Matching Items (517)
Filtering by

Clear all filters

131923-Thumbnail Image.png
Description
Older adults tend to learn at a lesser extent and slower rate than younger individuals. This is especially problematic for older adults at risk to injury or neurological disease who require therapy to learn and relearn motor skills. There is evidence that the reticulospinal system is critical to motor learning

Older adults tend to learn at a lesser extent and slower rate than younger individuals. This is especially problematic for older adults at risk to injury or neurological disease who require therapy to learn and relearn motor skills. There is evidence that the reticulospinal system is critical to motor learning and that deficits in the reticulospinal system may be responsible, at least in part, for learning deficits in older adults. Specifically, delays in the reticulospinal system (measured via the startle reflex) are related to poor motor learning and retention in older adults. However, the mechanism underlying these delays in the reticulospinal system is currently unknown.

Along with aging, sleep deprivation is correlated with learning deficits. Research has shown that a lack of sleep negatively impacts motor skill learning and consolidation. Since there is a link between sleep and learning, as well as learning and the reticulospinal system, these observations raise the question: does sleep deprivation underlie reticulospinal delays? We hypothesized that sleep deprivation was correlated to a slower startle response, indicating a delayed reticulospinal system. Our objectives were to observe the impact of sleep deprivation on 1) the startle response (characterized by muscle onset latency and percentage of startle responses elicited) and 2) functional performance (to determine whether subjects were sufficiently sleep deprived).

21 young adults participated in two experimental sessions: one control session (8-10 hour time in bed opportunity for at least 3 nights prior) and one sleep deprivation session (0 hour time in bed opportunity for one night prior). The same protocol was conducted during each session. First, subjects were randomly exposed to 15 loud, startling acoustic stimuli of 120 dB. Electromyography (EMG) data measured muscle activity from the left and right sternocleidomastoid (LSCM and RSCM), biceps brachii, and triceps brachii. To assess functional performance, cognitive, balance, and motor tests were also administered. The EMG data were analyzed in MATLAB. A generalized linear mixed model was performed on LSCM and RSCM onset latencies. Paired t-tests were performed on the percentage of startle responses elicited and functional performance metrics. A p-value of less than 0.05 indicated significance.

Thirteen out of 21 participants displayed at least one startle response during their control and sleep deprived sessions and were further analyzed. No differences were found in onset latency (RSCM: control = 75.87 ± 21.94ms, sleep deprived = 82.06 ± 27.47ms; LSCM: control = 79.53 ± 17.85ms, sleep deprived = 78.48 ± 20.75ms) and percentage of startle responses elicited (control = 84.10 ± 15.53%; sleep deprived = 83.59 ± 18.58%) between the two sessions. However, significant differences were observed in reaction time, TUG with Dual time, and average balance time with the right leg up. Our data did not support our hypothesis; no significant differences were seen between subjects’ startle responses during the control and sleep deprived sessions. However, sleep deprivation was indicated with declines were observed in functional performance. Therefore, we concluded that sleep deprivation may not affect the startle response and underlie delays in the reticulospinal system.
ContributorsGopalakrishnan, Smita (Author) / Honeycutt, Claire (Thesis director) / Petrov, Megan (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
131938-Thumbnail Image.png
Description
Impostor syndrome is a psychological experience where an individual doubts their own successes and achievements, even with supporting evidence of their legitimate skill. Although there is plenty of research on impostor syndrome in the workplace and post-graduate programs, there is less information on undergraduate students especially at an inclusive, large,

Impostor syndrome is a psychological experience where an individual doubts their own successes and achievements, even with supporting evidence of their legitimate skill. Although there is plenty of research on impostor syndrome in the workplace and post-graduate programs, there is less information on undergraduate students especially at an inclusive, large, public university. As a student at ASU, I have both experienced and seen others experience a feeling of intellectual phoniness in classes which can lead to insecurity and fear of humiliation. Especially in students who are different than their peers, interacting with faculty and other students can cause unnecessary stress because they see themselves as underqualified.
My research will aim to address what impostor syndrome looks like at ASU and which groups of students are affected by it most. Impostor syndrome can manifest in insecurities and behaviors that make collegiate success more difficult, such as less class participation or a hesitation to attend office hours. Professors can inadvertently add to the issue by creating a classroom culture that caters more towards the traditional, often white male, student in their major, especially in majors where the faculty demographics are not similar to the student demographics. I hope that bringing light to impostor syndrome at ASU can help professors understand why some students may participate less or perform differently. Also, I want to help students who do experience insecurity or feel different understand what impostor syndrome is and that they are not alone in their experiences.
In particular, this study can shine light on areas of study that have less diversity. Many studies have indicated that STEM majors are extremely less diverse than national averages. The National Science Foundation found that woman only made up 30% of engineering and computer science degrees and racial minorities were less than 15% of engineering, math, and physical science degrees in 2013 (NSF, 2014). While pre-college interest may play a part in lower enrollment among traditionally underrepresented students, I believe that STEM professors must also take responsibility for encouraging or discouraging all students to continue studying after taking their classes. The results of my survey may indicate that some demographics feel uncomfortable speaking in class or attending offices hours, which are behaviors professors can go out of their way to make less intimidating.
ContributorsLevine, Olivia (Author) / Kittilson, Miki (Thesis director) / Simhony, Avital (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
131941-Thumbnail Image.png
Description
New genomic resources allow for the investigation of gene family diversity in genome-enabled reptiles. The Toll-like Receptor (TLR) gene family recognizes pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and coevolves with environmental pathogens which makes it a strong candidate for looking at the interplay between gene family diversification and host-pathogen coevolution. Using a

