Matching Items (268)
Description
The purpose of this study was to create a screening tool specifically for the identification of sex trafficking victims in the medical setting through the analysis of existing human trafficking screening tool studies geared towards use in the medical setting. Screening questions from these studies were compiled and modified into a survey that was distributed to healthcare professionals through the nationwide HEAL (Health Professional Education, Advocacy, Linkage) Trafficking listserv. Each screening tool study demonstrated benefits and disadvantages that were helpful in the sampling and selection of screening tool questions. The small sample size and a lack of data on the attitudes of medical professionals on sex trafficked victims were noted as limitations to this study. Further implications for this study would include validating the screening tool questions in a medical setting to determine the sensitivity of the survey in identifying patients as possible sex trafficking victims.
ContributorsCatano, Karen Samantha (Co-author) / Byun, Jiwon (Co-author) / Roe-Sepowitz, Dominique (Thesis director) / Lee, Maurice (Committee member) / School for the Science of Health Care Delivery (Contributor) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Insects have intricate systems they depend on for survival. They live in societies where every individual plays an important role. Ants are a great example of this observation. They are known for having structurally sound societies that ensure the livelihood of the colony. The ant species analyzed for this research, Harpegnathos saltator, portrays a structured colony and serves as a useful example of levels of hierarchy. In the colony of H. saltator, one can find a queen, gamergates, workers, and male ants living underground in Southern India. Recording and analyzing egg-laying rates are important in this study because of the amount of information it provides. It is used especially when observing the relationship among the gamergates in colonies with varying colony sizes. Three different methods were used to record the egg-laying rates, each providing insight into valuable information. Results show that the smaller colonies with fewer identified gamergates do share an equal amount of egg-laying. In larger colonies, it appears that there are more active identified gamergates than others. Egg-laying duration times are smaller in colonies with fewer gamergates. It is also found that the presence of brood does not affect egg-laying rates and reproductive inhibition could be a possibility based on two of the colonies observed F65 and F21. Based on the data found, a more active colony that attempts to maintain stability by demonstrating aggression may be affecting the reproduction of gamergates. Future work that would further strengthen the research and conclusions made would involve further observation of colonies, both large and small, with varying numbers of gamergates. More observation involving behavior among gamergates and workers would also be beneficial. Mathematical modeling could also be incorporated to create equations that could determine information about colonies based on size, number of gamergates, and egg-laying rates.
ContributorsMayoral, Alejandra (Author) / Kang, Yun (Thesis director) / Liebig, Juergen (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
INTRODUCTION: This thesis delves into how PR-media relations evolved in the past 20 years (since 1997). It discusses several aspects of media relations, such as relationships, old and new media relations tools, pitching and predictions about the future of media relations. LITERATURE REVIEW: A review of previous literature on media relations guided this research. Past research explained stigmas about the relationship between public relations professionals and journalists, how pitching has evolved, social media's role in modern day media relations and the dynamic between earned and owned media. METHODOLOGY: The research involved a mixed method approach with qualitative and quantitative methods. First, in-depth interviews were conducted with both journalists and public relations professionals who work in Arizona. These interviews were conducted either in-person or over the phone. Second, two in-depth interviews were conducted over the phone with a public relations professional who worked at Intel for over 20 years for a case study. Finally, a survey was distributed to public relations professionals in Arizona via email and through social media websites (Facebook and Twitter) to provide insight on the media relations tactics they have recently utilized, as well as their use of social media. There were also five follow-up interviews conducted with survey respondents. FINDINGS: After conducting these three methods of research, the qualitative (quotes) and quantitative (survey) data were analyzed to provide detailed opinions about media relations including: the relationships between public relations professionals and the media, the use of old and new media relations tools, what an effective pitch looks like, the use of social media, comparisons between less and more experienced PR professionals, and predictions on the future of media relations. DISCUSSION: The findings from this research led to several conclusions regarding media relations such as: the importance of maintaining a trusting and respectful relationship, traditional tools' place in modern day media relations, email's dominance as a media relations tool, the hesitation by PR professionals to use social media as a communication tool with journalists, more experienced PR professionals' lack of hesitation to use social media as a communication tool with journalists, and the prediction that relationships will remain key in media relations despite the changes in media relations tools themselves. CONCLUSION: Based on all of the findings from this research, it was concluded that media relations has evolved to keep up with the changing media landscape, however, traditional tools and practices remain relevant and essential to media relations.
