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- Creators: Barrett, The Honors College
- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Description
The purpose of my honors thesis project was to generate the tools needed for in vivo imaging by determining the optimal plasmid-fluorophore combination. To determine the optimal plasmid and fluorophore, asd plasmids were constructed with various promoters, origins of replications, and red fluorophores. The optimal asd plasmid for fluorescent in vivo imaging was determined by the plasmid stability, growth rate, and growth phase dependence on fluorescent intensity. The end goal is to be able to use the asd plasmid in vaccine strains for the purpose of in vivo imaging of the recombinant attenuated Salmonella vaccine (RASV).
ContributorsEudy, L. Adam (Author) / Curtiss, Roy (Thesis director) / Roland, Kenneth (Committee member) / Forbes, Stephen (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Contributor)
Created2012-12
Description
Microfinance is a term that refers to providing basic financial services to the poor; it has become a powerful tool for poverty alleviation. The idea is a relatively new one - modern microfinance began through experiments in the 1970's - but it has grown quickly and currently serves over 155 million clients worldwide. There are many studies that provide evidence of the positive impact of microfinance and the movement has an array of enthusiastic proponents. It is certainly not the only solution in the battle against poverty, however, and there are also studies that question the true depth of its impact. In looking at microfinance around the globe, one thing becomes clear: although it is an international phenomenon, microfinance has definitely found more success in some regions over others.
ContributorsEdgell, Bailey (Author) / Mendez, Jose (Thesis director) / Schoellman, Todd (Committee member) / Forbes, Stephen (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Contributor)
Created2012-12
Description
Prospective memory is defined as remembering to carry out specified actions in the future. Research has suggested that prospective memory retrieval is reliant on multiple cognitive processes to function, and the ways in which these different processes are used is dependent on a variety of variables relating to the prospective memory task at hand. The current study focuses on the strength of the association between the prospective
memory cue and the prospective memory intention. Based on literature suggesting that aspects of prospective memory are reliant on executive control functioning, the current study examined the possibility that executive control depletion would affect prospective memory ability on subsequent tasks. Results showed that depletion of executive control resources, measured objectively, did not impair prospective memory in either a low or
high cue-association condition. However, participants‟ subjective assessment of their own fatigue correlated significantly with their subsequent prospective memory performance, regardless of association condition. The results of the study indicate that depletion studies that fail to account for both objective and subjective measures suffer from an unclear interpretation of effects, and that recognition of perceived expectancies
of cognitive resource limitation can assist in improving prospective memory ability.
memory cue and the prospective memory intention. Based on literature suggesting that aspects of prospective memory are reliant on executive control functioning, the current study examined the possibility that executive control depletion would affect prospective memory ability on subsequent tasks. Results showed that depletion of executive control resources, measured objectively, did not impair prospective memory in either a low or
high cue-association condition. However, participants‟ subjective assessment of their own fatigue correlated significantly with their subsequent prospective memory performance, regardless of association condition. The results of the study indicate that depletion studies that fail to account for both objective and subjective measures suffer from an unclear interpretation of effects, and that recognition of perceived expectancies
of cognitive resource limitation can assist in improving prospective memory ability.
ContributorsCook, Carson (Author) / Brewer, Gene (Thesis director) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Homa, Donald (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Contributor)
Created2012-12
ContributorsBingham, Tucker (Author) / Setlow, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Melo, Carla (Committee member) / Danowski, Christopher (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Contributor)
Created2012-12
Description
Social proof and mismatch of self-preference have been assumed to play an important role in the inference of value. They can be influential factors when it comes to decision-making in a mate-selection environment. In this thesis study, participants took an online survey in the form of a dating website. They answered a series of questions about the traits they would like to see in a potential mate. They were then presented with four potential mates and asked to rank them by their preferences. The results show that participants most preferred the potential mate with a high social proof and a low mismatch of self-preference and least preferred the potential mate with a low social proof and a high mismatch of self-preference. When comparing just social proof and mismatch of self-preference, there was not an interaction effect between the two. I conclude that even though social proof is a powerful influencing factor by itself, it did not have the power to trump the mismatch of self-preference.
