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The compelling question is “How can a sense of belonging be brought to the Math classroom?” This topic centers at the intersection of mathematics, history, and education. The mathematics field is overwhelmingly portrayed as antiquated, white, and male. There is a lack of history taught in the math classroom. As such, adding history that counters the perceptions of who belongs in mathematics will engage students who had not previously felt represented in the field. In addition, students who lack interest in mathematics may find themselves interested in the historical aspects, leading to more retention in the classroom. The main goals of this project are to create an addition to the mathematical curriculum that can be added as a starter to classroom discussions or a warm up before a lecture. The ideal form is a laminated flip book consisting of photos, descriptions, and fun facts about 52 mathematicians (one per week) from diverse time periods, countries, and backgrounds.
ContributorsNeff, Juniper (Author) / Klemaszewski, James (Thesis director) / Mohacsy, Hedvig (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / School of Public Affairs (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
The performance of modern machine learning algorithms depends upon the selection
of a set of hyperparameters. Common examples of hyperparameters are learning
rate and the number of layers in a dense neural network. Auto-ML is a branch
of optimization that has produced important contributions in this area. Within
Auto-ML, multi-fidelity approaches, which eliminate poorly-performing configurations
after evaluating them at low budgets, are among the most effective. However, the
performance of these algorithms strongly depends on how effectively they allocate
the computational budget to various hyperparameter configurations. We first present
Parameter Optimization with Conscious Allocation 1.0 (POCA 1.0), a hyperband-
based algorithm for hyperparameter optimization that adaptively allocates the inputted
budget to the hyperparameter configurations it generates following a Bayesian sampling
scheme. We then present its successor Parameter Optimization with Conscious
Allocation 2.0 (POCA 2.0), which follows POCA 1.0’s successful philosophy while
utilizing a time-series model to reduce wasted computational cost and providing a
more flexible framework. We compare POCA 1.0 and 2.0 to its nearest competitor BOHB
at optimizing the hyperparameters of a multi-layered perceptron and find that both
POCA algorithms exceed BOHB in low-budget hyperparameter optimization while
performing similarly in high-budget scenarios.
ContributorsInman, Joshua (Author) / Sankar, Lalitha (Thesis director) / Pedrielli, Giulia (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
If quantum computing becomes feasible, many popular cryptographic schemes, such as RSA, Diffie-Helman, and methods using elliptic curves will no longer be secure. This paper explores code-based cryptography, specifically looking the McEliece cryptosystem, as well as the more recent Classical McEliece cryptosystem, which was proposed to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as a potentially quantum-secure algorithm.
ContributorsFletcher, Julia (Author) / Sprung, Florian (Thesis director) / Childress, Nancy (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies, Sch (Contributor)
Created2024-05
DescriptionBuck-It is a budgeting application designed to meet the unique needs of college students. As financial literacy is crucial for developing good long-term financial habits, Buck-It aims to promote budgeting among college students through an appealing user interface, robust customization, and effective categorization.
ContributorsDoyle, Michael (Author) / Davitt, Ryan (Co-author) / Walle, Andrew (Co-author) / Vemuri, Rajeev (Co-author) / Baptista, Asher (Co-author) / Byrne, Jared (Thesis director) / Lee, Peggy (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
Cortisol, the primary end product of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis, has been
closely linked with health and health behaviors in daily life. Not only physical health, but also
familial stressors (i.e. perceived anxiety/stress, economic hardship, parenting styles) have been found to relate to cortisol levels. The present study investigated the complex relation between family level stress and cortisol levels longitudinally, and the extent to which physical activity plays a role in such relations. Specifically, I examined: 1) direct associations between physical activity (sedentary, moderate-to-vigorous activity) and diurnal cortisol slopes a year later, 2) whether physical activity levels mediated established links between family stress and diurnal cortisol slopes, and 3) whether family stress moderated associations between physical activity and diurnal cortisol slopes. Data were from the Arizona Twin Project, a racially and
socioeconomically diverse sample of twins in middle childhood in Arizona (N=710;
Mageatbaseline=8.44 years, SD=.69; 51.4% female; 58.5% non-Hispanic White, 23.7% Hispanic). Twins and their caregivers participated in a 7-day study (age 8) during which they wore an actigraphy watch to capture physical activity measurements. Primary caregivers also provided self-reports on stressors and mental health. Results revealed a non-significant main effect of physical activity on AM cortisol slopes, as well as non-significant interactions and main effects in the moderating pathways. Mediation analyses were not pursued due to lack of correlation between physical activity and family stress.
