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A literature review summarizing the current status of conservation efforts of the Mojave Desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) including a brief overview of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and its applicability to this species' conservation. A genetic and physiological comparison of the morphologically similar Mojave species with the Sonoran (Gopherus morafkai) species proceeded by an analysis of if and how the ESA should apply to the Sonoran population. Analysis of current plans and interagency cooperations followed by a multi-step proposal on how best to conserve the Sonoran population of Desert tortoise.
ContributorsKulik, Elise Chikako (Author) / Kusumi, Kenro (Thesis director) / Tollis, Marc (Committee member) / Wilson Sayres, Melissa (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
We study an idealized model of a wind-driven ocean, namely a 2-D lid-driven cavity with a linear temperature gradient along the side walls and constant hot and cold temperatures on the top and bottom boundaries respectively. In particular, we determine numerically the response on flow field and temperature stratification associated with the velocity of the lid driven by harmonic forcing using the Navier-Stokes equations with Boussinesq approximation in an attempt to gain an understanding of how variations of external forces (such as the wind over the ocean) transfer energy to a system by exciting internal modes through resonances. The time variation of the forcing, accounting for turbulence at the boundary is critical for allowing penetration of energy waves through the stratified medium in which the angles of the internal waves depend on these perturbation frequencies. Determining the results of the interaction of two 45 degree angle wave beams at the center of the cavity is of particular interest.
ContributorsTaylor, Stephanie Lynn (Author) / Welfert, Bruno (Thesis director) / Lopez, Juan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Almost commuting matrices, i.e. matrices with a sufficiently small commutator, may be nearly commuting, i.e. there may exist matrices close by which do commute. By referencing current literature, this condition is studied for fixed dimension, unitary, self-adjoint, and orthogonal matrices. These proofs are made more accessible and compared to each other, providing insight to possible future progress in the field.
ContributorsMolloy, Riley Phillip (Author) / Spielberg, Jack (Thesis director) / Quigg, John (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Physics (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Exploring Structure and Function of Human Cold Sensing Protein TRPM8 with ROSETTA Comparative Models
Description
Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) channels are a diverse class of ion channels notable as polymodal sensors. TRPM8 is a TRP channel implicated in cold sensation, nociception, and a variety of human diseases, including obesity and cancer. Despite sustained interest in TRPM8 since its discovery in 2001, many of the molecular mechanisms that underlie function are not yet clear. Knowledge of these properties could have implications for medicine and physiological understanding of sensation and signaling. Structures of TRP channels have proven challenging to solve, but recent Cryoelectron microscopy (Cryo-EM) structures of TRPV1 provide a basis for homology-based modeling of TRP channel structures and interactions. I present an ensemble of 11,000 Rosetta computational homology models of TRPM8 based on the recent Cryo-EM apo structure of TRPV1 (PDB code:3J5P). Site-directed mutagenesis has provided clues about which residues are most essential for modulatory ligands to bind, so the models presented provide a platform to investigate the structural basis of TRPM8 ligand modulation complementary to existing functional and structural information. Menthol and icilin appear to interact with interfacial residues in the sensor domain (S1-S4). One consensus feature of these sites is the presence of local contacts to the S4 helix, suggesting this helix may be mechanistically involved with the opening of the pore. Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2)has long been known to interact with the C-terminus of TRPM8, and some of the homology models contain plausible binding pockets where PIP2 can come into contact with charged residues known to be essential for PIP2 modulation. Future in silico binding experiments could provide testable hypothesis for in vitro structural studies, and experimental data (e.g. distance constraints from electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy [EPR]) could further refine the models.
ContributorsHelsell, Cole Vincent Maher (Author) / Van Horn, Wade (Thesis director) / Wang, Xu (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
We model communication among social insects as an interacting particle system in which individuals perform one of two tasks and neighboring sites anti-mimic one another. Parameters of our model are a probability of defection 2 (0; 1) and relative cost ci > 0 to the individual performing task i. We examine this process on complete graphs, bipartite graphs, and the integers, answering questions about the relationship between communication, defection rates and the division of labor. Assuming the division of labor is ideal when exactly half of the colony is performing each task, we nd that on some bipartite graphs and the integers it can eventually be made arbitrarily close to optimal if defection rates are sufficiently small. On complete graphs the fraction of individuals performing each task is also closest to one half when there is no defection, but is bounded by a constant dependent on the relative costs of each task.
