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- Creators: Barrett, The Honors College
Description
The morphological characteristics of organisms are intricately linked to their ecological features. As a result, species with similar ecological niches may exhibit shared morphological traits due to convergent evolution. Some genomic features could be relevant to influencing the occurrence of convergence evolution. Anoles, with over 400 species, are an excellent model for studying this process. Within Anolis, groups of species that have evolved similar morphological traits and ecological adaptations in response to specific environmental niches are described as ecomorphs. One ecomorph, the crown-giant anoles, has independently evolved large body sizes and adapted to arboreal habitats, predominantly occupying the upper canopy layer of forests. The objective of this study was to explore the convergent evolution of morphological traits in crown giant anoles, by comparing the osteological traits of two crown giants, Anolis frenatus, and A. equestris, to four non-crown giant species from different ecomorphs, A. auratus, A. carolinensis, A. biporcatus, and A. sagrei. The analysis indicated an absence of convergence in most morphological traits except for body size (SVL). Additionally, this study explored the potential role of transposable elements (TEs) as a genomic feature shaping the morphological diversity of crown giant anoles. The genes located within TE-rich regions on the genome were identified across selected Anolis species. An enrichment of genes associated with regulation and developmental processes was detected in regions with high TE abundance for all analyzed species, but not exclusive to crown giants. The results suggest that crown giants seem to only converge in their substantial body size and that the variability in other morphological characteristics could be attributed to some other ecological features or the phylogenetic relationships of each species. Moreover, TEs may play a role in facilitating morphological evolution and adaptability in all Anolis species, as they could influence gene expression and regulatory pathways. This highlights the need for further investigation into the genomic mechanisms determining convergent evolution.
ContributorsJohnson, Jaime (Author) / Kusumi, Kenro (Thesis director) / Araya-Donoso, Raúl (Committee member) / Dolby, Greer (Committee member) / Fisher, Rebecca (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2024-05
ContributorsMones, M (Author) / Karimi, Robert Farid (Thesis director) / Sprowls, Jared (Committee member) / Wasserman, Michael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Music, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Dean, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Contributor) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies, Sch (Contributor)
Created2024-05
DescriptionThis project reflects on the historical constructions of queer Jewish diasporic deviance, presents a theology of misfit mysticism, and offers an in-process play surrounding these topics. Musings include anti-nationalism, sacred-profanity, degeneracy, divinity, paradox, and infinity.
ContributorsMones, M (Author) / Karimi, Robert Farid (Thesis director) / Sprowls, Jared (Committee member) / Wasserman, Michael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Music, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Dean, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Contributor) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies, Sch (Contributor)
Created2024-05
ContributorsMones, M (Author) / Karimi, Robert Farid (Thesis director) / Sprowls, Jared (Committee member) / Wasserman, Michael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Music, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Dean, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Contributor) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies, Sch (Contributor)
Created2024-05
ContributorsMones, M (Author) / Karimi, Robert Farid (Thesis director) / Sprowls, Jared (Committee member) / Wasserman, Michael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Music, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Dean, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Contributor) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies, Sch (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
The oral microbiome is home to some of the most diverse and vital bacteria. It is important to understand how it works in its home environment and in laboratory settings to see if any discrepancies come from the different settings. It is also important to see how different bacteria interact with each other to either support or hinder different functions of all the bacteria.
ContributorsAftab, Tanya (Author) / Shrivastava, Abhishek (Thesis director) / Muralinath, Maneesha (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) poses a significant global health concern with substantial health and economic consequences. Patients often face significant consequences after injury, notably persistent cognitive changes and an increased risk of developing neurodegenerative disease later in life. Apart from the immediate insult, the resulting inflammatory response can lead to neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, tissue death, and long-term neurodegeneration. Microglia and astrocytes play critical roles in these inflammatory processes, emphasizing the unmet need for targeted therapies. Vaccine formulations consisting of poly (a-ketoglutarate) (paKG) microparticles (MPs) encapsulating PFK15 (1-(4-pyridinyl)-3-(2-quinolinyl)-2-propen-1-one) and myelin proteolipid protein (PLP) were developed for prior studies and have demonstrated the production of antigen-specific adaptive T-cell responses in the brain, spleen, and lymph nodes of mice, suggesting that these formulations may be able to prevent neuronal inflammation in mice after TBI. The vaccine efficacy was further evaluated through the image analysis of immunohistochemically stained brain tissue sections from naive, saline, and paKG(PFK15+PLP) MPs or paKG(PFK15) MPs treated mice. Though microglia (Iba1), astrocytes (GFAP) and CD86 were visualized in this method, only Iba1 was found to be significantly reduced in the contralateral hemisphere for paKG(PFK15+PLP) MPs and paKG(PFK15) MPs groups when compared to naive (p=0.0373 and p=0.0186, respectively). However, the naive group also showed an unexpectedly high level of CD86 after thresholding (compared to the TBI groups), indicating flaws were present in the analysis pipeline. Challenges of the image analysis process included thresholding setting optimization, folded tissues, bubbles, and saturated punctate signal. These issues may have impacted data accuracy, underscoring the need for rigorous optimization of experimental techniques and imaging methodologies when evaluating the therapeutic potential of the vaccines in mitigating TBI-induced neuroinflammation. Thus, future analyses should consider microglial morphology and employ more accurate thresholding in FIJI/ImageJ to better measure cellular activation and the overall positive signal.
