Matching Items (375)
Description
Bacteria are often regarded s pathogens, with deleterious impacts on the human body. However, it is known that the presence of trillions of bacteria on and in the human body impart beneficial effects on human health. Like a fingerprint, each individual’s microbiome is unique. The composition of bacteria in one person’s gut is different from the gut bacteria in another individual. Together, the human gut microbiome is a complex mix of organisms that is commonly referred to as “the second brain.� Its role in the human body goes beyond digestion and immune system function. The health of the microbiome factors into risk for illnesses as diverse as depression, obesity, bowel disorders and autism (Perlmutter et al., 2015). In context of the myriad of bacteria that live on and within the human body, the composition of bacteria in the gut may have the most significant impact on an individual’s well-being. This “superorganism� co-evolved with its host in order to provide essential and mutually beneficial functions (Ragonnaud et al., 2021).
Affecting millions of Americans, depression is one of the leading causes of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD), followed by anxiety (Gibson-Smith et al., 2018). Communication that occurs between the human brain and the gut microbiome has been found to be a major contributor towards mental health. The human gut microbiome is comprised of many microbes that can communicate with the brain through the gut-brain axis. However, factors such as stress and diets can interfere with this process, especially after increasing the permeability of the intestine (Khoshbin et al., 2020). Perturbation of the gut-brain axis has been implicated across a wide scale of neurodegenerative disorders, with respect to psychopathology (Bonaz et al., 2018). The environment of the gut, along with which species reside there, can help determine the link between gut function and disease. Therefore, it may be possible to prevent the degradation of an individual’s immune function and well-being through alteration of the gut microbiome. (abstract)
Affecting millions of Americans, depression is one of the leading causes of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD), followed by anxiety (Gibson-Smith et al., 2018). Communication that occurs between the human brain and the gut microbiome has been found to be a major contributor towards mental health. The human gut microbiome is comprised of many microbes that can communicate with the brain through the gut-brain axis. However, factors such as stress and diets can interfere with this process, especially after increasing the permeability of the intestine (Khoshbin et al., 2020). Perturbation of the gut-brain axis has been implicated across a wide scale of neurodegenerative disorders, with respect to psychopathology (Bonaz et al., 2018). The environment of the gut, along with which species reside there, can help determine the link between gut function and disease. Therefore, it may be possible to prevent the degradation of an individual’s immune function and well-being through alteration of the gut microbiome. (abstract)
ContributorsPisarczyk, Nicole (Author) / Penton, Christopher (Thesis director) / Huffman, Holly (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
Rabies disease remains enzootic among raccoons, skunks, foxes and bats in the United States. It is of primary concern for public-health agencies to control spatial spread of rabies in wildlife and its potential spillover infection of domestic animals and humans. Rabies is invariably fatal in wildlife if untreated, with a non-negligible incubation period. Understanding how this latency affects spatial spread of rabies in wildlife is the concern of chapter 2 and 3. Chapter 1 deals with the background of mathematical models for rabies and lists main objectives. In chapter 2, a reaction-diffusion susceptible-exposed-infected (SEI) model and a delayed diffusive susceptible-infected (SI) model are constructed to describe the same epidemic process -- rabies spread in foxes. For the delayed diffusive model a non-local infection term with delay is resulted from modeling the dispersal during incubation stage. Comparison is made regarding minimum traveling wave speeds of the two models, which are verified using numerical experiments. In chapter 3, starting with two Kermack and McKendrick's models where infectivity, death rate and diffusion rate of infected individuals can depend on the age of infection, the asymptotic speed of spread $c^\ast$ for the cumulated force of infection can be analyzed. For the special case of fixed incubation period, the asymptotic speed of spread is governed by the same integral equation for both models. Although explicit solutions for $c^\ast$ are difficult to obtain, assuming that diffusion coefficient of incubating animals is small, $c^\ast$ can be estimated in terms of model parameter values. Chapter 4 considers the implementation of realistic landscape in simulation of rabies spread in skunks and bats in northeast Texas. The Finite Element Method (FEM) is adopted because the irregular shapes of realistic landscape naturally lead to unstructured grids in the spatial domain. This implementation leads to a more accurate description of skunk rabies cases distributions.
