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- Creators: School of Sustainability
- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Description
A niche group of non-traditional sports have grown in popularity over the course of most of the last century but especially in the last few decades. Adventure sports provide alternative forms of physical activity typically involving elements of nature, speed, adrenaline, and physical risk. These sports often take place in remote locations, require specialized equipment, and receive limited exposure to those that are not participants. There are many factors that contribute to limited participation within adventure sports but their popularity has continued to grow. Participants frequently devote much of their time, effort, and money showing a true passion for their sport. A case study on water skiers was performed to learn more about adventure sports and their participants. A detailed description of competitive water skiing is included because the competition format is not widely known. It was found that there are a number of reasons why people competitively water ski. The main ones are the unique sensations it offers, the water ski community, and the environment in which it takes place. It is a tough sport to become involved because of the costs, time commitments, access to lakes, and lack of knowledgeable skiers willing to mentor beginners. Although for different reasons, all respondents seemed to truly love the sport. People participate in adventure sports because of the unique aspects and opportunities involved with sports of this nature. The second portion is a coaching guide on all three events, driving, and judging including video examples of all but very high difficulty tricks. These tips and advice have been derived from fifteen years of experience with competitive water skiing. There is no single way to water ski but this is what one skier has found to help at each stage of improvement. It could not have been accomplished without the unimaginable amount of support received from family, coaches, and friends. It is always better to be watched by a coach but that is not always possible. This guide will give skiers a starting point for what to think about to help them figure out how to continue to improve in all three events. With the necessary time, resources, ambition, and circumstances; a small group of people who know nothing about water skiing could learn to become high performance competitors. It will be left with Sun Devil Water Ski Club to help future skiers who do not always have another skier to help teach them.
ContributorsMechler, Mason Charles (Author) / Chhetri, Nalini (Thesis director) / Yesenski, Tara (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
As the prevalence of childhood obesity in the United States rises, opportunities for children to be physically active become more vital. One opportunity for physical activity involves children walking to and from school. However, children that live in areas with a pedestrian-unfriendly built environment and a low degree of walkability are less likely to be physically active and more likely to be overweight. The purpose of this study was to study walking routes from schools in low-income neighborhoods in Southwestern United States to a local community center. Walking routes from the three study schools (South Mountain High School, Percy Julian Middle School, and Rose Linda Elementary School) were determined by distance, popularity, and the presence of a major thoroughfare. Segments and intersections, which formed the routes, were randomly selected from each school's buffer region. The walking routes as a whole, along with the segments and intersections, were audited and scored using built environment assessments tools: MAPS, PEQI and Walkability Checklist. These scores were utilized to develop interactive mapping tools to visualize the quality of the routes, segments and intersections and identify areas for improvement. Results showed that the routes from Percy Julian to the Kroc Center were, overall, rated higher than routes from the other two schools. The highest scoring route, from the seven routes studied, was route 2 from Percy Julian to the Kroc Center along Broadway Road. South Mountain High School was overall the worst starting point for walking to the Kroc Center as those three walking routes were graded as the least walkable. Possible areas for improvement include installing traffic calming features along major thoroughfares and reducing the perceived risk to pedestrian safety by beautifying the community by planting greenery. Future directions include studying the built environment in South Phoenix communities that surround the Kroc Center.
ContributorsZeien, Justin Lee (Author) / Buman, Matthew (Thesis director) / Hekler, Eric (Committee member) / Fellows, Brian (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Maternal health and mental health have recently become globally recognized as critical areas of focus. The continued research into the relationship between maternal health and mental health—in particular, how they are affected by public policy and infrastructure—is vital to the improvement of general health outcomes. An investigation of literature, current health landscape and indicators, gray literature, and the current policy landscape in an exemplar country (Australia), Bangladesh and Nepal was done. Bangladesh and Nepal were chosen due to the recent amounts of change seen in each country’s maternal health status. Both Bangladesh and Nepal are severely lacking in official mental health services, facilities, and personnel. The analysis revealed flaws and disparities in each country’s current policy landscape. Despite these disparities it should be recognized that policies and programs are being implemented – just in a very piecemeal manner, and not entirely by each country’s respective government. Integration of maternal health services and mental health services is recommended to improve functionality of already existing services. The addition of minimal but necessary components to health systems is recommended.
ContributorsCiampaglio, Kaitlyn Rae (Author) / Gaughan, Monica (Thesis director) / Hagaman, Ashley (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Derived from the idea that the utilization of sustainable practices could improve small business practice, this honors thesis offers a full business assessment and recommendations for improvements of a local, family-owned coffee shop, Gold Bar. A thorough analysis of the shop's current business practices and research on unnecessary expenses and waste guides this assessment.
