Living a healthy and balanced life can be difficult for college students at Arizona State<br/>University due to the barrier of high cost of healthy food. To understand more about this problem<br/>we conducted research on the Tempe campus through surveys and virtual focus groups. We<br/>discovered that the cost of healthy food is one of the main barriers preventing students from<br/>eating healthy. We also learned that the students would be more willing to eat healthier if they<br/>could access healthy foods at a more reasonable price. Our solution to this problem was Eunoia,<br/>a service that allows students to receive discounts on healthy food and incentivize them to eat<br/>healthier in the future. Our company creates an innovative relationship between our customers,<br/>their private health insurance companies and local grocery stores throughout the Phoenix Metro<br/>area. Students at Arizona State University will be able to purchase healthy food items discounted<br/>by up to 30%. These discounts will be funded by their health insurance companies as well as the<br/>local grocery stores they purchase from. Our business model allows our customers to live<br/>healthier lives while also providing value to partnered health insurance companies and grocery<br/>stores. Once we established our business model, we spoke with students at Arizona State<br/>University and representatives from health insurance companies. Through these demographics,<br/>we received positive feedback and early traction with our idea. Our goal is to be able to<br/>implement our product in the Arizona State University community and then expand this product<br/>into a more general market to help all people live a pure and balanced life.

Serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) with an X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) has enabled the determination of protein structures and protein reaction intermediates in millisecond to microsecond time resolutions. Mix-and-Inject crystallography (MISC) at XFELs enables fast mixing in the magnitude of milliseconds in order to achieve desired reaction time points. For these experiments, numerical simulations of a hydrodynamic flow mixer capable of fast mixing by diffusion has been developed using both COMSOL Multiphysics 5.6 and QuickerSims Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Toolbox for MATLAB. These simulation programs were compared by calculations of mixing times and concentration flow profiles. Mixing times in the range of 1-10 ms were calculated in COMSOL under certain flow rate conditions whereas mixing times in the range of 6-15 ms were calculated with QuickerSims. From these mixing times, reaction intermediates can be varied from sub-millisecond to several hundred millisecond time points for a MISC experiment. Explanations for the discrepancies between the two models were attributed to variations in parameter definitions and meshing. Further analysis on the mixing characteristics were investigated by calculating an analytical solution to the convection-diffusion equation for fluid flow in a two-dimensional rectangular channel. The concentration profile along the width of the channel for the analytical solution was compared with the numerical solution obtained with COMSOL and QuickerSims. Upon comparison, it was determined that the diffusion coefficient may not be a significant factor for the disagreement between the two hydrodynamic flow models.

Ants are widespread species of eusocial insects, and myrmecophily describes the species which are associated with ants. Many mites are myrmecophilous species and interact with hosts in many ways such as phoresis or parasitism. The relationship between ants and mites are interesting as parasitic species could be used to control the spread of invasive ant species. For this project, I reviewed the existing literature on myrmecophilous mites around the world and compiled a database of ant-mite associations, which I then used to characterize factors such as host specificity, attachment sites, and biogeographical patterns. This work demonstrates that existing research on myrmecophilous mites has been both geographically and taxonomically biased and highlights the need for much more comprehensive surveys of mites living in association with ants.

As much as SARS-CoV-2 has altered the way humans live since the beginning of 2020, this virus's deadly nature has required clinical testing to meet 2020's demands of higher throughput, higher accuracy and higher efficiency. Information technology has allowed institutions, like Arizona State University (ASU), to make strategic and operational changes to combat the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. At ASU, information technology was one of the six facets identified in the ongoing review of the ASU Biodesign Clinical Testing Laboratory (ABCTL) among business, communications, management/training, law, and clinical analysis. The first chapter of this manuscript covers the background of clinical laboratory automation and details the automated laboratory workflow to perform ABCTL’s COVID-19 diagnostic testing. The second chapter discusses the usability and efficiency of key information technology systems of the ABCTL. The third chapter explains the role of quality control and data management within ABCTL’s use of information technology. The fourth chapter highlights the importance of data modeling and 10 best practices when responding to future public health emergencies.