ContributorsLiu, Hao (Author) / Kuang, Yang (Thesis advisor) / Jackiewicz, Zdzislaw (Committee member) / Lanchier, Nicolas (Committee member) / Smith, Hal (Committee member) / Thieme, Horst (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Bacteriophage (phage) are viruses that infect bacteria. Typical laboratory experiments show that in a chemostat containing phage and susceptible bacteria species, a mutant bacteria species will evolve. This mutant species is usually resistant to the phage infection and less competitive compared to the susceptible bacteria species. In some experiments, both susceptible and resistant bacteria species, as well as phage, can coexist at an equilibrium for hundreds of hours. The current research is inspired by these observations, and the goal is to establish a mathematical model and explore sufficient and necessary conditions for the coexistence. In this dissertation a model with infinite distributed delay terms based on some existing work is established. A rigorous analysis of the well-posedness of this model is provided, and it is proved that the susceptible bacteria persist. To study the persistence of phage species, a "Phage Reproduction Number" (PRN) is defined. The mathematical analysis shows phage persist if PRN > 1 and vanish if PRN < 1. A sufficient condition and a necessary condition for persistence of resistant bacteria are given. The persistence of the phage is essential for the persistence of resistant bacteria. Also, the resistant bacteria persist if its fitness is the same as the susceptible bacteria and if PRN > 1. A special case of the general model leads to a system of ordinary differential equations, for which numerical simulation results are presented.
ContributorsHan, Zhun (Author) / Smith, Hal (Thesis advisor) / Armbruster, Dieter (Committee member) / Kawski, Matthias (Committee member) / Kuang, Yang (Committee member) / Thieme, Horst (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
In vertebrate outer retina, changes in the membrane potential of horizontal cells affect the calcium influx and glutamate release of cone photoreceptors via a negative feedback. This feedback has a number of important physiological consequences. One is called background-induced flicker enhancement (BIFE) in which the onset of dim background enhances the center flicker response of horizontal cells. The underlying mechanism for the feedback is still unclear but competing hypotheses have been proposed. One is the GABA hypothesis, which states that the feedback is mediated by gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an inhibitory neurotransmitter released from horizontal cells. Another is the ephaptic hypothesis, which contends that the feedback is non-GABAergic and is achieved through the modulation of electrical potential in the intersynaptic cleft between cones and horizontal cells. In this study, a continuum spine model of the cone-horizontal cell synaptic circuitry is formulated. This model, a partial differential equation system, incorporates both the GABA and ephaptic feedback mechanisms. Simulation results, in comparison with experiments, indicate that the ephaptic mechanism is necessary in order for the model to capture the major spatial and temporal dynamics of the BIFE effect. In addition, simulations indicate that the GABA mechanism may play some minor modulation role.
ContributorsChang, Shaojie (Author) / Baer, Steven M. (Thesis advisor) / Gardner, Carl L (Thesis advisor) / Crook, Sharon M (Committee member) / Kuang, Yang (Committee member) / Ringhofer, Christian (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
This thesis looks at how Latinx communities in Wyoming, despite recognizing the impossibility of overcoming the traditional conservative autocracy, still utilize their identity as a political response to unify Latinx communities throughout the state. The project draws from oral histories conducted with Latinx/Chicanx community members in Wyoming, including professors, legislators, and everyday citizens.
ContributorsFranco, David (Author) / Fonseca-Chávez, Vanessa (Thesis director) / MartÃnez, Rafael (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
Uniforms and logos are an essential part of sports teams and are created with the intention of representing the city and state of their respective teams. More than a uniform: How culture influences the creation of Arizona sports logos and jerseys presents a look at the conversations and processes undergone before teams are able to unveil their new threads. Four local professional teams are involved with this project: Phoenix Suns, Arizona Diamondbacks, Arizona Coyotes and Arizona Cardinals. Members from each of the organizations were interviewed, in addition to Greg Fisher of Fisher Design. Information was gathered from each of those interviews in addition to research done on the history of each of the team’s uniforms. The information was then created into a documentary that consists of visual and verbal components. The film highlights how each team attempts to represent Arizona and its culture when it comes to what they are wearing on the field, court or ice. The interviews capture the mindset of creative teams as they explore growing new ideas and looks, in addition to a historical delve into two of the team’s debuts in the 1990s. Many of Arizona’s sports teams have much more behind their logos and jerseys than meets the eye. The project taught me how adapt broadcast skills into documentary style storytelling and how important visuals are for longer features. The interviews showed that so many things are taken into consideration when designing a sports logo or uniform and the process can take either months or years to finally reach fruition.