ContributorsSorden, Clarissa (Co-author) / Boden, Alexandra (Co-author) / Darnall, Nicole (Thesis director) / Dooley, Kevin (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Management (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Pressure from fiduciary duty leads agents within organizational systems to make decisions that result in positive feedback loops that often have inimical unintended consequences. The current corporate climate that often puts the bottom line ahead of environmental and social concerns in the name of fiduciary duty is doing so based on a revised interpretation of the term that is clearly to the benefit of the corporations. It is important to note that this modern interpretation is a radical misinterpretation of the intent of the law as our forefathers defined it. However, in spite of the fact that the modern interpretation is leading to inimical unintended consequences, providing the systems agents with the proper training and tools necessary to recognize the cost benefit of implementing sustainable solutions may mitigate some of these positive feedback loops and their associated unintended consequences. By developing tools based on sustainable frameworks we may be able to return these organizations to the original intent of fiduciary duty, which was designed to encourage investment in organizations that worked for the public benefit. A concept that is remarkably similar to the triple bottom line framework that many sustainability professionals advocate on behalf of today.
ContributorsJohnson, Lyle Eric (Author) / Laubichler, Manfred (Thesis director) / Dooley, Kevin (Committee member) / O'Neill, Dan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Hiking and Hegemony: Destabilizing the nature/culture and gender binaries through outdoor recreation
Description
This paper explores the contested relationships between nature, culture, and gender. In order to analyze these relationships, we look specifically at outdoor recreation. Furthermore, we employ poststructuralist feminist theory in order to produce three frameworks; the first of which is titled Mother Nature’s Promiscuous Past. Rooted in Old World and colonial values, this framework illustrates the flawed feminization of nature by masculinity, and its subsequent extortion of anything related to femininity — including women and nature itself. This belief barred women from nature, resulting in a lack of access for women to outdoor recreation.
Our second framework, titled The Pleasurable Potential of Outdoor Recreation, cites second-wave feminism as a catalyst for women’s participation in wilderness exploration and outdoor recreation. The work of radical feminists and the women’s liberation movement in 1960s and 1970s empowered women at home, in the workplace, and eventually, in the outdoors; women reclaimed their wilderness, yet they continued to employ Framework One’s feminization of nature. Ecofeminsim brought together nature and women, seeking to bring justice to two groups wronged by the same entity: masculinity. In this context, outdoor recreation is empowering for women.
Despite the potential of Framework Two to reinscribe and better the experiences of women in outdoor recreation, we argue that both Frameworks One and Two perpetuate the gender binary and the nature/culture binary, because they are based upon the notion that women are in fact fundamentally different and separate from men, the notion that nature is an entity separate from culture, or human society, as well as the notion that nature is in fact a feminine entity.
Our third framework, Deer Pay No Mind to Your Genitals, engages poststructuralism, asserting that outdoor recreation and activities that occur in nature can serve to destabilize and deconstruct notions of the gender binary. However, we argue that care must be exercised during this process as not to perpetuate the problematic nature/culture binary, a phenomenon that is unproductive in terms of both sustainability and gender liberation. Outdoor recreation has been used by many as a tool to deconstruct numerous societal constraints, including the gender binary; this, however, continues to attribute escapist and isolationist qualities toward nature, and therefore perpetuating the nature/culture divide. Ultimately, we argue outdoor recreation can and should be used as a tool deconstruct the gender binary, however needs to account for the fact that if nature is helping to construct elements of culture, then the two cannot be separate.
Our second framework, titled The Pleasurable Potential of Outdoor Recreation, cites second-wave feminism as a catalyst for women’s participation in wilderness exploration and outdoor recreation. The work of radical feminists and the women’s liberation movement in 1960s and 1970s empowered women at home, in the workplace, and eventually, in the outdoors; women reclaimed their wilderness, yet they continued to employ Framework One’s feminization of nature. Ecofeminsim brought together nature and women, seeking to bring justice to two groups wronged by the same entity: masculinity. In this context, outdoor recreation is empowering for women.
Despite the potential of Framework Two to reinscribe and better the experiences of women in outdoor recreation, we argue that both Frameworks One and Two perpetuate the gender binary and the nature/culture binary, because they are based upon the notion that women are in fact fundamentally different and separate from men, the notion that nature is an entity separate from culture, or human society, as well as the notion that nature is in fact a feminine entity.