ContributorsBrunell, Maxwell (Author) / Doane, Leah (Thesis director) / Corbin, William (Committee member) / Davis, Mary (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
This paper investigates different factors influencing access to healthcare insurance in the
US. It discusses the role of insurance companies, regulations, competition, and federal policy
impacts. Drawing on research from journal articles, as well as comparisons to examples of
European healthcare, the study emphasizes differences in structure as well as financing.
Economic concepts like adverse selection and moral hazard are explained to describe challenges within the insurance market, along with strategies to mitigate them. By the end, the synthesis section proposes recommendations for improving the U.S. healthcare system, including enhancing affordability, strengthening insurance regulation, promoting preventive care, and expanding Medicaid coverage. Through this analysis, the paper discusses opportunities for
healthcare reform.
ContributorsHurmez, Sarah (Author) / Kostol, Andreas (Thesis director) / Wong, Kelvin (Committee member) / Kuminoff, Nicolai (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / School of Public Affairs (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
Convergent Case Management (CCM) is a mandatory reentry program offered in Arizona state-run prison units. This study evaluates the success of this program through semi-structured interviews with correctional officers and incarcerated men and women at two Arizona prison units. These results are contextualized within the history of rehabilitative program evaluation from the "nothing works" paradigm of the 1970s through contemporary Good Lives Model and desistance thinking.
ContributorsBranaman, Benjamin (Author) / Wright, Kevin (Thesis director) / Young, Jacob (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
The Women’s Power and Influence Index uses publicly available information to rank companies based on their gender policies, with the thought that public rankings trigger the behavioral and policy changes that move us in the direction of gender equity and pay parity. This project employs survey analysis to take a closer look at four of the criteria the WPI uses to score companies - maternity leave, childcare, harassment and discrimination training, and professional development. Our work evaluates survey responses to determine optimal policies for each of the four criteria with the hope that in future iterations of the Index, these policies can be incorporated into the scoring methods as a standard against which respective company policies can be compared.
ContributorsBlessington, Katherine (Author) / Saraswat, Tushar (Co-author) / Zaffar, Ehsan (Thesis director) / Gel, Esma (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Building an ESG Metrics Database for US Law Firms: ESG Intelligence Group's Data Management Solution
Description
I built a database for ESG Intelligence (ESGi) Group, a consulting firm that advises law firms on implementing good environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices internally as well as how law firms can better serve their clients with respect to ESG. This paper explores my decision-making process for the design of the database and the challenges I ran into while creating and populating the database. I turned a list of things that ESGi Group wanted to track into an entity relationship diagram (ERD), which I eventually turned into a relational database in MySQL. I further defined the contents of the database by mapping the ERD into a relational model, normalizing the relational model, and creating an attribute domain table. I coded the database in SQL, collected data in an excel spreadsheet (downloaded from AMLAW 200 and NLJ 500 purchased data, manually searching individual firm websites, and scraping law.com in R), and then inserted the data into the database. I ran into issues with data completeness due to the lacking regulation of firm transparency about ESG reporting, but this project succeeded in proof of concept rather than implementation. I also discuss security and privacy considerations, and ESGi Group’s possible options for further development of this project in the future.
ContributorsSell, Lily (Author) / Sopha, Matthew (Thesis director) / Cone, Pamela (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
By assembling the countless work put in by past and current AAPASC community members, this guidebook aims to serve as a foundation for future AAPASC executive boards and organizations. The goal for this project is to be a living document, maintained and changed by future generations of AAPI student leadership to adapt to the needs and goals of their
university experience, but also to provide a connection to the learned experience of the
past.
ContributorsLiu, Sabrina (Author) / Kuo, Karen (Thesis director) / Yellow Horse, Aggie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor)
Created2024-05