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This thesis aimed to develop a consistent protocol used to effectively image the apolipoprotein E (ApoE) ε4 allele, which is a known genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). The research team used methods to extract DNA from saliva samples, amplify the DNA using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and image

This thesis aimed to develop a consistent protocol used to effectively image the apolipoprotein E (ApoE) ε4 allele, which is a known genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). The research team used methods to extract DNA from saliva samples, amplify the DNA using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and image the results using gel electrophoresis and a transilluminator. Extensive literature review was used to optimize these techniques. Future studies will use these methods of characterizing the ApoE ε4 allele as preliminary work towards the goal of integrating this protocol into ongoing research in aging within the Motor Rehabilitation and Learning (MRL) Lab on Arizona State University’s campus.
ContributorsWorman, Drew (Author) / Schaefer, Sydney (Thesis director) / Lewis, Candace (Committee member) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
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Description
Weed, pot, chronic, kaya, and kush are just a few names for one of the world’s most far-reaching and impactful substances. This course is designed with inclusive teaching devices for students to explore how the roots of economies, cultures, and histories have been intertwined with the subsistence of a plant.

Weed, pot, chronic, kaya, and kush are just a few names for one of the world’s most far-reaching and impactful substances. This course is designed with inclusive teaching devices for students to explore how the roots of economies, cultures, and histories have been intertwined with the subsistence of a plant. We will explore the biological and chemical nature of cannabis, historical accounts of human interactions with cannabis, production and industries, medicinal and recreational applications, legal and criminal ramifications, as well as future directions for legislation and economic opportunities. This class is intended to provide you with past research and facts, paired with coverage of events and movements happening today, so that you can make well-informed decisions for your future. The goal of this class is to motivate students to approach the topic of cannabis from various thought perspectives, so they can critically develop both life science knowledge and social science understandings regarding this polarizing subject. At the end of the course, students should be able to 1) Describe the basic anatomy and biology of cannabis plants, and the effects of psychoactive strains of cannabis on humans, 2) Explain the effects of cannabis on U.S. culture, as well as how U.S. culture has shaped the status of cannabis, 3) Differentiate evidence-based arguments from opinions and anecdotal positions, 4) Evaluate the interconnectedness of history, economics, criminal justice, and social contexts as they relate to cannabis, and 5) Demonstrate the ability to integrate evidence-based understandings into creating and disseminating knowledge through structured conversations and organized presentations.
ContributorsMitchell, Jordan (Author) / Hinde, Katie (Thesis director) / Regenold, David (Committee member) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
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Description
Supply chain is changing. The focus has always been on information and how it is used to get a product to the right place at the right time. But now, there is a greater emphasis on speed. Speed in how information is transferred and how decisions are made. In the

Supply chain is changing. The focus has always been on information and how it is used to get a product to the right place at the right time. But now, there is a greater emphasis on speed. Speed in how information is transferred and how decisions are made. In the new era of Supply Chain 4.0, companies in every industry are in a race to use digital technologies to achieve this speed. These digital technologies include Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Internet of Things, and Blockchain.

The challenges that companies face when digitally transforming the supply chain can often be self-inflicted. This paper will address those challenges and provide a structured approach to a successful transformation. It will also share insight from interviews conducted with the CIO and directors of three different companies as well various studies from outside sources. The purpose is to urge business leaders to re-evaluate the way they approach digital transformation in the supply chain to close information gaps and provide value to the whole organization.
ContributorsRamesh, Sanjana (Author) / Davila, Eddie (Thesis director) / Blackmer, Cindie (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor, Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
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Description
This paper will discuss Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, a federal law that states: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or

