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- Creators: Harrington Bioengineering Program
- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
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Description
Immigrant families expect their children to go above and beyond since they have access to better facilities and opportunities in comparison to their home land. In my autobiographical works of art for my Barrett Honors Thesis project, I explore how my family has become more Americanized, yet still holds traditional values. I’ve focused on how differences in culture have molded different sets of morals between my parents, me, and my sibling. My series of graphite drawings on paper are a collection of milestones in my life. It may not be a completely fluid timeline but all the important points are present and the viewer can ponder what happened in snapshots of my life. The difference in culture is depicted through representations of clothing, posture, praying, religion, and subjects.
ContributorsChu, Amanda R (Author) / Hogden, Heidi (Thesis director) / Green, Heather (Committee member) / Materials Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Genetic engineering, a development in science and technology that has enabled the genetic modification of crops among other organisms since the 1970s, has stirred heated debate among various stakeholders in the issue. This struggle is one consisting of two sides set in their own beliefs, refusing to even consider the validity of any opposition. As a result, it is difficult to establish common ground and attempt to develop policies and practices that can best suit all members involved while still being able to utilize a breakthrough technology in beneficial ways to society. This research project was conducted upon one particular case in the timeline of genetic modification of crops: the introduction of the Rainbow papaya in Hawaii in 1998 and its subsequent ramifications. The goal was to establish a more detailed understanding of the landscape of a debate that can appear to be based mainly upon the science of genetic engineering. Upon analysis of 22 news articles spanning the years 1999-2019 it was determined that the types of arguments themselves, both in favor of and against GM, fall into a wide range of categories that span much more than simply the science. Arguments both in favor and in opposition are nuanced and actually often seek similar end goals. There is potential to utilize these common goals and priorities in productive ways once stakeholders in the debate are aware of them. Finding commonalities will enable progress in the safe, effective implementation of a technology that has the potential to provide immense benefit in various ways in a manner that considers all perspectives involved.
ContributorsCartwright, Avery (Author) / Frow, Emma (Thesis director) / Bowman, Diana (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Despite its well-documented preference for much more humid climates, the yellow fever mosquito, or Aedes aegypti, has inhabited Arizona since 1951. Their presence is of great concern as they can transmit many deadly diseases, including yellow fever, chikungunya, Zika, and dengue fever, putting the residents of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area at risk. Maricopa County Vector Control has made an extensive effort to reduce this risk mainly through the act of fogging insecticides during the night in areas where mosquito numbers exceed a threshold. However, given the well-known temperature-toxicity relationships in insect species, fogging at night may be less or more effective —depending on the relationship— due to the colder temperatures at these times. Additionally, insecticide resistance testing has always been performed at temperatures not usually experienced during fogging, adding to the uncertainty on how useful those test outcomes are. This study took the first steps in determining the effects of temperature on the toxicity of a commonly used insecticide, deltamethrin, on Aedes aegypti by developing a dose response curve on a lab strain at a standard lab temperature of 25°C by performing a CDC bottle bioassay. The diagnostic dose was found to be 50 μg/mL and the lethal dose, 50% (LD50, the dose required to kill half of the test mosquitoes) was found to be 9 μg/mL. Future testing would need to be completed to compare the deltamethrin dose response curve developed in this study with deltamethrin dose response curves at various different temperatures.
ContributorsEl Sheikha, Mariam D (Co-author) / El Sheikha, Mariam (Co-author) / Paaijmans, Krijn (Thesis director) / Huijben, Silvie (Committee member) / Kalmouni, Joshua (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Preeclampsia is a condition which arises during pregnancy and can lead to serious, even fatal, complications for the mother and baby. Annually, preeclampsia is responsible for about 50,000 total deaths worldwide, and countless other complications for both the mother and fetus. While high blood pressure and protein in the urine are key features, symptoms vary widely, and thus understanding, diagnosing, and treating the condition is of paramount importance. Due to the correlation between preeclampsia and high blood pressure, multiple groups have studied the role of angiogenic growth factors and preeclampsia. We performed an advanced PubMed search to select studies with both preeclampsia and VEGF, a key growth factor for angiogenesis, in the title. The results of examining a total of 65 articles led to the formation of this review article to articulate the studies as a whole and state of the research on VEGF and preeclampsia to date.