ContributorsNoel, Adam Jude (Author) / Dieffenbach, Paola (Thesis director) / Easley, Isaac (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Comm (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
The COVID-19 pandemic began in March of 2020 and drastically affected the global human population. Millions of people died due to a SARS-CoV-2 infection while many who survived developed devastating sequelae of the disease. In addition, the closure of schools and businesses led to international economic struggle in the year 2020 as global economies declined. Since the beginning of the pandemic, over 200,000 scientific articles have been published and compiled into a database that grows daily— a rare occurrence within the scientific community. This thesis uses natural language processing tools via Python and VOSviewer software to perform a bibliometric analysis on 205,712 papers published between January of 2020 and February of 2021 pertaining to COVID-19. We first investigate how to analyze these publications most effectively in terms of title versus abstract keyword searches, we further obtain the focus of the current scientific literature via co-occurrence analysis and clustering, and we at last discuss the time evolution of these topics over the course of 14 months.
ContributorsLovell, Madison Ray (Author) / Zheng, Wenwei (Thesis director) / Melkozernov, Alexander (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
Some of the most talented, innovative, and experimental artists are students, but they are often discouraged by the price of higher education and lack of scholarship or funding opportunities. Additionally, the art industry has become stagnant. Traditional brick-and-mortar galleries are not willing to represent young, unknown artists. Their overhead is simply too high for risky choices.
The Student Art Project is art patronage for the 21st century—a curated online gallery featuring exceptional student artists. The Student Art Project is a highly curated experience for buyers. Only five artists are featured each month. Buyers are not bombarded with thousands of different products and separate artists “shops”. They can read artists bios and find art they connect with.
Student artists apply through an online form. Once accepted to the program, artists receive a $200 materials stipend to create an exclusive collection of 5-10 pieces. Original artwork and limited edition prints are sold through our website. These collections can potentially fund an entire year of college tuition, a life-changing amount for many students.
Brick-and-mortar galleries typically take 40-60% of the retail price of artwork. The Student Art Project will only take 30%, which we will use to reinvest in future artists. Other art websites, like Etsy, require the artists to ship, invoice, and communicate with customers. For students, this means less time spent in the classroom and less time developing their craft. The Student Art Project handles all business functions for our artists, allowing them to concentrate on what really matters, their education.
The Student Art Project is art patronage for the 21st century—a curated online gallery featuring exceptional student artists. The Student Art Project is a highly curated experience for buyers. Only five artists are featured each month. Buyers are not bombarded with thousands of different products and separate artists “shops”. They can read artists bios and find art they connect with.
Student artists apply through an online form. Once accepted to the program, artists receive a $200 materials stipend to create an exclusive collection of 5-10 pieces. Original artwork and limited edition prints are sold through our website. These collections can potentially fund an entire year of college tuition, a life-changing amount for many students.
Brick-and-mortar galleries typically take 40-60% of the retail price of artwork. The Student Art Project will only take 30%, which we will use to reinvest in future artists. Other art websites, like Etsy, require the artists to ship, invoice, and communicate with customers. For students, this means less time spent in the classroom and less time developing their craft. The Student Art Project handles all business functions for our artists, allowing them to concentrate on what really matters, their education.
ContributorsDangler, Rebecca Leigh (Author) / Trujillo, Rhett (Thesis director) / Coleman, Sean (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Contributor) / Department of Management (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Drought is one of the most pressing issues affecting the future of the standard of living here in Phoenix. With the threat of water rationing and steep price hikes looming on the horizon for water customers in California, the desert southwest, and in drought-stricken communities worldwide, industrial designers are in a prime position to help improve the experience of water conservation so that consumers are willing to start taking conscious steps toward rethinking their relationship with water usage.
