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- Creators: School of Politics and Global Studies
- Creators: Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program
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Description
Political polarization is at an all-time high in the United States and people are more polarized in their beliefs than ever. The issue of polarization is one of the most divisive conflicts in America today. The following honors thesis analyzes how political polarization affects voter emotions and behaviors. To study this, I expose participants to a high polarization news article and a low polarization news article and observe the results. Out of the test came two key findings. The first is that participants who identify as Independents were much more likely to feel inspiration in a high polarization context than in a low polarization context. The second is that in a high polarization condition, Democrat and Republican participants felt more connected to their own parties compared to the control condition.
ContributorsSharp, Harrison (Author) / Mandel, Naomi (Thesis director) / Eaton, Kathryn (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
In recent years, feminist activists have taken their fascination with and concern over access to period products in developing countries and diverted their attention to period poverty that exists in the United States. Backed by globalist approaches and the deep history of Menstrual Activism in the US, the Menstrual Equity Movement aims to make policy changes at the state and federal levels to ensure that all menstruators have the products they need to manage menstruation. This exploratory study aims to understand the experiences and attitudes about period poverty at Arizona State University’s campus. Undergraduate menstruators were asked to reflect on general, and on campus experiences with access to period products. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were utilized in conducting this research. This study concludes that menstruators’ education would benefit from having access to free period products in all bathrooms.
ContributorsRonning, Kirsten Elizabeth Mathison (Author) / Haskin, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Gemelli, Marcella (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
This project analyzes the use of fear appeals in transmitting a moral of self-realization in the drama Oedipus Rex and its adaptations into painting and film. It draws upon earlier work in media ecology, adaptation, and studies of emotions in media. It proposes that what distinguishes media from one another is the unique way that each medium stimulates the reader to draw from their own experiences with life and literature. Alternatively, what unites media is the cross platform assimilation of author and reader reality. More specifically, it asserts that print stimulates the reader via immersion, that painting achieves this same effect by acting as a proxy for the reader to embody the image before them, and that film stimulates the viewer as a result of emotive focus. Collectively, it concludes that when it comes to Oedipus and its many forms, the plays utilize fear to communicate the moral through both surface and dense texts, while painting adaptations focus on dense texts, and the filmic adaptations emphasize their surface equivalent. The project’s significance rests in its challenge to Marshal McLuhan’s technological determinism. On exposing the effects that a reader’s varied mindset can have on a medium’s ability to communicate its message, the project highlights that the relationship between humankind and media is not so deterministic and is more complex than McLuhan would have us believe.
ContributorsHerrera, Yoslin (Author) / Mack, Robert (Thesis director) / O'Neill, Joseph (Committee member) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Surface Mechanical Attrition Treatment (SMAT) is a process used to coat metallic alloy surfaces with a nanocrystallized layer via mechanical abrasion. SMAT has garnered a significant amount of interest from the scientific community as a surface treatment technique due to the ability of this fine grain top layer to provide several benefits to its constituent alloy, namely significantly higher hardness, fatigue strength, and most pertinently, greatly improved corrosion resistance. Emerging research suggests that SMAT can also be used to apply powder coatings onto target substrates. A given substrate can be installed in a ball mill, where stainless steel balls coated with pure elemental powder deliver sustained impact onto the substrate, embedding the powders onto its surface. This paper will explore the process of coating aluminum 7075 coating with chromium powder via SMAT, and the effects doing so will have on the corrosion resistance properties of the aluminum 7075. Traditionally, high-strength alloys have been treated with chromium via the process of electroplating, where the alloys are subjected to a hexavalent chromium plating procedure that is known to risk releasing toxic carcinogens into the environment. Coating these alloys with SMAT could minimize such negative externalities, while yielding benefits unique to the SMAT coating process itself. Baseline corrosion testing reveals that the corrosion resistance properties of the aluminum 7075 improved marginally when exposed to SMAT without the addition of any chromium powder. A literature review conducted in this paper of select studies on SMAT coating also demonstrates that material properties intrinsic to aluminum 7075 and pure chromium powder, as well as interaction effects occurring between aluminum and chromium when subjected to mechanical alloying, could enable the SMAT coating of aluminum 7075 with chromium to result in greatly enhanced corrosion resistance properties. While this was not accomplished within the duration of the Honors Project due to logistical difficulties brought forth by the COVID-19 epidemic, the baseline corrosion testing performed, as well as the literature review of studies directly relevant to the matter, should hopefully provide some information of value in any future exploration of the topic.