ContributorsBoos, Kelsey (Author) / Burnsed, Olivia (Thesis director) / Vernon, Brent (Committee member) / Collins, Jason Mitchell (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Over the past 30 years the use of graphene has been increasing at a rapid rate. The reason why graphene has become more popular is because it is starting to be understood better, and researchers are starting to recognize graphene’s unique properties. Graphene is a single atomic layer of graphite, and graphite is a three-dimensional cube base structure of carbon. Graphite has a high conductivity rate, and graphene has an even higher conductivity, meaning that graphene makes for an excellent resistor in any hardware system. Graphene is flexible, has high durability, and can vary in resistance based on its shape (Sharon 2015). With graphene being able to change its resistivity, it can act as different types of sensors. These sensors include measuring pressure, resistance, force, strain, and angle. One problem across the globe is that patients have arthritis, decaying bone density, and injuries which can easily go mistreated or not treated at all. It can be hard to determine the severity of injuries in joints by observation of the patient. There are tools and equipment that will allow a doctor to track the force and degrees of motion of certain joints, but they are mostly limited to hospitals. With graphene acting as a sensor it can be embedded into casts, braces, and even clothing. With a mobile sensor that relays accurate and continuous data to a doctor they can more precisely determine a therapy or recovery time that will better suit the patients’ needs. In this project the graphene was used to measure the angle of a patient’s wrist while they were wearing a wrist brace. From the data collected, the graphene was able to track the user’s movement of their wrist as they moved it in a single direction. The data showed the angle of the wrist ranging from zero degrees to 90 degrees. This proves that graphene can shape the way biosensing is accomplished. Biodynamics is a growing field, and with more injuries everyday it is important to study graphene and how it can be used to diagnose and prevent injuries related to joints. Graphene can be used as a biosensor which can then be implemented into a brace to allow for accurate biodynamic tracking.
ContributorsSweeten, William (Author) / Lockhart, Thurmon (Thesis director) / Helms Tillery, Stephen (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
A major challenge with tissue samples used for biopsies is the inability to monitor their molecular quality before diagnostic testing. When tissue is resected from a patient, the cells are removed from their blood supply and normal temperature-controlled environment, which causes significant biological stress. As a result, the molecular composition and integrity undergo significant change. Currently, there is no method to track the effects of these artefactual stresses on the sample tissue to determine any deviations from the actual patient physiology. Without a way to track these changes, pathologists have to blindly trust that the tissue samples they are given are of high quality and fit for molecular analysis; physicians use the analysis to make diagnoses and treatment plans based on the assumption that the samples are valid. A possible way to track the quality of the tissue is by measuring volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released from the samples. VOCs are carbon-based chemicals with high vapor pressure at room temperature. There are over 1,800 known VOCs within humans and a number of these exist in every tissue sample. They are individualized and often indicative of a person’s metabolic condition. For this reason, VOCs are often used for diagnostic purposes. Their usefulness in diagnostics, reflectiveness of a person’s metabolic state, and accessibility lends them to being beneficial for tracking degradation. We hypothesize that there is a relationship between the change in concentration of the volatile organic compounds of a sample, and the molecular quality of a sample. This relationship is what would indicate the accuracy of the tissue quality used for a biopsy in relation to the tissue within the body.