In a research group, several designers sought to understand the depth and complexity of this highly politicized issue by interviewing a wide variety of stakeholders, including sustainability experts, landscapers, water company executives, small business owners, reservoir forest rangers, and many more. Data synthesis led to the conclusion that residential water use is a lifestyle issue, and the only real way to conserve involves a significant shift in the collective idea of an “ideal” home—lawns, pools, and overwatered landscaping contribute to 70% of all water use by residences in the Phoenix area. The only real way to conserve involves increasing population density and creating communal green spaces.
DR. DISH is a dishwashing device that is meant to fit into the high-density living spaces that are rapidly being built in the face of the massive exodus of people into the world’s cities. To help busy apartment and condominium dwellers conserve water and time, DR. DISH converts a standard kitchen sink into a small dishwasher, which uses significantly less water than hand-washing dishes or rinsing dishes before putting them into a conventional dishwasher. Using advanced filtration technology and a powerful rinse cycle, a load dishes can be cleaned with about 2 gallons of water. Fully automating the dishwashing process also saves the user time and minimizes unpleasant contact with food residue and grease.
This device is meant to have a significant impact upon the water use of households that do not have a dishwasher, or simply do not use their dishwasher. With a low target price point and myriad convenient features, DR. DISH is a high-tech solution that promises water savings at a time when every effort toward conservation is absolutely critical. As we move toward a new era in determining water rights and imposing mandatory restrictions upon each and every person living in affected areas, creating conservation solutions that will be relevant for the lifestyles of the future is especially important, and the agility of designers in coming up with products that quickly cut consumer water consumption will be a key factor in determining whether humanity will be able to adapt to a new era in our relationship with natural resources.
In a research group, several designers sought to understand the depth and complexity of this highly politicized issue by interviewing a wide variety of stakeholders, including sustainability experts, landscapers, water company executives, small business owners, reservoir forest rangers, and many more. Data synthesis led to the conclusion that residential water use is a lifestyle issue, and the only real way to conserve involves a significant shift in the collective idea of an “ideal” home—lawns, pools, and overwatered landscaping contribute to 70% of all water use by residences in the Phoenix area. The only real way to conserve involves increasing population density and creating communal green spaces.
DR. DISH is a dishwashing device that is meant to fit into the high-density living spaces that are rapidly being built in the face of the massive exodus of people into the world’s cities. To help busy apartment and condominium dwellers conserve water and time, DR. DISH converts a standard kitchen sink into a small dishwasher, which uses significantly less water than hand-washing dishes or rinsing dishes before putting them into a conventional dishwasher. Using advanced filtration technology and a powerful rinse cycle, a load dishes can be cleaned with about 2 gallons of water. Fully automating the dishwashing process also saves the user time and minimizes unpleasant contact with food residue and grease.
This device is meant to have a significant impact upon the water use of households that do not have a dishwasher, or simply do not use their dishwasher. With a low target price point and myriad convenient features, DR. DISH is a high-tech solution that promises water savings at a time when every effort toward conservation is absolutely critical. As we move toward a new era in determining water rights and imposing mandatory restrictions upon each and every person living in affected areas, creating conservation solutions that will be relevant for the lifestyles of the future is especially important, and the agility of designers in coming up with products that quickly cut consumer water consumption will be a key factor in determining whether humanity will be able to adapt to a new era in our relationship with natural resources.
ContributorsMarcinkowski, Margaret Nicole (Author) / Shin, Dosun (Thesis director) / McDermott, Lauren (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / The Design School (Contributor) / Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Fire Shelter Foam Assist is meant as a firefighter's last effort of survival when a wildfire threatens their position. When deployed, it will cover the firefighter as the fire blows over. By reducing the time of deployment and simplifying the process, firefighters will have more time to ensure the area around them is cleared. The Fire Shelter Foam Assist has features that allow it to auto deploy around the firefighter through the use of fire foam retardant. The fire foam retardant inflates the shelter as well as provides an extra layer of protection against the wildfire.
ContributorsSmith, Tori Elizabeth (Author) / Shin, Dosun (Thesis director) / McDermott, Lauren (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Contributor) / The Design School (Contributor)
Created2015-05