ContributorsMcManus, Matthew Harada (Co-author, Co-author) / Solanki, Kiran (Thesis director) / Beura, Vikrant (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Climate change, as it becomes more prevalent, is putting a much harsher strain on the resources of the world, specifically food, energy, and water. With this in mind, now is the time to make a change and begin working towards a more sustainable future for everyone. Arizona is an especially susceptible location that has the opportunity to be the leader of this change. In order to effectively manage this movement through governance, a food-energy-water nexus approach is required. This approach recognizes and accounts for the intricate relationships between these industries in order to promote more resilience and balance throughout the nexus. While the main focus in Arizona tends to be on water, and rightfully so, it is important to understand the intricacies of the food, energy, and water systems together. Right now, the system is fragile and needs a new, more complex approach. Ultimately, legislation that intertwines water rights with agriculture regulation and energy production goals, while also including equity and justice measures, have the capacity to work towards limiting the effects of climate change that Arizona will see. Arizona has the opportunity here to either provide a cautionary tale to other regions of how mismanagement can lead to destruction or can showcase the legislative success that the nexus governance approach can provide.
ContributorsKonopka, Violet (Author) / York, Abigail (Thesis director) / Richter, Jennifer (Committee member) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
We live in an era where the notion of feminism is widespread. Just walking on the Arizona State University campus, one can see people wearing t-shirts and holding coffee cups that say "FEMINIST," working from computers covered in stickers calling for gender equity. I, myself, am a feminist. On any given day, I fit in perfectly with many others on campus - sporting a t-shirt that says, "Raise Boys and Girls the Same Way," and lugging around my laptop covered in feminist propaganda stickers. I subscribe to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's definition of feminism. In essence, a feminist is "a person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes," regardless of religion, ethnicity, race, and class (Adichie, 2012). Through the lens of this definition and those like it, women have made many advancements (though there is still significant progress to be made in this arena, particularly for women of color) – more women participate in the workforce and education, women have gained greater autonomy over their bodies, and domestic responsibilities are, in many societies, no longer only assumed by women.
ContributorsFletcher, Rachel Aliya (Author) / Ali, Souad T. (Thesis director) / Gallab, Abdullahi A. (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor, Contributor, Contributor, Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / Watts College of Public Service & Community Solut (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
The paper analyzes the growing desire to use waste-to-energy strategies on municipal solid waste (MSW) to generate power. The two waste-to-energy technologies that will be explored are incineration and gasification. The background of these two technologies will be explained because incineration, which has been the pioneering technology for the past century, has come to be rivaled by gasification with its unique purification feature. Following this section, gasification and incineration power generation are studied to conclude which technology is sounder. This study will be conducted via an analysis to find the thermal and exergetic efficiencies and emissions of each. After analyzing the two technologies, both utilizing a vapor cogeneration power system, their efficiencies were found. For the gasification process, the thermal efficiency was 26% and the exergetic efficiency was 59%. The incineration process had a thermal efficiency of 25% and an exergetic efficiency of 55%. Lastly, the emission from the power generation of each method was explored to see which system had a greater impact on the environment. It was found that the primary emissions of these technologies were carbon dioxide and water.
ContributorsJackson, Cole Alan (Author) / Deng, Shuguang (Thesis director) / Milcarek, Ryan (Committee member) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Traumatic brain injuries and the effects they can bring are becoming the main focus among researchers and physicians. Cycling is the leading sport with the most traumatic brain injuries, but the design of the cycling helmet has stayed the same for decades now. The technology of a bike is constantly getting developed and testing but the helmet is lagging behind. This project consists of designing and testing different cycling helmets through ANSYS simulations to determine the ideal geometry and features a cycling helmet must include, reducing the stress that the head experiences upon impact during a fall.