ContributorsAkhter, Sumbal (Author) / Kwan, Virginia (Thesis director) / Knight, George (Committee member) / Cohen, Adam (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Contributor)
Created2012-12
Description
When a friend approached me and asked me to join his team and apply to the Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative, a student business plan competition at Arizona State University, I accepted. Not only did I find his idea interesting, but I also believed that applying to the Edson program would give me a first glimpse into being an entrepreneur. The business, called Social Artworking, proposed to create an online platform to connect businesses, who need art, with artists through a unique bidding process. Through Social Artworking, businesses indicate the maximum amount they are able to pay while artists bid what they are willing to do the job for. Then a business or individual is able to pick the best artist that can meet his quality and price needs. In addition to the exchange platform, Social Artworking would jointly launch a social networking site and an online portfolio service for artists. Social Artworking was trying to address the problem of small businesses having a hard time finding affordable and high quality artist and designers while at the same time helping students gain paid experience to increase their portfolio before graduation. In the months leading up to the Edson application, I had a hard time catching up to my partner's knowledge of the business idea and the art, web and crowdsourcing industries. On many occasions, I felt like I was depending on him as an expert to write the application. After two months of working on the application, we submitted the proposal to Edson. The idea did not advance to the final round.
ContributorsDuran, Regina (Author) / Peck, Sidnee (Thesis director) / Essig, Linda (Committee member) / Garner, Benson (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor)
Created2012-12
Description
Many high school students demonstrate an overall lack of interest in science. Traditional teaching methodologies seem to be unsuccessful at engaging students \u2014 one explanation is that students often interpret what they learn in school as irrelevant to their personal lives. Active learning and case based learning methodologies seem to be more effective at promoting interest and understanding of scientific principles. The purpose of our research was to implement a lab with updated teaching methodologies that included an active learning and case based curriculum. The lab was implemented in two high school honors biology classes with the specific goals of: significantly increasing students' interest in science and its related fields; increasing students' self-efficacy in their ability to understand and interpret the traditional process of the scientific method; and increasing this traditional process of objectively understanding the scientific method. Our results indicated that interest in science and its related fields (p = .011), students' self-efficacy in understanding the scientific method (p = .000), and students' objective understanding of the scientific method (p = .000) statistically significantly increased after the lab was administered; however, our results may not be as meaningful as the p-values imply due to the scale of our assessment.
ContributorsCotten, Kathryn (Author) / Hoffner, Kristin (Thesis director) / Stout, Valerie (Committee member) / Lynskey, Jim (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor)
Created2012-12
Description
Despite popular belief, war is a highly regulated endeavor. Military operations cannot be permitted to take place in a regulatory vacuum. According to the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law, there are currently 110 armed conflicts, most of which are non-international. (Today’s Armed Conflicts, 2024) The law of war exists to protect those who are involved and those who are not involved in the conflict. The first step in the regulatory process is understanding what situations trigger different types of law. Understanding conflict characterization and the law's applicability is necessary for prosecution and operations planning. Two primary documents regulate armed conflicts: the Hague Convention and the Geneva Conventions. The Hague Conventions set out rules for conducting war, and the Geneva Conventions protect the victims of war. In this paper, the Geneva Conventions (GC) will be the primary research focus as I am specifically interested in protecting victims. We apply different Geneva Convention rules based on the characterization of a given conflict.
Geneva Conventions give vague regulations applicable to conflicts. The main reason for such vagueness was to make this document universal enough for many states to ratify it. However, such vagueness has political ramifications, as state leaders utilize the gray areas of international law in their interests. (International Committee of the Red Cross, 2023)
One such gray area is the fact that the current international documents do not provide a precise characterization of war. The problem of this uncertainty is that there has been the need to address the legal issues on a case-by-case basis. While I acknowledge that every case should have special attention, it is also essential to bring as much universality to them as possible to make the prosecution process more accessible and make international law more just and predictable. Therefore, this paper answers the following question: How can the text of the Geneva Conventions be strengthened to prevent political biases and increase humanitarian protections?