Our third framework, Deer Pay No Mind to Your Genitals, engages poststructuralism, asserting that outdoor recreation and activities that occur in nature can serve to destabilize and deconstruct notions of the gender binary. However, we argue that care must be exercised during this process as not to perpetuate the problematic nature/culture binary, a phenomenon that is unproductive in terms of both sustainability and gender liberation. Outdoor recreation has been used by many as a tool to deconstruct numerous societal constraints, including the gender binary; this, however, continues to attribute escapist and isolationist qualities toward nature, and therefore perpetuating the nature/culture divide. Ultimately, we argue outdoor recreation can and should be used as a tool deconstruct the gender binary, however needs to account for the fact that if nature is helping to construct elements of culture, then the two cannot be separate.
ContributorsPolick-Kirkpatrick, Kaelyn (Co-author) / Downing, Haley Marie (Co-author) / Dove-Viebahn, Aviva (Thesis director) / Schoon, Michael (Committee member) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
In this study, the packaging and labeling of milk and coffee was compared between Walmart and Sprouts. The pricing, the sourcing, the certifications and the overall shelf presence of the items was taken under consideration. After studying the packaging of both, a new design incorporating the applicable labels, customer appeal and appropriate green marketing was created for both the commodities.
ContributorsBhatt, Rashi Hitesh (Author) / Collins, Shari (Thesis director) / Keahey, Jennifer (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Earth and Space Exploration (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
ASU's international student population has been growing exponentially in the last few years. Specifically, the fastest growing group has been international students from China. However, many of these students are arriving with inaccurate expectations of life at an American university. Furthermore, prospective students in China that have a desire to attend school in the U.S. are struggling to find a university that is affordable and respected. There is a huge opportunity for ASU to reach this market of students and increase their enrollment of international Chinese students. Our project aimed to create advertisements of ASU that target international Chinese students and their parents. The purpose of our project is to provide inspiration that ASU can utilize to create a professional marketing campaign to target this population of potential students.
ContributorsKagiyama, Kristen (Co-author) / Le, Alethea (Co-author) / Chien, Hsui Fen (Thesis director) / Chau, Angie (Committee member) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
During the summer of June 2014, the researcher, a non-traditional student, studied abroad in Fiji with Arizona State University's School of Human Evolution and Social Change leaving behind a family and financial responsibilities. The program was part of a growing trend as a short-term study abroad experience lasting only eight days. A service-learning project was completed at Votua Village on the Coral Coast which included a homestay and planting on the farm. An autoethnographical approach was used to describe this experience using a personal narrative written in first-person to evoke an emotional response. As a non-traditional student, the experience was probably profoundly different than it may have been for a majority of the class. The motivations, fears, and challenges associated with being a non-traditional student are discussed as well as the mother's guilt that many women experience when working outside of the home towards a personal achievement. The benefits of study abroad to non-traditional students is explained, as is the need for further research regarding their inclusion into these programs. Possible expansions of the study abroad program to include more of the non- traditional demographic within the student body at ASU are discussed. Several recommendations follow the narrative that may help to increase equitable access to study abroad for all students at the tertiary level. This work is a reflection on the researcher's experience as part of a diverse yet mostly traditional group of 35 students that made the trip to Fiji from a non-traditional student perspective and includes photographs as a visual autoethnography from the adventure to enhance and supplement the narrative.
ContributorsBell, Bridget Anne (Author) / Goodman, Rebekka (Thesis director) / Timothy, Dallen (Committee member) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / School of Community Resources and Development (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-12
Description
This research seeks to answer a question—is it possible to change the overall “image” of a city through changes to individual parts of the cityscape? Based on the approach of urban theorist Kevin Lynch the city of Berlin is analyzed through Lynch’s five elements: paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks. Within Berlin, the Unter den Linden, Berlin Wall, Museum Island, Alexanderplatz, and Brandenburg Gate are analyzed through this lens. The time period from 1989-2015 provides a strong example of a case where a city has been able to reinvent its image. This research utilizes historical images and written accounts of the city of Berlin to track changes to the city’s overall “image.” These accounts and images are then contrasted with those of a visit conducted in June of 2015. Ultimately, much is revealed about Berlin through this analysis of its urban landscape. During the 1990s, many sites across the city were re-designed through high-profile international design competitions that show the global interest in rebuilding Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. A return to pre-20th century architecture, through rebuilding and restoration, is one significant outcome of this process. The struggle of Berlin, and Germany, to come to terms with the history of former Communist East German is another. This research finally reveals that even after almost 30 years of being a reunified city, Berlin has yet to fully understand its Communist history to the same degree it grasps its Nazi past in the cityscape.
ContributorsRogge, Andrew Winfield (Author) / Kelley, Jason (Thesis director) / Kestutis, Zygas (Committee member) / The Design School (Contributor) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05