ContributorsSharma, Nandini (Co-author) / Fragoso, Claudia (Co-author) / Grenier, Tyler (Co-author) / Hanson, Abigail (Co-author) / Compton, Carolyn (Thesis director) / Tao, Nongjian (Committee member) / Moakley, George (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
This thesis explores the introduction of Virgil Ortiz’s traditional Cochiti pueblo ceramic techniques and iconic imagery into the world of contemporary atmospheric high fired ceramics. Virgil is a multidimensional artist who has been working in ceramics since the age of 12, practicing the traditional hand building and decoration methods of his ancestral pueblo (1 traditional work) . In recent years, Virgil has begun to explore the use of modern materials and firing techniques in order to further his work and break into the contemporary ceramics community (2 modern materials). Virgil’s style is very figurative, sculpting human and human-like figures, and illustrating large vessels in the Cochiti traditional style, while incorporating his own characters, story lines and social commentaries.
Virgil and I met in 2019 while Virgil was performing a ceramics demo at the ASU Ceramics facilities. We collaborated on Virgil’s first line of completely handmade functional wares for his collaborative show at the ReVOlt gallery for Indian Market, Santa Fe 2019. In 2020, Virgil came to ASU as a visiting artist faculty and began work on larger pieces using more sculptural clays and exploring internal support structures under the guidance of myself and artist Ben Jackel. Seeing this large work and the opportunity to build on this, renowned art critic and appraiser Peter Held brought myself and Virgil to Reitz Ranch Center for Ceramic Arts, the former studio and home of Don Reitz. Don was an American master, building huge vessels and sculptures and firing them in salt, soda and wood kilns built on his property. He built a particularly larger Anagama style kiln, deemed the Reitz-agama, which measures 60in tall and 30 feet deep, specifically to be able to wood fire his massive wares. Don’s work is visceral and emotional, made with a heavy hand and minimally glazed, allowing for the buildup of wood ash and salt from the atmospheric firings to complete their surfaces. The ranch still holds all of his kilns, and hundreds of his pieces from years of success and failures. The owner of the ranch Sheryl Leigh-Devault, and Don’s former assistant Ben Roti, invited Virgil and I up to work at the ranch any time we wanted during this visit, and due to the closures of ASU studios and a desire to push our work together further than we ever had before, we orchestrated a week visit. This week visit developed into two weeks, and had since developed further into a one and a half month short term quarantine residency.
Virgil and I met in 2019 while Virgil was performing a ceramics demo at the ASU Ceramics facilities. We collaborated on Virgil’s first line of completely handmade functional wares for his collaborative show at the ReVOlt gallery for Indian Market, Santa Fe 2019. In 2020, Virgil came to ASU as a visiting artist faculty and began work on larger pieces using more sculptural clays and exploring internal support structures under the guidance of myself and artist Ben Jackel. Seeing this large work and the opportunity to build on this, renowned art critic and appraiser Peter Held brought myself and Virgil to Reitz Ranch Center for Ceramic Arts, the former studio and home of Don Reitz. Don was an American master, building huge vessels and sculptures and firing them in salt, soda and wood kilns built on his property. He built a particularly larger Anagama style kiln, deemed the Reitz-agama, which measures 60in tall and 30 feet deep, specifically to be able to wood fire his massive wares. Don’s work is visceral and emotional, made with a heavy hand and minimally glazed, allowing for the buildup of wood ash and salt from the atmospheric firings to complete their surfaces. The ranch still holds all of his kilns, and hundreds of his pieces from years of success and failures. The owner of the ranch Sheryl Leigh-Devault, and Don’s former assistant Ben Roti, invited Virgil and I up to work at the ranch any time we wanted during this visit, and due to the closures of ASU studios and a desire to push our work together further than we ever had before, we orchestrated a week visit. This week visit developed into two weeks, and had since developed further into a one and a half month short term quarantine residency.