This paper will discuss Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, a federal law that states: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal assistance”. The act was passed by the 92nd Congress of the Unites States, a legislative body comprised of only fifteen females out of all 535 representatives. The original act of legislation did not address athletics or sports at all, it was meant to promote gender equality for faculty and student enrollment among American educational institutions. It was not until 1973 that Congress began addressing the issue of athletic representation with the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. In 1987 the Civil Rights Restoration Act formally brought athletics within the scope of activities covered by Title IX. This addition requires athletic departments to comply with Title IX regulations based on gender representation, creating standards that must be met to prove institution’s athletic departments are complying with Title IX.
This paper seeks to prove that while Title IX has been successful in terms of providing opportunity for females to pursue intercollegiate sports, the opposite has become the case in terms of coaching and administrative roles. Instead, males have seized the positions that have opened up from the repercussions of Title IX, an unintended consequence that has severely limited a female’s ability to pursue a career in coaching or administrative sport. The growing prestige and salary that is awarded to head coaches of female teams has drawn attention and brought prestige to the position, urging male coaches to take on the role of coaching female teams. Meanwhile, females are not given the same opportunity to coach their male counterparts, creating an unfair advantage for males pursuing coaching careers. This therefore leaves women with a much more limited scope of opportunity for coaching positions, contributing to the unbalanced representation of male/female in sport.
ContributorsBelkoff, Corinne (Author) / Lynk, Myles (Thesis director) / Hoyt, Heather (Committee member) / Jackson, Victoria (Committee member) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
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Description
The following paper is a comparison between the Mercato di Sant’Ambrogio (Sant’Ambrogio Market) in Florence, Italy and the Open Air Farmers’ Market in Phoenix, Arizona. Farmers’ markets, such as these, serve to rekindle a relationship with food that over time has been lost, particularly due to the green revolution, globalisation,

The following paper is a comparison between the Mercato di Sant’Ambrogio (Sant’Ambrogio Market) in Florence, Italy and the Open Air Farmers’ Market in Phoenix, Arizona. Farmers’ markets, such as these, serve to rekindle a relationship with food that over time has been lost, particularly due to the green revolution, globalisation, and the mechanization of agriculture. In addition, farmers’ markets serve to foster relationships between community members and farmers, and they are an important element of a movement to create food sovereignty within local communities. Food sovereignty gives people the right to decide their food choices. In our modern system where many agricultural decisions are made by the government or large corporations, reclaiming food sovereignty is a larger effort to take back control of personal rights, individual health and the health of the environment.
Using Sant’Ambrogio and Open Air as case studies for the research, this paper provides insight on the degree of impact that local farmers’ markets can have on creating food sovereignty within communities; and how pre-existing factors and negative forces diminish the benefits of farmers’ markets and local food movements. Among many, some of these negative forces include the effects of social and cultural pressures that promote fast food and convenience; a broken agricultural system controlled by monopoly companies; industrial food items priced cheaper than small farmers can compete with; and an underscore of unethical behavior across all sectors (including organic and local) that inhibit honest farmers from making enough profit to survive.
The comparison between Sant’Ambrogio and Open Air Market indicates that big agriculture undermines the success of local farming movements in both countries, but Phoenix can still learn from the movement in Florence, which is rooted in a deep history of outdoor markets and rich food culture. Italy is fortunate in terms of their agriculture capacity because their climate allows for a diverse variety of crops; while Arizona does not have the same agricultural capacity as the Mediterranean climate of Italy, it is still valuable to mimic the network of local food systems that Italy has. In order to do so, Phoenician consumers should take advantage of the food that grows locally and then supplement it with more diverse crops from other areas of Arizona or the southwest.
The Open Air Market in Phoenix currently does not play an important role in the food system except for helping people to relate community and socialization to food. Transparency, communication and education are required to actually increase the success of small local farmers and to help the Open Air Market play a real role in the local food movement and the establishment of food sovereignty.
ContributorsAnderson, Layla (Author) / Vitullo, Juliann (Thesis director) / McGregor, Joan (Committee member) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
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Description

This study examined crayfish diet within varying hydrologic environment in lotic systems using stable isotope analysis of crayfish and basal resources to add depth to previous findings. Crayfish are numerous and are omnivorous, opportunistic feeders, feeding on invertebrates, vegetation and detritus. Arizona streams stand apart from the Eastern and Northwestern

