Matching Items (124)
Description
The 21st century engineer will face a diverse set of challenges spread out along a broad spectrum of disciplines. Among others, the fields of energy, healthcare, cyberspace, virtual reality, and neuroscience require monumental efforts by the new generation of engineers to meet the demands of a growing society. However the most important, and likely the most under recognized, challenge lies in developing advanced personalized learning. It is the core foundation from which the rest of the challenges can be accomplished. Without an effective method of teaching engineering students how to realize these grand challenges, the knowledge pool from which to draw new innovations and discoveries will be greatly diminished. This paper introduces the Inventors Workshop (IW), a hands-on, passion-based approach to personalized learning. It is intended to serve as a manual that will inform the next generation of student leaders and inventioneers about the core concepts the Inventors Workshop was built upon, and how to continue improvement into the future. Due to the inherent complexities in the grand challenge of personalized learning, the IW has developed a multifaceted solution that is difficult to explain in a single phrase. To enable comprehension of the IW's full vision, the process undergone to date of establishing and expanding the IW is described. In addition, research has been conducted to determine a variety of paths the Inventors Workshop may utilize in future expansion. Each of these options is explored and related to the core foundations of the IW to assist future leaders and partners in effectively improving personalized learning at ASU and beyond.
ContributorsEngelhoven, V. Logan (Author) / Burleson, Winslow (Thesis director) / Peck, Sidnee (Committee member) / Fortun, A. L. Cecil (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering (Contributor)
Created2012-12
ContributorsShah, Beejal (Author) / Nakamura, Mutsumi (Thesis director) / Balasooriya, Janaka (Committee member) / Wilkerson, Kelly (Committee member) / Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2012-12
Description
The Phoenix-Metro area currently has problems with its transportation systems. Over-crowded and congested freeways have slowed travel times within the area. Express bus transportation and the existence of "High Occupancy" lanes have failed to solve the congestion problem. The light rail system is limited to those within a certain distance from the line, and even the light rail is either too slow or too infrequent for a commuter to utilize it effectively. To add to the issue, Phoenix is continuing to expand outward instead of increasing population density within the city, therefore increasing the time it takes to travel to downtown Phoenix, which is the center of economic activity. The people of Phoenix and its surrounding areas are finding that driving themselves to work is just as cost-effective and less time consuming than taking public transportation. Phoenix needs a cost-effective solution to work in co- existence with improvements in local public transportation that will allow citizens to travel to their destination in just as much time, or less time, than travelling by personal vehicle.
ContributorsSerfilippi, Jon (Author) / Ariaratnam, Samuel (Thesis director) / Pendyala, Ram (Committee member) / Pembroke, Jim (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering (Contributor)
Created2012-12
Description
Electrospun nanofibers can be prepared from various kinds of inorganic substances by electro-spinning techniques. They have great potential in many applications including super capacitors, lithium ion batteries, filtration, catalyst and enzyme carriers, and sensors [1]. The traditional way to produce electrospun nanofibers is needle based electro-spinning [1]. However, electrospun nanofibers have not been widely used in practice because of low nanofiber production rates. One way to largely increase the electro-spinning productivity is needleless electro-spinning. In 2005, Jirsak et al. patented a rotating roller fiber generator for the mass production of nanofibers [2]. Elmarco Corporation commercialized this technique to manufacture nanofiber equipment for the production of all sorts of organic and inorganic nanofibers, and named it "NanospiderTM". For this project, my goal is to build a needleless electro-spinner to produce nanofibers as the separator of lithium ion batteries. The model of this project is based on the design of rotating roller fiber generator, and is adapted from a project at North Dakota State University in 2011 [3].