ContributorsSmith, Andrew Walton Lee (Author) / Chung, Samuel (Thesis director) / Ortiz, Virgil (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / School of Art (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
In terms of overall athleticism, other than the obvious extremities that take on more skillful duties in performance (arms, legs, fingers ie.), the back, specifically lower, is pivotal in athletic movement. The main bolstering force in the lower back is the lumbar vertebrae, which on the upper end are connected to the thoracic portion of the spine, and on the lower end transform into the various processes of the sacrum. The lower back is highly involved in bending and stabilizing during athletic movement, while also being favorably responsible for not only producing but absorbing force as well. Men’s Football has the highest rate of occurrence in injuries compared to all other collegiate sports (Hassebrock 2019). This is a product of the various specificities of the game of football such as groundbreaking speed and strength, along with some psychological group-centered constructs. In survey findings, 83% healthcare professionals say that the best active treatment plan is strengthening the core muscles. While in terms of natural and technological treatments like acupuncture, contrast immersion, and electrical stimulation, there wasn’t a definitive methodology proven to be superior to the others. Allowing for the healthcare professional to be creative in their combination of treatments, as long as core strengthening is primarily targeted.
ContributorsWilliams, Kyle Ellis (Author) / Vernon, Brent (Thesis director) / Chhabra, Anikar (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Should choreographing a dance routine be completely subjective or should it include some objective assessment? Dance is a performing art with the purpose of expressing an emotion or idea. In literature, dance is approached from solely the artistic side, using principles of art like movement, pattern, and rhythm. Art and science are often pinned against one another; art is considered subjective while science considered objective. Art tries to express knowledge while science aims to acquire knowledge. However, the two disciplines relate in their effort to understand the world. Although their intended audiences are contrasting, their goals are essentially the same. Considering this relation, my thesis will use both art and science to quantify elements of pom routines to create objective data to be used in the subjective choreography process. My project will look at the collegiate dance world and assess routines that have placed well at UDA College Dance Team National Championships. This research investigates how inclusion of certain elements adds value to the pom routines performed. I will then take what I have analyzed and gathered from extensive research on these successful routines and choreograph my own routine for my college dance team to compete in the 2020 UDA College Dance Team National Championship. With proper preparation and inclusion of the correct elements that were found in other winning routines, the Arizona State University Dance Team will place well and better than last year’s eighth place.
ContributorsHolland, Haylee Aliyah (Author) / Hudson, James G. (Thesis director) / Caryl, Bianca (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Advancements in healthcare and the emergence of an aging population has led to an increase in the number of prosthetic joint procedures in the United States. According to Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, 660,876 and 348,970 total hip and knee arthroplasties were performed in 2014[1].The percentage of total hip or knee procedures that are revised due to an infection is 1.23% and 1.21% respectively[3], [4]. Although the percent of infections may be small, an infection can have a tremendous burden on the patient and healthcare system. It is expected that prosthetic joint infections (PJIs) will cost the healthcare system an estimated $1.62 billion by 2020[5]. PJIs are often difficult to treat due to the formation of biofilm at the site of the infection. A large majority of PJIs are the result of a bacterial biofilm, but around 1% of PJIs are due to fungal infections[3]. The current method of treatment is to surgically remove all infected tissue at the site of infection through a process called debridement and then insert a medicated bone cement spacer[7], [10]–[12]. One such medication that is loaded into the bone cement is caspofungin, a member of the echinocandin class of compounds that inhibit the synthesis of 1,3-β-D-glucan which is a crucial element of the cell wall of the target fungi[13]–[15]. For the studies reported herein, the caspofungin-loaded bone cement samples were made at 5 dosage strengths according to standard operating room practices. The elution of the drug was analyzed using ultraviolet spectrophotometry. The elution profiles were analyzed for 19 days consecutively, during which the 70 mg, 1 g, and 5 g dosage groups showed a prolonged, sustained release of the caspofungin. The 70 mg and 1 g dosage cumulative mass release profiles were not statistically significant, but it is unlikely that the difference would not have a clinical significance especially in the treatment of a fungal biofilm infection. The determination of the elution profile for caspofungin from loaded-bone cement can provide clinicians with a basis for how the drug will release into the infected joint.
ContributorsMoore, Rex C. (Author) / Vernon, Brent (Thesis director) / Overstreet, Derek (Committee member) / Industrial, Systems & Operations Engineering Prgm (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05