New genomic resources allow for the investigation of gene family diversity in genome-enabled reptiles. The Toll-like Receptor (TLR) gene family recognizes pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and coevolves with environmental pathogens which makes it a strong candidate for looking at the interplay between gene family diversification and host-pathogen coevolution. Using a new orthology curation pipeline and phylogenetic reconstruction, a novel gene expansion event of TLR8 was identified to be exclusive to crocodilians and chelonians with species-specific pseudogenization events. A new gene, TLR21-like, was identified as a part of the TLR11 subfamily. These findings uncover reptile-specific gene family evolution and provide indications of the role of habitat in this process.
ContributorsMorales, Matheo (Author) / Kusumi, Kenro (Thesis director) / Dolby, Greer (Committee member) / Scott, Peter (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
131817-Thumbnail Image.png
Description
There is a growing interest among policymakers and economists in quantifying the relationship between climate and economic output. Previous studies have demon- strated a clear relationship between temperature on economic growth but they generally do not report significant impacts of rainfall in regions outside of developing countries. Using gridded panel

There is a growing interest among policymakers and economists in quantifying the relationship between climate and economic output. Previous studies have demon- strated a clear relationship between temperature on economic growth but they generally do not report significant impacts of rainfall in regions outside of developing countries. Using gridded panel data, this paper estimates the effects of the number of days during the growing season with no rainfall on per capita gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the areas of the United States over the Ogallala and Mississippi Aquifers. Measuring precipitation in terms of growing season dry days instead of aggregate rainfall levels reveals a strong negative relationship between rainfall deficits and economic growth.
ContributorsMann, John (Author) / Hanemann, Michael (Thesis director) / Kuminoff, Nicolai (Committee member) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
131828-Thumbnail Image.png
Description
This study sought to replicate previous work in student conceptions of formal proofs based on informal arguments, originally explored by Zazkis et al. (2016). Additional tasks were added to the experiment to produce new data that could further verify the analysis of Zazkis et al. (2016) as well as provide

This study sought to replicate previous work in student conceptions of formal proofs based on informal arguments, originally explored by Zazkis et al. (2016). Additional tasks were added to the experiment to produce new data that could further verify the analysis of Zazkis et al. (2016) as well as provide more insight into how students comprehend proofs, what types of mistakes occur, and why. Results from one-on-one interviews confirmed that some students were not able to make accurate informal to formal comparisons because they were not considering multiple facets of the problem. Additionally, patterns in the students’ analysis introduced more questions concerning the motivations behind what students choose to think about when they read and dissect proofs.
ContributorsPeng, Tina (Author) / Zazkis, Dov (Thesis director) / Roh, Kyeong Hah (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor, Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Computing and Informatics Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
131546-Thumbnail Image.png
Description
The current observable universe is made of matter due to baryon/antibaryon asymmetry. The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment is an international experiment through the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory that will study neutrinos. In this study, the detection efficiency for low energy supernova neutrinos was examined in order to improve energy reconstruction

The current observable universe is made of matter due to baryon/antibaryon asymmetry. The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment is an international experiment through the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory that will study neutrinos. In this study, the detection efficiency for low energy supernova neutrinos was examined in order to improve energy reconstruction for neutrino energies less than 40 MeV. To do this, supernova neutrino events were simulated using the LarSoft simulation package with and without background. The ratios between the true data and reconstructed data were compared to identify the deficiencies of the detector, which were found to be low energies and high drift times. The ratio between the true and reconstructed data was improved by applying the physical limits of the detector. The efficiency of the improved ratio of the clean data was found to be 93.2% and the efficiency of the improved ratio with the data with background was 82.6%. The study suggests that a second photon detector at the far wall of the detector would help improve the resolutions at high drift times and low neutrino energies.
ContributorsProcter-Murphy, Rachel Grace (Co-author) / Procter-Murphy, Rachel (Co-author) / Ritchie, Barry (Thesis director) / LoSecco, John (Committee member) / School of Earth and Space Exploration (Contributor) / Department of Physics (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
131561-Thumbnail Image.png
Description
In this project, we created a code that was able to simulate the dynamics of a three site Hubbard model ring connected to an infinite dissipative bath and driven by an electric field. We utilized the master equation approach, which will one day be able to be implemented efficiently on