This study examined crayfish diet within varying hydrologic environment in lotic systems using stable isotope analysis of crayfish and basal resources to add depth to previous findings. Crayfish are numerous and are omnivorous, opportunistic feeders, feeding on invertebrates, vegetation and detritus. Arizona streams stand apart from the Eastern and Northwestern aquatic ecosystems of the United States because Arizona has no native crayfish species. Two species have been introduced and become widely established in Arizona (Orconectes virilis and Procambarus clarkii), with concern for further introduction of crayfish species and more information on how these two species impact the native species in the streams is needed. Previous studies have focused on crayfish abundance with hydrologic variation and crayfish diets within a lentic system, but few have focused on how the diet of consumers varies with hydrologic variability. Crayfish are hardy and have a dramatically increasing population within Arizona and therefore inhabit systems with a wide range of hydrologic variability which may contribute to spatial variability. The results show that crayfish diets do show a significant level of seasonal variation in some study locations, in both C source and trophic level. Hydrologic variation was also shown to impact crayfish diet at several study sites, with increasing magnitude of event (both floods and droughts) correlating with a change toward more aquatic C sources and lower trophic position in several of the study sites. In some locations, the correlation was not as strong with variation and diet change and showed less change in C source and rather showed an increase in trophic position.

ContributorsThompson, Sara Nicole (Author) / Sabo, John L. (Thesis director) / Grimm, Nancy (Committee member) / Baruch, Ethan M. (Committee member) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
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Description
In cancer, various genetic and epigenetic alterations cause cancer cells to hyperproliferate and to bypass the survival and migration mechanisms that typically regulate healthy cells. The focal adhesion kinase (FAK) gene produces FAK, a protein that has been implicated in tumor progression in various cancers. Compared with normal tissue counterparts,

In cancer, various genetic and epigenetic alterations cause cancer cells to hyperproliferate and to bypass the survival and migration mechanisms that typically regulate healthy cells. The focal adhesion kinase (FAK) gene produces FAK, a protein that has been implicated in tumor progression in various cancers. Compared with normal tissue counterparts, FAK is overexpressed in many cancers. FAK is therefore a promising cancer drug target due to its demonstrated role in cancer invasion and metastasis and inhibition of FAK is important to achieve an optimal tumor response. Small molecule FAK inhibitors have been shown to decrease tumor growth and metastasis in several preclinical trials. However, these inhibitors focus narrowly on the enzymatic portion of FAK and neglect its scaffolding function, leaving FAK’s scaffolding of oncogenic drivers intact. Paxillin, a major focal adhesion-associated protein, binds to FAK, enabling it to localize to focal adhesions, and this is essential for FAK’s activation and function. Therefore, disrupting the protein-protein interaction between FAK and paxillin has been hypothesized to prevent tumor progression. The binding of FAK to paxillin at its focal adhesion targeting (FAT) domain is mediated by two highly conserved leucine-rich sequences, the leucine-aspartic acid (LD) motifs LD2 and LD4. The purpose of this project was to develop novel stapled LD2 peptide analogs that target the protein-protein interaction of FAT to LD2. Peptide stapling was performed to enhance the pharmacological performance of the LD2 peptide analogs. Based on the native LD2 peptide sequence, stapled LD2 peptide analogs were developed with the intent to improve efficacy of cell permeability, while maintaining or improving FAK binding. The LD2 peptide analogs were characterized via surface plasmon resonance, fluorescence polarization, immunofluorescence, and circular dichroism spectroscopy. Successful LD2 stapled peptide analogs can be therapeutically relevant inhibitors of the FAT-LD2 protein-protein interaction in cancer and have the potential for greater efficacy in FAK inhibition, proteolytic resistance, and cell permeability, which is key in preventing tumor progression in cancer.
ContributorsNott, Rohini (Author) / Gould, Ian R. (Thesis director) / Marlowe, Timothy A. (Committee member) / Cance, William G. (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
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Description
Long-acting reversible contraceptive methods (LARCs) are a class of highly effective contraceptive methods that includes the hormonal IUD, the copper IUD and the Implant. Despite pregnancy prevention prevailing as the primary motivation for contraceptive use and the pill’s lower effectiveness in actual use, the birth control pill is the most