ContributorsTillman, Krista Michelle (Author) / Wu, Xu (Thesis director) / Bovio, Sonia (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
Vitamins and minerals are, by definition, essential substances that are necessary for good health, and needed by every cell and organ to function appropriately. A deficiency of any one vitamin or mineral can be very serious. Although a very healthy diet rich in vegetables, fruits, and protein can provide sufficient amounts of most vitamins and minerals, many people do not consume an adequate diet. During pregnancy, there is an increased need for vitamins and minerals to promote a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby. Prenatal supplements are intended to supplement a normal diet to ensure that adequate amounts of vitamins and minerals are consumed. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has established Recommended Dietary Allowances for total vitamin/mineral intake from food and supplements, but they have not established recommendations for prenatal supplements. Therefore, there is a very wide variation in the content and quality of prenatal supplements. Many prenatal supplements contain only minimal levels of some vitamins and few or no minerals, in order to minimize cost and the number of pills. This results in insufficient vitamin/mineral supplementation for many women, and hence does not fully protect them or their children from pregnancy complications and health problems. Therefore, we have created our own set of recommendations for prenatal supplements. Our recommendations are based primarily on four sources: 1) FDA's Recommended Daily Allowances for pregnant women, which are estimated to meet the needs of 97.5% of healthy pregnant women. 2) FDA's Tolerable Upper Limit, which is the maximum amount of vitamins/minerals that can be safely consumed without any risk of health problems. 3) National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which evaluates the average intake of vitamins and minerals by women ages 20-40 years in the US 4) Research studies on vitamin/mineral deficiencies or vitamin/mineral supplementation during pregnancy, and the effect on pregnancy, birth, and child health problems. In summary, the RDA establishes minimum recommended levels of vitamin/mineral intake from all sources, and the NHANES establishes the average intake from foods. The difference is what needs to be consumed in a supplement, on average. However, since people vary greatly in the quality of their diet, and since most vitamins and minerals have a high Tolerable Upper Limit, we generally recommend more than the difference between the RDA and the average NHANES. Vitamins generally have a larger Tolerable Upper Limit than do minerals. So, we recommend that prenatal vitamin/mineral supplements contain 100% of the RDA for most vitamins, and about 50% of the RDA for most minerals. However, based on additional research studies described below, in some cases we vary our recommendations from those averages.
ContributorsSorenson, Jacob (Author) / Adams, James (Thesis director) / Pollard, Elena (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Modeling sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (sALS) has been a challenge since there is no known single gene mutation that triggers disease pathogenesis. Although human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) have created new opportunities in studying sALS, they do not retain important age associated phenotypic markers due to the rejuvenation stage that takes place during the reprogramming of somatic cells into hiPSCs. To overcome this obstacle, we performed an alternative method of direct neuronal conversion from patient fibroblasts that utilizes two transcription factors, Ngn2 and Ascl1. These transcription factors were sufficient to initiate direct neuronal conversion and produce induced neurons (iNeurons). Through the positive staining of neuronal markers Map2, Synapsin-1, and Human Nuclear Marker we found that induced neurons do display neuronal features that are seen in mature neurons.
ContributorsSwinford, Sarah Joan (Author) / Neisewander, Janet (Thesis director) / Sattler, Rita (Committee member) / Nelson, Andrew (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Autism Spectrum Disorder is a disorder that makes learning, socializing and daily living much more challenging for affected children and adults because of their atypical behaviors. A few examples of these behaviors are repetitive movements, impulsive actions, inability to communicate in a social setting, and many more. There is a stigma behind autism that is caused by those who are not well informed on the disorder. These people lack information, and in the past, it was assumed that the disorder is caused by "bad parenting." The parents are then afraid of social shame brought upon them by their child and neglect or avoid a diagnosis for their child's disorder. This becomes a vicious cycle that has negative effects on the affected individuals and their loved ones. Neglect of a diagnosis may also be caused by misinformation interpreted by the parents as their child develops. The parents do not realize this child developing outside of normal behavioral patterns. Years of research have been done to attempt to alleviate the symptoms of autism and cure the disorder. The Autism and Asperger's Program at ASU has developed a year-long dietary plan that increases supplementation to alleviate nutritional deficiencies in participants with autism. These deficiencies include vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, sulfate, carnitine, and digestive enzymes such as sucrase, maltase, and lactase. The participants were also put on a gluten-free casein-free diet toward the end of the study. To test the effectiveness of the treatment, the Severity of Autism Scale (SAS) and Social Responsiveness Scales (SRS) were used. The SAS tested the overall severity of ASD participants by rating them from one to ten, ten being "very severe" in terms of ASD symptoms. The results of this scale were compared at the beginning of the study (day 0) and at the end of the study (day 365). The SRS tested the social responsiveness of participants in the form of overall SRS and five subscales that included awareness, cognition, communication, motivation, and mannerisms. These results were also compared at the beginning and end of the study. After analysis of the data, there seemed to be no correlation between age and severity of autism/social responsiveness of participants. There was also no statistically significant data to suggest that there was a correlation between gender and severity of autism/social responsiveness of participants. However, there was statistically significant evidence that the treatment group did improve over the non-treatment/delayed treatment group in both the SAS and SRS. Neither age nor gender had a significant effect on the effectiveness of the treatment. These positive findings suggest that the integrated dietary
utritional therapy was beneficial, and future research on dietary treatments for autism and other disorders is recommended. This may also further discoveries of affected epigenomes with regards to nutritional treatments in disorders like ASD. The epigenome is the methylation and demethylation of the genome that mediates gene expression.
utritional therapy was beneficial, and future research on dietary treatments for autism and other disorders is recommended. This may also further discoveries of affected epigenomes with regards to nutritional treatments in disorders like ASD. The epigenome is the methylation and demethylation of the genome that mediates gene expression.