This topic has a well-developed research foundation. I am relying on some previous works in the area, including the ones written by Corn and Gal. Corn’s “Legal Classifications of Military Operations” focuses on the issue of characterizing non-international armed conflicts and their application to the conflict between the U.S. and al-Queda. Gal’s “Unexplored Outcomes of Tadić” introduces the conflict between the ICC and ICJ in dealing with Tadić precedent. I utilize these scholars’ work as the foundation of the issue I am researching, and I propose solutions to the problems presented by the scholars.
This paper addresses some of the major problems in defining armed conflict in international law, particularly defining non-international armed conflict and defining conflicts between a state and a non-state actor. My two main issues discuss concern (1) establishing the existence of an armed conflict for legal purposes and (2) differentiating between two types of conflict. I look into two sides of a coin: international armed conflict (IAC) and non-international armed conflict (NIAC). The primary debate in characterizing NIAC arises from a disagreement over what constitutes mere violence and what constitutes NIAC. The discussion on IAC arises from arguments aiming at expanding the definition of IAC to the conflicts traditionally classified as NIACs. This second question is essential as the rules governing IAC provide more protection to civilians and POWs compared to the ones governing NIACs.
I started by exploring how international law is applied to conflicts and discussing how different characterizations trigger other parts of the law. I later delved into defining a non-international armed conflict (NIAC), as there is no numeric threshold for what makes mere violence a NIAC. There is a need for a more specific threshold, and some challenges are associated with implementing it.
I later discuss a second major issue: international conflicts that involve a state and a non-state actor. International tribunals should treat such cases as an international armed conflict rather than NIAC and present challenges to applying the law to non-state actors.
ContributorsDzon, Alona (Author) / Hanson, Margaret (Thesis director) / Peskin, Victor (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
This thesis addresses the impact of algorithmic programming on judicial decision-making and the court-appointed attorney (CAA) process, focusing on the intersection of technology and judicial discretion at the Tempe Municipal Court. The primary inquiry of this thesis explores how algorithmic and digital programming, creating an automated system, can enhance equitable access to legal representation for indigent criminal defendants by making the CAA process more uniform. This project implements back-end algorithmic calculations to provide judges with system recommendations by using the Qualtrics survey software to create a digital version of the paper-based Form 5C. The "System Recommendation Tool" streamlines the process by presenting concise encapsulations of defendants' Form 5C responses and algorithmically derived recommendations regarding CAA qualification and contribution amounts.
Significant disparities between the digital system's recommendations and judicial outcomes emerge through analyzing 80 Form 5Cs and their corresponding judicial decisions. These disparities underscore the need for further refinement of the digital system and the possibility of increased use of judicial discretion and consideration of additional factors beyond the Form 5C. While recognizing the system's potential benefits, this research emphasizes the importance of continuous testing and refinement and ongoing consultation with judges. Ultimately, the digital system is a complementary tool to judicial decision-making rather than a replacement.
ContributorsSharma, Poorva (Author) / Broberg, Gregory (Thesis director) / Kane, Kevin (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
Black American art and artists have dramatically impacted U.S. and world history and culture. This is a creative and historical project for Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University. I have virtually curated works from Black American artists throughout the 17th and 21st centuries that show the emergence of Black history and the art that expressed it. The project is a timeline of various media, such as sculpture, painting, and poetry. This text comes with a Squarespace site where these works are displayed with introductory information that resembles those of a didactic label at a museum. Growing up as a little kid, I was always intrigued by history and the arts, but I barely learned about the art Black Americans created in school. With this project, I hope to share this research with a broader audience to learn more about the rich historical context of black art and to feel represented. Seeing yourself in an artwork that moves you inspires the artist within you; it did for me.
Link to the website: https://grasshopper-pike-6cd5.squarespace.com/contact-me
ContributorsLee, Brielle (Author) / Haines, Chelsea (Thesis director) / Stancliff, Michael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Art (Contributor) / School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies (Contributor)
Created2024-05