Long-acting reversible contraceptive methods (LARCs) are a class of highly effective contraceptive methods that includes the hormonal IUD, the copper IUD and the Implant. Despite pregnancy prevention prevailing as the primary motivation for contraceptive use and the pill’s lower effectiveness in actual use, the birth control pill is the most commonly used method among people aged 18-24 years old. Through surveying 300 undergraduate female students from Arizona State University, we studied the impact of a visual resource, tiering methods by effectiveness, on the revision of likelihood of use for any contraceptive method and for LARCs in particular. We found that the visual resource significantly impacted likelihood of LARC use and that participants who cited pregnancy prevention as their only motivation for using a contraceptive method revised their likelihood of LARC use significantly more than participants who cited only hormonal benefit or more than one motivation.
ContributorsDries, Ellen Katherine (Author) / Zafar, Basit (Thesis director) / Green, Ellen (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
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This paper analyzes responses to a survey using a modified fourfold pattern of preference to determine if implicit information, once made explicit, is practically significant in nudging irrational decision makers towards more rational decisions. Respondents chose between two scenarios and an option for indifference for each of the four questions

This paper analyzes responses to a survey using a modified fourfold pattern of preference to determine if implicit information, once made explicit, is practically significant in nudging irrational decision makers towards more rational decisions. Respondents chose between two scenarios and an option for indifference for each of the four questions from the fourfold pattern with expected value being implicit information. Then respondents were asked familiarity with expected value and given the same four questions again but with the expected value for each scenario then explicitly given. Respondents were asked to give feedback if their answers had changed and if the addition of the explicit information was the reason for that change. Results found the addition of the explicit information in the form of expected value to be practically significant with ~90% of respondents who changed their answers giving that for the reason. In the implicit section of the survey, three out of four of the questions had a response majority of lower expected value answers given compared to the alternative. In the explicit section of the survey, all four questions achieved a response majority of higher expected value answers given compared to the alternative. In moving from the implicit to the explicit section, for each question, the scenario with lower expected value experienced a decrease in percentage of responses, and the scenario with higher expected value and indifference between the scenarios both experienced an increase in percentage of responses.
ContributorsJohnson, Matthew (Author) / Goegan, Brian (Thesis director) / Foster, William (Committee member) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
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This study examines four films from Sollosi’s 2018 list of the top fifteen grossing box office romantic comedies. The films analyzed include Crazy Rich Asians, The Proposal, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and Pretty Woman whose release dates range from 1990 to 2018. This study observes how these films seemingly

This study examines four films from Sollosi’s 2018 list of the top fifteen grossing box office romantic comedies. The films analyzed include Crazy Rich Asians, The Proposal, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and Pretty Woman whose release dates range from 1990 to 2018. This study observes how these films seemingly defy stereotypical gender roles, but more often reaffirm them by incorporating stereotypical characteristics. Stereotypical gender roles are expectations of gender that is based off of one’s sex, and stereotypical meaning a widely held and fixed idea or image of a person (Krijnen & Bauwel, 2015).
It is problematic for these films to be reaffirming stereotypical gender roles because of the influence forms of mass media can have on society. According to Hammer (2009), society learns what acceptable and normal roles are through mass media. The films in this study are not only portraying to society what exactly women’s roles are but also how women should be fulfilling those roles. Hall claims, “Stereotyping reduces people to a few, simple, essential characteristics, which are represented as fixed by Nature” (as cited in Krijnen & Bauwel, 2015, p.44). When films place women in stereotypical roles, and perpetuate the idea that the roles are fixed by Nature, they make it difficult for women to transition out of those roles in future films and, in turn, in life. In this study, categories of analysis derived from previous literature reviews as well as observation are used to identify specific roles that are being portrayed repeatedly throughout each film.
ContributorsGargano, Abbey (Author) / Barca, Lisa (Thesis director) / Mack, Robert (Committee member) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05