Matching Items (4)
Description
This work examines one dimension of the effect that complex human transport systems have on the spread of Chikungunya Virus (CHIKV) in the Caribbean from 2013 to 2015. CHIKV is transmitted by mosquitos and its novel spread through the Caribbean islands provided a chance to examine disease transmission through complex human transportation systems. Previous work by Cauchemez et al. had shown a simple distance-based model successfully predict CHIKV spread in the Caribbean using Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) statistical methods. A MCMC simulation is used to evaluate different transportation methods (air travel, cruise ships, and local maritime traffic) for the primary transmission patterns through linear regression. Other metrics including population density to account for island size variation and dengue fever incidence rates as a proxy for vector control and health spending were included. Air travel and cruise travel were gathered from monthly passenger arrivals by island. Local maritime traffic is approximated with a gravity model proxy incorporating GDP-per-capita and distance and historic dengue rates were used for determine existing vector control measures for the islands. The Caribbean represents the largest cruise passenger market in the world, cruise ship arrivals were expected to show the strongest signal; however, the gravity model representing local traffic was the best predictor of infection routes. The early infected islands (<30 days) showed a heavy trend towards an alternate primary transmission but our consensus model able to predict the time until initial infection reporting with 94.5% accuracy for islands 30 days post initial reporting. This result can assist public health entities in enacting measures to mitigate future epidemics and provide a modelling basis for determining transmission modes in future CHIKV outbreaks.
ContributorsFries, Brendan F (Author) / Perrings, Charles (Thesis director) / Wilson Sayres, Melissa (Committee member) / Morin, Ben (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Military Science (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-12
Description
During the Innovation Space program, my team and I (which included graphic design, industrial design, engineering, and business majors) created a product that solves a problem posed by our sponsor Johnson & Johnson. This year long project involved researching biological aggressors, specifically mosquitoes, brainstorming over sixty ideas, developing a business plan for the final 3 ideas ("ago", "WANDELAR", & "FIL"), and eventually pursing and finalizing the final idea chosen. We chose to further develop "ago", a stroller seat insert that creates an air barrier between the child in the seat and any insects flying nearby. This portable seat fits in most strollers and also cools the child's back so they don't overheat while outside. The team created a design book, design model, and prototype of "ago" including the seat, fan, and hose. As the business member of the group, I developed three business plans, a final business plan, and conducted primary research by surveying our target market, parents. This business plan included customer research and validation efforts, cost structure, entry market, competition, and other crucial information required to sell "ago". Along with the final presentation of our product to our sponsors, I also completed a reflection paper about my experience working on an interdisciplinary team and the similarities and differences I found the Innovation Space program has to a real world product development team. I also included how my experience in Barrett and W.P. Carey contributed to my success in the program as well as any personal takeaways I had from the program.
ContributorsRefermat, Jocelyn Rae (Author) / Trujillo, Rhett (Thesis director) / Montoya, Tara (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
For my honors thesis, I have been working on a project for Johnson & Johnson as a part of ASU's Innovation Space program. Throughout this process, I have worked with an interdisciplinary team of students from engineering, design, and business backgrounds. The goal of this project was to come up with new and innovative ways to protect skin from insect aggressors. We began the project by conducting market research, and going through several phases of product development, before eventually creating a working prototype of our solution. The process has been broken up into 7 phases over the course of two consecutive semesters and culminates with a product presentation to Johnson and Johnson shareholders. Stage four of this process, which was the final stage of semester one, involved narrowing down the ideas we came up with in our brainstorming sessions. Our team agreed upon our tree strongest ideas to move forward with. At the end of this phase, we produced a professional proposal for each of our three ideas. These proposals were presented during a showcase in December, and we used feedback from this showcase to determine how best to proceed in stage five. In stage 5 we selected a single idea from our three proposals to work on exclusively for the rest of the process. That idea was the Adamor device. We also began to look deeper into the technical and functional issues that needed to be incorporated into our solution. Furthermore, our team choose the aesthetic direction we want to pursue for our product branding. Stage 6 of this process involved finalizing all aspects of our concept including business feasibility, design, and final features that will be included in our working prototype. In stage 7, we produced a final product, and presented our prototype to representatives from Johnson & Johnson for review.
ContributorsElizondo, David Michael (Author) / Trujillo, Rhett (Thesis director) / Hedges, Craig (Committee member) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Malaria is a disease that has plagued human populations throughout history. Malaria is cause by the parasite Plasmodium, which uses mosquitoes as a vector for transfer. Current methods for controlling malaria include issuing bed nets to citizens, spraying home with insecticides, and reactive medical care. However, using Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic repeats (CRISPR) in conjunction with the Cas9 protein found in bacteria, the genomes of mosquitoes can be edited to remove the ability of mosquitoes to host Plasmodium or to create sex bias in which the birth rate of males is increased so as to make reproduction near impossible. Using CRISPR, this genome edit can be ‘driven’ through a population by increasing the likelihood of that gene being passed onto subsequent generations until the entire population possesses that gene; a gene drive can theoretically be used to eliminate malaria around the world. This paper identifies uncertainties concerning scientific, environmental, governance, economic ,and social aspects of researching and implementing gene drives and makes recommendations concerning these areas for the emerging technology of gene drives concerning the eradication of malaria using Sub-Saharan Africa as a case study
ContributorsSacco, Elena Maria (Author) / Frow, Emma (Thesis director) / Maynard, Andrew (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05