In this project, we created a code that was able to simulate the dynamics of a three site Hubbard model ring connected to an infinite dissipative bath and driven by an electric field. We utilized the master equation approach, which will one day be able to be implemented efficiently on a quantum computer. For now we used classical computing to model one of the simplest nontrivial driven dissipative systems. This will serve as a verification of the master equation method and a baseline to test against when we are able to implement it on a quantum computer. For this report, we will mainly focus on classifying the DC component of the current around our ring. We notice several expected characteristics of this DC current including an inverse square tail at large values of the electric field and a linear response region at small values of the electric field.
ContributorsJohnson, Michael (Author) / Chamberlin, Ralph (Thesis director) / Ritchie, Barry (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Physics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
131319-Thumbnail Image.png
Description
Arizona State University (ASU) has experienced an increase of sexually transmitted infections, has a reputation of a large population of students with sexually transmitted infections, and does not provide any form of required sexual health education to its students in order to reduce this health risk. This study conducted focus

Arizona State University (ASU) has experienced an increase of sexually transmitted infections, has a reputation of a large population of students with sexually transmitted infections, and does not provide any form of required sexual health education to its students in order to reduce this health risk. This study conducted focus group research amongst ASU female students to determine their opinions, experience, and comfort level with sexual health education information as well as their opinion of an ASU mandated sexual health education module. The research showed a desire for more information on sexuality, psychology, hormones, anatomy, and sexually transmitted infections. The participants also expressed support for an ASU sexual health training module though there was debate as to whether or not to make the module mandatory.
The ASU student body is primarily young students who are making some of the first adult decisions of their lives and the majority have come from backgrounds lacking in sexual health education. The way to ensure the health and safety of these students is to give them the information they need to make educated decisions regarding their health and their relationships. This thesis concludes that ASU should mandate a sexual health education training module in the form of a semester long class, in-person or online, with small classes of 5-15 students each in order to improve the health of the ASU community.
ContributorsCoen, Michelle Elizabeth (Author) / Gaughan, Monica (Thesis director) / Koskan, Alexis (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
131340-Thumbnail Image.png
Description
Burnout in healthcare professionals is a widely documented trend. Individuals in healthcare may be at more of a risk for occupational burnout due to a variety of factors; including, long hours, time away from family, and patient relations (West, 2018). The result of chronic burnout can lead to a plethora

Burnout in healthcare professionals is a widely documented trend. Individuals in healthcare may be at more of a risk for occupational burnout due to a variety of factors; including, long hours, time away from family, and patient relations (West, 2018). The result of chronic burnout can lead to a plethora of adverse health effects which include cardiovascular disease, depression, substance abuse, etc. (West, 2018). Previous research conducted has demonstrated exercise’s ability to mitigate burnout in healthcare physicians. Different forms of acute aerobic exercise have the ability to, “Facilitate subjective emotional recovery from a subsequent stressor” (Bernstein, 2017). To better understand the role that exercise plays in the lives of medical professionals, a survey was conducted in person and through phone to a sample group that included physicians, nurses, physician assistants, and medical students. It was shown that individuals who reported a higher level of burnout experienced did not spend as much time exercising on average. The results also reveal that older individuals did not spend as much time exercising. Exercise’s tremendous potential cannot be limited to younger healthcare professionals. It will be demonstrated that the use of daily aerobic exercise can be implemented across a wide variety of different healthcare professionals to aid with mental and physical well-being.
ContributorsNguyen, Ethan (Author) / Hoffner, Kristin (Thesis director) / Cory, John (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
131135-Thumbnail Image.png
Description
Accurate pose initialization and pose estimation are crucial requirements in on-orbit space assembly and various other autonomous on-orbit tasks. However, pose initialization and pose estimation are much more difficult to do accurately and consistently in space. This is primarily due to not only the variable lighting conditions present in space,

Accurate pose initialization and pose estimation are crucial requirements in on-orbit space assembly and various other autonomous on-orbit tasks. However, pose initialization and pose estimation are much more difficult to do accurately and consistently in space. This is primarily due to not only the variable lighting conditions present in space, but also the power requirements mandated by space-flyable hardware. This thesis investigates leveraging a deep learning approach for monocular one-shot pose initialization and pose estimation. A convolutional neural network was used to estimate the 6D pose of an assembly truss object. This network was trained by utilizing synthetic imagery generated from a simulation testbed. Furthermore, techniques to quantify model uncertainty of the deep learning model were investigated and applied in the task of in-space pose estimation and pose initialization. The feasibility of this approach on low-power computational platforms was also tested. The results demonstrate that accurate pose initialization and pose estimation can be conducted using a convolutional neural network. In addition, the results show that the model uncertainty can be obtained from the network. Lastly, the use of deep learning for pose initialization and pose estimation in addition with uncertainty quantification was demonstrated to be feasible on low-power compute platforms.
ContributorsKailas, Siva Maneparambil (Author) / Ben Amor, Heni (Thesis director) / Detry, Renaud (Committee member) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05