ContributorsArcuri, Alesandro Antonio (Author) / Lanchier, Nicolas (Thesis director) / Kang, Yun (Committee member) / Fewell, Jennifer (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
This paper focuses on the Szemerédi regularity lemma, a result in the field of extremal graph theory. The lemma says that every graph can be partitioned into bounded equal parts such that most edges of the graph span these partitions, and these edges are distributed in a fairly uniform way. Definitions and notation will be established, leading to explorations of three proofs of the regularity lemma. These are a version of the original proof, a Pythagoras proof utilizing elemental geometry, and a proof utilizing concepts of spectral graph theory. This paper is intended to supplement the proofs with background information about the concepts utilized. Furthermore, it is the hope that this paper will serve as another resource for students and others to begin study of the regularity lemma.
ContributorsByrne, Michael John (Author) / Czygrinow, Andrzej (Thesis director) / Kierstead, Hal (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
"The Legal Adventures of Frankie and Rosie" is a creative project that explores the nontraditional format of comics to express creative nonfiction. The project is a set of 30 independent comics that focuses on two primary college-going students who are based off of the authors. The characters, Frankie and Rosie narrate their stories through dialogue. The authors use this narrative model to archive their college experience at ASU. Representing creative nonfiction through comics yields an amalgamated format that can be challenging for both the writers to produce as well as for the readers to consume. Ultimately, the project serves as an attempt to test whether or not the comic medium can stand by itself as an appropriate format to express creative nonfictional narratives without becoming a diluted combination of its purer predecessors.
ContributorsBennewitz, Dana (Co-author) / Ray, Payel (Co-author) / Martin, Thomas (Thesis director) / Scott Lynch, Jacquelyn (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The 23-step total synthesis of dolastatin 16, a cyclic depsipeptide of marine origin, is presented. Included are syntheses of nonnatural amino acids dolamethylleuine and dolaphenvaline. The biological activity of the synthetic product differed from naturally isolated dolastatin 16, which may indicate the initial screening identified an inactive compound and the active one was not detected initially, or may be a result of the conformational dynamics induced by the proline residues. Additionally, a family of structural analogues to the bacillistatins, another cyclic marine depsipeptide, were synthesized. These were deemed the silstatins. 8 modifications were produced. The alterations aimed to introduce a heteroatomic residue for further derivatization, such as producing an antibody-drug conjugate. This introduction did in general decrease the neoplastic activity of these agents, as expected, but by modulating the lipophilicity of the compound we were able to salvage much of the potency of the bacillistatins while potentially allowing prodrug development.
ContributorsMacdonald, Christian B. (Author) / Pettit, George (Thesis director) / Wang, Xu (Committee member) / Melody, Noeleen (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Despite the 40-year war on cancer, very limited progress has been made in developing a cure for the disease. This failure has prompted the reevaluation of the causes and development of cancer. One resulting model, coined the atavistic model of cancer, posits that cancer is a default phenotype of the cells of multicellular organisms which arises when the cell is subjected to an unusual amount of stress. Since this default phenotype is similar across cell types and even organisms, it seems it must be an evolutionarily ancestral phenotype. We take a phylostratigraphical approach, but systematically add species divergence time data to estimate gene ages numerically and use these ages to investigate the ages of genes involved in cancer. We find that ancient disease-recessive cancer genes are significantly enriched for DNA repair and SOS activity, which seems to imply that a core component of cancer development is not the regulation of growth, but the regulation of mutation. Verification of this finding could drastically improve cancer treatment and prevention.
ContributorsOrr, Adam James (Author) / Davies, Paul (Thesis director) / Bussey, Kimberly (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Independent artists are thriving in the modern music industry, creating and branding their own music, and developing rich concentrations of fans. Indie artists are progressively securing positions within mainstream music while also upholding individuality. With technology advancements, to include self-recording technology, wearable devices, and mobile operating systems, independent artists are able to extend their reach to a variety of audiences. Social media platforms' progression has further catalyzed artists' capability of growth, as they have the capacity to personalize marketing content, develop loyal fan-bases, and engage directly with potential consumers. Artists are increasingly fabricating their own unique spaces in an industry that was formerly controlled by conventions. This thesis involves the production of a three-song extended play, and ascertains how to effectively capitalize on the wide array of modern marketing platforms.
ContributorsBerk, Ruth C (Author) / Ostrom, Lonnie (Thesis director) / Schlacter, John (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor)
Created2015-05