Apolipoprotein (ApoE) plays an important role in the transport of lipids in the brain for normal functioning. There are three different isoforms of ApoE which are coded for by three alleles (E2, E3, E4). Patients carrying at least one copy of ApoE E4 are known to be at higher risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and earlier onset of symptoms. This is due to the buildup of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles of the brain from the accumulation of tau proteins, which are associated with the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. However, findings on ApoE E2 have shown that it may be a protective allele since it is linked to a decreased risk of formation of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. To study this phenomenon within the context of a local population group, polymerase chain reaction and gel electrophoresis were conducted on extracted DNA samples. The principal goal in this research study was to genotype ApoE variants using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) specific primers, and polymerase chain reaction to analyze the frequency in the Tempe population to determine future healthcare needs.

For immigrants around the world, the United States represents hope for a new life and new opportunities. Colleen Vesely, Bethany Letiecq, and Rachael Goodman, in their article “Parenting Across Two Worlds: Low-Income Latina Immigrants’ Adaptation to Motherhood in the United States” provide examples of how real-world Latinx immigrant mothers view their experience in the United States. Many of the stories they include tell idealized versions of the American dream, what all people hope for when they immigrate to America. The immigrants they interviewed commonly talk about how they want to create a better life for their children and how by creating a better life for them it made the entire struggle worth it. Vesely, Letiecq, and Goodman do not just focus on the positives of immigration, they also explore the different barriers they must overcome in order to even try and achieve the ideal immigration experience they dream of. Cristina Henríquez perfectly embodies both the hopes and struggles of immigrants in her novel The Book of Unknown Americans (2015) by using the viewpoints of multiple immigrants to tell their specific immigration stories. This project uses Vesely, Letiecq, and Goodman’s article about the challenges of Latinx immigrant mothers’ experiences in the United States as a basis for my argument. In this thesis I postulate that motherhood, as it others women, has a negative impact on the ability of these Latinx immigrant mothers to create a place for themselves and feel a sense of belonging as depicted in Cristina Henríquez’s The Book Unknown of Americans (2015).

Colonialism is the practice of conquering lands of already established individuals for the<br/>greater good of Western civilization. These actions are often rooted in the idea that the ways of<br/>the indigenous people are almost primitive in comparison to the ways of the West. Many forms<br/>of modern-day oppression are rooted in the disastrous acts against marginalized groups during<br/>colonial eras. In discourse relating to colonialism, it is necessary that the topic of the sexualization of<br/>Native groups are mentioned. Sexualization can be referred to as the act of sexualizing both<br/>humans and objects that are not intended to be innately sexual.<br/>Many literary texts were written during the nineteenth century expose the trends of<br/>sexualization towards indigenous peoples. More specifically, Heart of Darkness brings light to<br/>colonialism and provides insight into the European man’s sexualization for the Native woman.<br/>Within the text, the sexualization for the Native Congo woman is undeniably present all<br/>throughout the novel. Within the novella, the main character, Marlow, is infatuated with many<br/>aspects of the Native culture. He takes a particular interest in the land, when describing the land<br/>he uses verbiage such as “impenetrable” to describe lands that have yet to be discovered by<br/>Westerners. He describes the ways in which he no longer finds interest in lands that have been<br/>“penetrated”. These sexual undertones of virginity used to describe the Native land can be<br/>compared to that of a Native woman. Various aspects of the Native culture were sexualized in<br/>this similar manner, the sexual perspective they had on the Native women was so strong that<br/>they viewed all aspects of the Native sexually due to their linkage to the Native woman. This<br/>thesis serves to address the sexual connections made between the land and culture of the Congo<br/>to the Native woman. Many scholars praise the author for including a Native woman of power<br/><br/>within the text, however, this thesis contradicts these claims and analyzes the ways in which this<br/>The native woman is only powerful due to the European male gaze.<br/><br/>to how Africans within the congo were treated during their colonial era. The text provides<br/>insight into the unhealthy environments the Africans were forced to live in. They were forced to<br/>eat hippo meat and many physically looked as if they were on the verge of death while their<br/>white counterparts were dressed in luxury. Additionally, there was carelessness for the bodies<br/>of the Africans. Many were oversexualized and taken advantage of, due to the power systems<br/>placed upon them they were unable to deny any advances even if they wanted to. These systems<br/>of oppression are still in place, literary analysis of the remnants of colonialism can be found<br/>through twentieth and twenty-first-century texts.