ContributorsGutgsell, Crystal Megan (Author) / Adams, James (Thesis director) / Pollard, Elena (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
This research investigates the whether dietary and nutritional treatments will improve some of the symptoms of autism. This treatment includes a combination of 6 nutritional and dietary treatments, which are vitamins/minerals, essential fatty acids, Epsom salts, carnitine, digestive enzymes, and healthy gluten-free, casein-free diet. 55 participants were involved in this study; 28 participants are in the Treatment Group and 27 participants in the Delayed Group. Data from the PDD-BI form, the ADOS form, the CARS form and the professional SAS form will be used in this thesis project for analyses. Factors analyzed are age, gender and severity [initial professional SAS data] and then correlating these factors with data from PDD-BI (autism composite score and each subscale), ADOS and CARS. The data analyses show that changing the dietary and nutritional needs of children/adults with autism improves the symptoms of autism (as rated by the PDD-BI) by approximately 22% in the treatment group vs. 3% in the non-treatment group, p<0.001. Overall, these results also suggest that the treatment is equally beneficial for males and females of varying age (young children to adult) and of all severity levels.
ContributorsLee, Chiao May (Author) / Adams, James B. (Thesis director) / Pollard, Elena (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
This is a study of the adaptive behaviors of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder using the Vineland II Adaptive Behavioral Scale (VABS-II). This scale was used to determine the overall functioning level of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder at the beginning, and will be used at the end, of a year-long study beginning at Arizona State University. This larger study is determining what the effects are, if any, of a combination of nutritional and dietary treatments in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. However, this paper only examines the VABS-II results of forty-three participants in the study, as well as their hand-grip strength. It was found that individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder are substantially delayed in all four domains (communication, daily living skills, social skills, and motor skills) of adaptive behaviors measured by the VABS-II, particularly in communication. This study will be completed in May 2013, when it will be determined what the effects of these treatments are, if any.
ContributorsAdams, Rebecca (Author) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Thesis director) / Krajmalnik-Brown, Rosa (Committee member) / Pollard, Elena (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2012-05
Description
This project examined the relationship of science teachers' knowledge about the laws relating to the teaching of creationism/evolution in public schools using multiple demographic factors. Overall, teachers correctly identified only 7 out of 10 "yes" or "no" answers about the laws, this score is only slightly better than the expected 5 out of 10 that would be obtained from guessing. Statistically significant results in differences in the overall score on the survey were found for three major variables. Teachers who say creationism should be taught in the classroom have a lower score than those who say it should not be taught in the classroom, with a large effect size. Teachers who teach biology or a life science had significantly higher scores than those who do not, with a small/medium effect size. Older teachers had significantly higher scores than younger teachers, with a small effect size. Identifying the demographic variables that effect teacher knowledge about the laws is the first step to determining how to educate teachers on the legality teaching of creationism/evolution in public school classrooms to avoid violations of the First Amendment.
ContributorsSorge, Aidan Bennet (Author) / Parker, John (Thesis director) / Lynch, John (Committee member) / School for the Future of Innovation in Society (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
My thesis, Arbitrary Samples: A Reflection on Boundaries, is a collection of poetry and prose that examines my individual perspective and interprets experiences that I have had in a way that also relates to collective experiences others may have had. I discuss the importance of art as a metaphoric medium. This is made most evident by the way I use poetry to channel emotions in inclusive manner and the way I use prose to re-evaluate pieces of my identity. I discuss the permanence of art and the ability art has to preserve and express memory. I also examine art's ability to express identity, and the necessity to separate the poetic voice from the personal identity of the writer. I go on to demonstrate the multiplicity of meanings often found in poetry, and the general subjectivity of poetic symbolism. My thesis is broken up into five sections, with five pieces of prose and twenty-four poems total. The topics I explore include, but are not limited to family illness, sexual identity, and domestic violence. The final section demonstrates the process of healing from certain experiences, and the ability to heal through writing. My thesis is a testament to both my English and History majors, and a reflection on the physical and psychological boundaries that exist in our everyday lives.
ContributorsAnderson, Julia Christine (Author) / Oberle, Eric (Thesis director) / Moody, David (Committee member) / Fonseca, Vanessa (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05