adults’ lives. This app provides a platform for young adults all around their designated city to find comfort in small communities. We gather data of the user’s interests and they then are presented a wide variety of events and “loops” to join that cater to their preferences. With this app, we hope that young adults can find their home away from home and we will provide that for them by keeping them in the loop.
ContributorsCavalier, Mia (Author) / Cote, Jillian (Co-author) / Byrnes, Jared (Thesis director) / Swader, Melissa (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
My thesis is a creative writing project. I wrote the first chapter of what will be a book that is an original retelling of Beauty and the Beast. There is an analytical component, which is an essay comparing various retellings of Beauty and the Beast, in different forms, to the original fairy tale to see how the themes continue through all the different retellings.
ContributorsRindenau, Brooke (Author) / Irish, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Mack, Robert (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Comm (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
Refugees are considered to be at risk for poorer health outcomes and it becomes important to understand the barriers for these individuals and providers who work with this population. There was no literature specifically addressing the inconveniences refugee providers face in having patients continue long-term medical care. This paper qualitatively investigated barriers to continuing care by looking from the perspective of professionals who work with these populations. Through conducting interviews with professionals within Arizona working with refugees, immigrants, and asylum seekers using guiding questions, qualitative data was gathered on key areas like communication barriers, cultural competency training needs, logistical hurdles, and resource limitations.
The findings reveal that the most significant obstacles faced by providers in achieving continuity of care are related to transferring medical records and referrals, health literacy, data tracking, language interpretation barriers, and transportation limitations. The most common barriers noted were gaps in patient education and health literacy, as well as budgeting and expenditure tracking. In discussion of these barriers, solutions found to be most effective, respectively, are scheduling upcoming appointments in-office, clear after-care visit summaries, community outreach/workshops, centralized tracking documents, and better utilization of cultural health workers.
Organizations working with refugee, immigrant, and/or asylum-seeker populations should consider these insights from providers when developing strategies to improve continuity of care. Though there is still a need to expand research on provider tools to ease long-term care to refugee patient populations, this study shows preliminary evidence of effective approaches that can inform policy decisions in refugee health.
ContributorsAbdullah, Mena (Author) / DeLargy, Pamela (Thesis director) / DiVito, Brittany (Committee member) / Kenny, Katherine (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
Fumonisins are fungal metabolites found in corn and cereals. Fumonisins pose health risks, including suspected carcinogenicity, yet their mechanism of toxicity remains unclear. While modifications in the human gut microbiome can impact host health, the effects of fumonisins on the microbiome are not well understood. Thus, our study aimed to assess a possible dose-response relationship between fumonisin B1 (FB1) and the gut microbiome. We utilized in vitro anaerobic bioreactors with media simulating most of the nutrients in the human large intestine, inoculated them with fecal samples from 19 healthy adults and treated them with FB1 at concentrations of 0, 10, 100, and 1000 ppb. Analyses of bioreactor headspace revealed declining methane production over time, possibly influenced by the addition of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). Significant differences in acetic acid production were observed in 10 ppb reactor (Day 2) and 100 ppb reactor (Day 8) when compared to 0 ppb control. Microbiome analysis showed minimal shifts in microbial relative abundances during FB1 treatment, except for Desulfovibrio desulfuricans C at Day 8 when compared between 0 ppb and 10 ppb as well as 10 ppb and 1000 ppb at Day 16. Alpha diversity analyses indicated significant differences in observed features within bioreactors of different treatments, with some variation in Faith’s Phylogenetic Diversity between the 0 ppb and 10 ppb bioreactors. Beta diversity analyses, however, revealed no significant differences between bioreactors. Overall, our findings suggest no clear dose-response relationship between FB1 treatment and gut microbiome composition/functions. The presence of DMSO may have obscured potential effects. This research will help contribute to our understanding of mycotoxicity influence on the human gut microbiome.
ContributorsSanchez Carreon, Aurely (Author) / Krajmalnik-Brown, Rosa (Thesis director) / Cheng, Qiwen (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor)
Created2024-05