ContributorsQiao, Guanhao (Author) / Yu, Hongyu (Thesis director) / Jiang, Hanqing (Committee member) / Goryll, Michael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering (Contributor)
Created2012-12
Description
Protein AMPylation is a recently discovered and relatively unstudied post-translational modification (PTM). AMPylation has previously been shown to play an important role in metabolic regulation and host pathogenesis in bacteria, but the recent identification of potential AMPylators across many species in every domain of life has supported the possibility that AMPylation could be a more fundamental and physiologically significant regulatory PTM. For the first time, we characterized the auto-AMPylation capability of the human protein SOS1 through in vitro AMPylation experiments using full-length protein and whole-domain truncation mutants. We found that SOS1 can become AMPylated at a tyrosine residue possibly within the Cdc25 domain of the protein, the Dbl homology domain is vital for efficient auto-AMPylation activity, and the C-terminal proline-rich domain exhibits a complex regulatory function. The proline-rich domain alone also appears to be capable of catalyzing a separate, unidentified covalent self-modification using a fluorescent ATP analogue. Finally, SOS1 was shown to be capable of catalyzing the AMPylation of two endogenous human protein substrates: a ubiquitous, unidentified protein of ~49kDa and another breast-cancer specific, unidentified protein of ~28kDa.
ContributorsOber-Reynolds, Benjamin John (Author) / LaBaer, Joshua (Thesis director) / Borges, Chad (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
In this thesis, glycan nodes, the basic subunits of complex biological sugars, were studied to determine the reproducibility of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) based methylation analysis of whole blood plasma by normalization using an internal standard of heavy permethylated glycans. Glycans are complex biological sugars that have a variety of applications in the human body and will display aberrant compositions when produced by cancerous cells. Thus an assay to determine their composition can be used as a diagnostic tool. It was shown that the assay may have potential use, but needs further refinement to become an improvement over current methods by analyzing the results of ratio-determination and replicate experiments.
ContributorsMiyasaki, Tyler Takeo (Author) / Borges, Chad (Thesis director) / Van Horn, Wade (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Western diets, high in dietary fat and red meat, are associated with hyperglycemia and weight gain, symptoms that promote insulin resistance and diabetes. Previous studies have shown that elevated glucose promotes glycation of circulating proteins such as albumin, which is thought to lead to hyperglycemia complications. It was hypothesized that diets with no meat consumption (pesco-vegetarian and lacto-vegetarian) would reduce protein glycation, in comparison to a diet with meat. Forty six healthy adult omnivorous subjects were randomized into one of three groups and instructed to either consume red meat (i.e. meat) or poultry twice per day (control), eliminate meat and increase fish consumption (pesco-vegetarian), or adopt a vegetarian diet devoid of fish, meat or poultry (lacto-vegetarian) for four weeks. Fasting plasma samples were collected from participants at baseline and after 4 weeks of the dietary intervention. Plasma glucose concentrations were measured using a commercially available kit. Percent glycated albumin was measured on a separate aliquot of plasma by mass spectrometry. Plasma glucose concentrations were significantly increased following 4-weeks of pesco-vegetarian diet (P=0.002, paired t-test). Neither the lacto-vegetarian (P=0.898) or the control diet (P=0.233) affected plasma glucose concentrations. Despite the significant increase in plasma glucose following a pesco-vegetarian diet, no change in percent glycated albumin was observed (P>0.50, ANOVA). These findings may indicate a protective effect of the pesco-vegetarian diet on protein glycation in the presence of elevated plasma glucose and suggest the need for additional studies to examine the link between increased fish consumption and glucose regulation.
ContributorsRaad, Noor (Author) / Sweazea, Karen (Thesis director, Committee member) / Borges, Chad (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Dielectrophoresis is a separations strategy that has the potential to separate small amounts of different proteins from each other. The forces at play in the channel used for dielectrophoresis are electroosmotic flow (EOF), electrophoresis (EP), and dielectrophoresis (DEP). EOF is the force exerted on liquid from an applied potential (1). EP is the force exerted on charged particles in a uniform electric field (2). DEP is the force exerted on particles (charged and uncharged) in a non-uniform electric field (3). This experiment was focused on the testing of a new microfluidic device to see if it could improve the focusing of proteins in dielectrophoresis. It was predicted that the addition of a salt bridge would improve focusing by preventing the ions created by the electrolysis of water around the electrodes from interacting with the proteins and causing aggregation, among other problems. Control trials using the old device showed that electrolysis was likely occurring and was the causal agent for poor outcomes. After applying the electric potential for some time a pH front traveled through the channel causing aggregation of proteins and the current in the channel decreased rapidly, even while the voltage was held constant. The resistance in the channels of the control trials also slightly decreased over time, until the pH shift occurred, at which time it increased rapidly. Experimental trials with a new device that included salt bridges eliminated this pH front and had a roughly linear increase of current in the channel with the voltage applied. This device can now be used in future research with protein dielectrophoresis, including in the potential differentiation of different proteins. References: 1) Electroosmosis. Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. 2. Oxford University Press: Oxford, England. 2006. 2) Electrophoresis. Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. 2. Oxford University Press: Oxford, England. 2006. 3) Dielectrophoresis. Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. 2. Oxford University Press: Oxford, England. 2006.