ContributorsSundem, Andrea (Author) / Stabenfeldt, Sarah (Thesis director) / Willingham, Crystal (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia is one of the world’s coldest capital cities with roughly 1.5 million residents. About fifty percent of the city’s residents are off the electrical grid and millions continue to live nomadic lifestyles, raising livestock for food. Problematically, residents often turn to raw coal - Mongolia’s largest export - as a means to cook food and stay warm. Project Koyash is a philanthropic engineering initiative that was founded in the Arizona State University Program Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) to combat the air quality crisis plaguing the ger districts of Ulaanbaatar. Koyash has already deployed 13 fully functional and autonomous units consisting of a solar powered air filtration system in Ulaanbaatar. Koyash innovated a solution of solar panels, air filters, batteries, inverters, PCB Arduinos, and other necessary components for providing crucial humanitarian services. The team is working to send more units and develop a local supply chain for the systems. This thesis project explores the development of Koyash, assesses the human health implications of air pollution, and reflects on the entire process.
ContributorsYavari, Bryan (Author) / Hartwell, Leland (Thesis director) / Schoepf, Jared (Thesis director) / Diddle, Julianna (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
Background: First-generation college students (FGCS) often experience more stress compared to continuing-generation students (Holden et al., 2021). This stress can stem from familial and cultural obligations, financial challenges, and the experience of being part of a racial or ethnic minority group. Storytelling is a psychosocial process involving sharing personal experiences or fictional stories, usually reflecting the behavior patterns and orientation to events present in the culture of the teller. Limited research has explored storytelling interventions to address self-compassion and stress levels in first-generation college students
Aims: This pilot study aimed to assess the feasibility and preliminary effects of a storytelling intervention for first-generation college students on perceived stress, resilience, and self-compassion, as determined by pre- and post-intervention. In addition, the incorporation of heart rate variability (HRV) measurements during storytelling quantified the physiological stress levels associated with the intervention and its potential correlation with stress reduction. Of additional interest was to obtain a qualitative characterization of the experiences, stresses, and supportive factors described in the stories told by participants.
Methods: FGCS were recruited at Arizona State University. Participants (N=22, M age=21.18 years, SD=3.172) attended a storytelling session for one hour in person. Heart-rate variability assessment was used to measure participant emotions and psychological coherence during in-person storytelling. The outcome measures included the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10), Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4), Self-Compassion Scale Short Form (SCS-SF), and HRV coherence was assessed during the intervention. Quantitative analyses were conducted in SPSS Version 27. Using the content of the stories shared in the intervention, qualitative content analyses were conducted with 3 research project members.
Results: A total of 36 participants agreed to be contacted and were emailed. Of these 36, 10 declined to participate and 4 were ineligible due to unwillingness to commit to 2 hours over 2 weeks to complete the study, (including an in-person visit to the lab) yielding 22 consented participants (61% recruitment of those screened). All consented individuals completed data collection, attended a storytelling intervention session, and completed the post-intervention data collection (100% retention). 5 major themes emerged from the data: (1) Barriers within Journey; (2) Immigrant and Immigrant Family Experiences; (3) Facilitators within Journey; (4) Reasoning for Attending University. The direction of change for HRV coherence with self-compassion and depression-anxiety was as expected. T-tests were generated for pre- and post- intervention self-reports: T1-T3 BRS SD= 0.79247, t= -0.673; T1-T3 PSS SD= 5.39540, t= -0.514; T1-T3 PHQ for anxiety SD= 1.91429, t= 0.111; T1-T3 PHQ for depression SD= 1.62302, t= 1.708; T1-T3 SCS SD= 0.46319, t= -1.956.
Conclusions: Participants described telling and sharing their stories as therapeutic and regenerative. Statistical tests of emotional regulation with HRVB demonstrated minimal change in stress response, with an increase in self-compassion. A storytelling intervention demonstrates a promising coping tool as an avenue for retelling distressing events and increasing self-compassion and resilience.
ContributorsKash, Joya (Author) / Kash, Jillian (Co-author) / Kim, Sunny (Thesis director) / Larkey, Linda (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
American Sign Language (ASL) is used for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) individuals to communicate and learn in a classroom setting. In ASL, fingerspelling and gestures are two primary components used for communication. Fingerspelling is commonly used for words that do not have a specifically designated sign or gesture. In technical contexts, such as Computer Science curriculum, there are many technical terms that fall under this category. Most of its jargon does not have standardized ASL gestures; therefore, students, educators, and interpreters alike have been reliant on fingerspelling, which poses challenges for all parties. This study investigates the efficacy of both fingerspelling and gestures with fifteen technical terms that do have standardized gestures. The terms’ fingerspelling and gesture are assessed based on preference, ease of use, ease of learning, and time by research subjects who were selected as DHH individuals familiar with ASL.
The data is collected in a series of video recordings by research subjects as well as a post-participation questionnaire. Each research subject has produced thirty total videos, two videos to fingerspell and gesture each technical term. Afterwards, they completed a post-participation questionnaire in which they indicated their preference and how easy it was to learn and use both fingerspelling and gestures. Additionally, the videos have been analyzed to determine the time difference between fingerspelling and gestures. Analysis reveals that gestures are favored over fingerspelling as they are generally preferred, considered easier to learn and use, and faster. These results underscore the significance for standardized gestures in the Computer Science curriculum for accessible learning that enhances communication and promotes inclusion.
ContributorsKarim, Bushra (Author) / Gupta, Sandeep (Thesis director) / Hossain, Sameena (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor)
Created2024-05