Background: Extreme heat is a public health challenge. The scarcity of directly comparable studies on the association of heat with morbidity and mortality and the inconsistent identification of threshold temperatures for severe impacts hampers the development of comprehensive strategies aimed at reducing adverse heat-health events.

Objectives: This quantitative study was designed to link temperature with mortality and morbidity events in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA, with a focus on the summer season.

Methods: Using Poisson regression models that controlled for temporal confounders, we assessed daily temperature–health associations for a suite of mortality and morbidity events, diagnoses, and temperature metrics. Minimum risk temperatures, increasing risk temperatures, and excess risk temperatures were statistically identified to represent different “trigger points” at which heat-health intervention measures might be activated.

Results: We found significant and consistent associations of high environmental temperature with all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, heat-related mortality, and mortality resulting from conditions that are consequences of heat and dehydration. Hospitalizations and emergency department visits due to heat-related conditions and conditions associated with consequences of heat and dehydration were also strongly associated with high temperatures, and there were several times more of those events than there were deaths. For each temperature metric, we observed large contrasts in trigger points (up to 22°C) across multiple health events and diagnoses.

Conclusion: Consideration of multiple health events and diagnoses together with a comprehensive approach to identifying threshold temperatures revealed large differences in trigger points for possible interventions related to heat. Providing an array of heat trigger points applicable for different end-users may improve the public health response to a problem that is projected to worsen in the coming decades.

Maricopa County, Arizona, anchor to the fastest growing megapolitan area in the United States, is located in a hot desert climate where extreme temperatures are associated with elevated risk of mortality. Continued urbanization in the region will impact atmospheric temperatures and, as a result, potentially affect human health. We aimed to quantify the number of excess deaths attributable to heat in Maricopa County based on three future urbanization and adaptation scenarios and multiple exposure variables.

Two scenarios (low and high growth projections) represent the maximum possible uncertainty range associated with urbanization in central Arizona, and a third represents the adaptation of high-albedo cool roof technology. Using a Poisson regression model, we related temperature to mortality using data spanning 1983–2007. Regional climate model simulations based on 2050-projected urbanization scenarios for Maricopa County generated distributions of temperature change, and from these predicted changes future excess heat-related mortality was estimated. Subject to urbanization scenario and exposure variable utilized, projections of heat-related mortality ranged from a decrease of 46 deaths per year (− 95%) to an increase of 339 deaths per year (+ 359%).

Projections based on minimum temperature showed the greatest increase for all expansion and adaptation scenarios and were substantially higher than those for daily mean temperature. Projections based on maximum temperature were largely associated with declining mortality. Low-growth and adaptation scenarios led to the smallest increase in predicted heat-related mortality based on mean temperature projections. Use of only one exposure variable to project future heat-related deaths may therefore be misrepresentative in terms of direction of change and magnitude of effects. Because urbanization-induced impacts can vary across the diurnal cycle, projections of heat-related health outcomes that do not consider place-based, time-varying urban heat island effects are neglecting essential elements for policy relevant decision-making.

Preventing heat-associated morbidity and mortality is a public health priority in Maricopa County, Arizona (United States). The objective of this project was to evaluate Maricopa County cooling centers and gain insight into their capacity to provide relief for the public during extreme heat events. During the summer of 2014, 53 cooling centers were evaluated to assess facility and visitor characteristics. Maricopa County staff collected data by directly observing daily operations and by surveying managers and visitors. The cooling centers in Maricopa County were often housed within community, senior, or religious centers, which offered various services for at least 1500 individuals daily. Many visitors were unemployed and/or homeless. Many learned about a cooling center by word of mouth or by having seen the cooling center’s location. The cooling centers provide a valuable service and reach some of the region’s most vulnerable populations. This project is among the first to systematically evaluate cooling centers from a public health perspective and provides helpful insight to community leaders who are implementing or improving their own network of cooling centers.