ContributorsDorman, Kyle Joseph (Author) / Kosaraju, Srinivas (Thesis director) / Bacalzo, Dean (Committee member) / Murthy, Raghavendra (Committee member) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Advancements in the field of design and control of lower extremity robotics requires a comprehensive understanding of the underlying mechanics of the human ankle. The ankle joint acts as an essential interface between the neuromuscular system of the body and the physical world, especially during locomotion. This paper investigates how the modulation of ankle stiffness is altered throughout the stance phase of the gait cycle depending on the environment the ankle is interacting with. Ten young healthy subjects with no neurological impairments or history of ankle injury were tested by walking over a robotic platform which collected torque and position data. The platform performed a perturbation on the ankle at 20%, 40%, and 60% of their stance phase in order to estimate ankle stiffness and evaluate if the environment plays a role on its modulation. The platform provided either a rigid environment or a compliant environment in which it was compliant and deflected according to the torque applied to the platform. Subjects adapted in different ways to achieve balance in the different environments. When comparing the environments, subjects modulated their stiffness to either increase, decrease, or remain the same. Notably, stiffness as well as the subjects’ center of pressure was found to increase with time as they transitioned from late loading to terminal stance (heel strike to toe-off) regardless of environmental conditions. This allowed for a model of ankle stiffness to be developed as a function of center of pressure, independent of whether a subject is walking on the rigid or compliant environment. The modulation of stiffness parameters characterized in this study can be used in the design and control of lower extremity robotics which focus on accurate biomimicry of the healthy human ankle. The stiffness characteristics can also be used to help identify particular ankle impairments and to design proper treatment for individuals such as those who have suffered from a stroke or MS. Changing environments is where a majority of tripping incidents occur, which can lead to significant injuries. For this reason, studying healthy ankle behavior in a variety of environments is of particular interest.
ContributorsBliss, Clayton F (Author) / Lee, Hyunglae (Thesis director) / Marvi, Hamid (Committee member) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
The ASU Compact X-ray Free Electron Laser (CXFEL) is a first of its kind instrument that will illuminate the processes of life and allow scientists to create more effective treatments for disease. The dimensions of the linear accelerator (LINAC) cavities must remain stable during operation, for a change in the geometry alters the standing wave microwave energy resonance within the cavities and leads to reflected rather than coupled and useful microwave energy to electric field coupling. This disturbs the electron bunch acceleration dynamics critical to the ultimate generation of x-ray pulses. Cooling water must be supplied to the electron generating RF-GUN, and linear accelerator (LINAC) structures at unique flowrate and temperature setpoints that are specific to the operating mode of the CXFEL. Design specifications for the water supply to the RF-GUN and three LINACs and were made for the nominal operating mode, which adds a 3 kW heat load to the water. To maintain steady cavity dimensions, water must be supplied to each device under test at 30.0 ºC ± 0.06 ºC. The flowrate of water must be 3.5 GPM to the RF-GUN and 2.5 GPM to each of the three LINACs with ± 0.01 GPM flowrate resolution. The primary function of the Dedicated-Precision Thermal Trim Unit (D-PTTU) is to control the flowrate and temperature of water supply to each device under test. A simplified model of the system was developed to select valves that would meet our design specifications for flowrate and temperature control. After using this model for valve selection, a detailed system model was created to simulate relevant coupled-domain physics of the integrated system. The detailed system model was used to determine the critical sensitivities of the system and will be used to optimize the performance of the system in the future. Before the detailed system model can be verified and tuned with experiments, the sensors were calibrated in an ice-bath to ensure the sensors measure accurate and precise values. During initial testing, the D-PTTU was able to achieve ± 0.02 ºC temperature resolution, which exceeds the design specification by a factor of three.
ContributorsGardeck, Alex John (Author) / Holl, Mark (Thesis director) / Smith, Dean (Committee member) / Department of Physics (Contributor) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05