ContributorsHayes, Katelyn Donna (Author) / Hayes, Mark (Thesis director) / Borges, Chad (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The modern web presents an opportunity for educators and researchers to create tools that are highly accessible. Because of the near-ubiquity of modern web browsers, developers who hope to create educational and analytical tools can reach a large au- dience by creating web applications. Using JavaScript, HTML, and other modern web development technologies, Genie was developed as a simulator to help educators in biology, genetics, and evolution classrooms teach their students about population genetics. Because Genie was designed for the modern web, it is highly accessible to both educators and students, who can access the web application using any modern web browser on virtually any device. Genie demonstrates the efficacy of web devel- opment technologies for demonstrating and simulating complex processes, and it will be a unique educational tool for educators who teach population genetics.
ContributorsRoos, Benjamin Hirsch (Author) / Cartwright, Reed (Thesis director) / Wilson Sayres, Melissa (Committee member) / Mayron, Liam (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Background
Improvements in sequencing technology now allow easy acquisition of large datasets; however, analyzing these data for phylogenetics can be challenging. We have developed a novel method to rapidly obtain homologous genomic data for phylogenetics directly from next-generation sequencing reads without the use of a reference genome. This software, called SISRS, avoids the time consuming steps of de novo whole genome assembly, multiple genome alignment, and annotation.
Results
For simulations SISRS is able to identify large numbers of loci containing variable sites with phylogenetic signal. For genomic data from apes, SISRS identified thousands of variable sites, from which we produced an accurate phylogeny. Finally, we used SISRS to identify phylogenetic markers that we used to estimate the phylogeny of placental mammals. We recovered eight phylogenies that resolved the basal relationships among mammals using datasets with different levels of missing data. The three alternate resolutions of the basal relationships are consistent with the major hypotheses for the relationships among mammals, all of which have been supported previously by different molecular datasets.
Conclusions
SISRS has the potential to transform phylogenetic research. This method eliminates the need for expensive marker development in many studies by using whole genome shotgun sequence data directly. SISRS is open source and freely available at https://github.com/rachelss/SISRS/releases.
Improvements in sequencing technology now allow easy acquisition of large datasets; however, analyzing these data for phylogenetics can be challenging. We have developed a novel method to rapidly obtain homologous genomic data for phylogenetics directly from next-generation sequencing reads without the use of a reference genome. This software, called SISRS, avoids the time consuming steps of de novo whole genome assembly, multiple genome alignment, and annotation.
Results
For simulations SISRS is able to identify large numbers of loci containing variable sites with phylogenetic signal. For genomic data from apes, SISRS identified thousands of variable sites, from which we produced an accurate phylogeny. Finally, we used SISRS to identify phylogenetic markers that we used to estimate the phylogeny of placental mammals. We recovered eight phylogenies that resolved the basal relationships among mammals using datasets with different levels of missing data. The three alternate resolutions of the basal relationships are consistent with the major hypotheses for the relationships among mammals, all of which have been supported previously by different molecular datasets.
Conclusions
SISRS has the potential to transform phylogenetic research. This method eliminates the need for expensive marker development in many studies by using whole genome shotgun sequence data directly. SISRS is open source and freely available at https://github.com/rachelss/SISRS/releases.
ContributorsSchwartz, Rachel (Author) / Harkins, Kelly (Author) / Stone, Anne (Author) / Cartwright, Reed (Author) / Biodesign Institute (Contributor) / Center for Evolution and Medicine (Contributor) / College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-06-11