In January of 2022, 61 women from Afghanistan were accepted to Arizona State University and joined our campus from the Asian University of Women. Of One Heart is a Phoenix based nonprofit which aims to connect refugees with mentors to cultivate intercultural relationships, assist refugees in integrating into a new community, and to empower refugees to utilize their unique perspectives and talents in their new home. In addition to these goals, these relationships aim to connect refugees with the networks their mentor has and to assist them in understanding the new systems and norms of American culture. The relationship is reciprocal in the sharing of background and stories to facilitate trust and to recognize the value refugees have to contribute to society. The mission of this project is to implement the Of One Heart mentoring model onto ASU campus to help facilitate intercultural friendships between our new students from Afghanistan and other ASU students, faculty and staff. In doing so, we hope to create a model demonstrating refugee student success by collecting data through pre and post program surveys to track if involvement in the program improved participants utilization of existing ASU resources, cultural competency, mental health, and participation in community activities and internships/job opportunities. Ideally, we hope to create a program model which is proven to support refugee students to be replicated for future semesters as the program expands to serve not only the students from Afghanistan, but all refugee and asylum seeking students.

Background and Purpose: Meditative movement has become a common non-clinical intervention to address physical and mental ailments. This has been demonstrated by the “2012 National Health Interview Survey, [which states that] the use of yoga, tai chi, and qi gong has been increasing for over a decade and has nearly doubled from 2002 to 2012” (Green, n.d.). This overarching category includes the following practices: Yoga, Tai Chi, and Qigong. However, further research needs to be done into what ingredients constitute meditative movement and relay powerful effects such as lowering anxiety, depression, and/or blood pressure etc. for practitioners of the exercise. This paper will detail how the Meditative Movement Component Identification Tool (MCCIT) was developed and how a preliminary test of the MMCIT resulted in four overall components. This tool will serve as an instrument to assess the fidelity of meditative movement studies in the future. Methods: The MCCIT categories were extracted and chosen from a literature review of current articles on qigong, tai chi, and yoga, and overall meditative movement. There was a focus on articles that outlined ingredients significant for the type of exercise. Then the twelve selected components were reviewed using videos that were small 3–5-minute digital nuggets of meditative movement. Results: In a components analysis of the MMCIT, three factors: mind and body fluidity (α=.656) , breath (α=.991), inner calm (α=.760), and one potential factor: movement perception (α=.351) arose. Mind and body fluidity, breath, and inner calm subscales show item reliability, but movement perception needs further investigation. Conclusion: Mind and body fluidity, breath, and inner calm subscales show strong potential for being part of a tool used to ensure there is delivery of a meditative movement in an intervention with it in the protocol. However, the movement perception subscale needs to be reworked. The presence of nature and energy in meditative movement need to be further explored in a study with more participants, as well.

This study highlights the perspectives of pre-medical students on the role of empathy and emotional contagion in the clinical encounter, as well as its implications on clinical decision-making. Empathy is a multi-dimensional phenomenon that describes the ability to sense and feel the emotions of another, while emotional contagion refers to the human tendency to match the other’s emotional state. We sent a survey to 180 pre-medical students, collecting responses designed to test how students view empathy and emotional contagion in terms of definition, utility, and importance. We also tested the extent to which pre-medical students feel that empathy is taught or learned during or before undergraduate education. Utilizing qualitative research methods and open-coding strategies, we found that students hold pre-conceptualized definitions of empathy, as well as have an understanding of how it is felt and portrayed by the clinical setting, consistent with theories of anticipatory socialization. Students also admit to the significance of empathy in a physician, reporting that empathy should be a trait required for entrance into medical school and should be taught more frequently in undergraduate education. However, this study simultaneously demonstrates the adoption of “clinical empathy” amongst pre-medical students, suggesting an early onset of the perceived importance of detachment and objectivity in medicine. Yet, we also highlight the perceived importance of emotional contagion amongst pre-medical students, mainly in the formation and development of the patient-physician relationship. Further research into the development of these empathy and emotional contagion perspectives in relation to one another is important in examining the development of the future physician.

Studio 31 is a startup venture founded by Brandon Goldberg, Ryan Johnston, Samuel Vogel, and Ekaterina Korneva. The company offers affordable art prints created by aspiring artists through an online platform. Our mission is to connect these artists with art lovers and provide them with the tools to build sustainable careers. Key activities of Studio 31 include curating a set of artworks, maintaining a print-on-demand system for sustainable production, and penetration of the target market through strong digital media positioning. The field of art is replete with talented artists who are just starting their professional careers and are not represented in the art market. The works of art of such artists are unknown and inaccessible to the target audience, which complicates the process of their professional development and limits the variety of artworks available on the market. Studio 31 infiltrates the art community and forms partnerships with talented artists to then provide the target market with access to exclusive artwork through an established sales and production process. The advantages of an established business process are no risk to the artist, cost-efficient production that correlates with demand, and a predictable cash flow from operations. The current state of the industry and trends affecting the target market confirm the viability of Studio 31's business model. The covid-19 crisis has affected the art market, shifting focus to online sales. Moreover, due to people spending more time at home, the demand for art products has increased. Our team is uniquely positioned to bring the Studio 31 business plan to life. With Katrin, Ryan, Brandon, and Samuel as the management team, the project is supported by expertise in entrepreneurship, management and policy, economics, marketing and design Implementation and marketing are the key activities of the company on the way to gaining traction in the target market. Studio 31 will develop multiple direct and indirect distribution channels to provide customers with diversified access to offerings. The website will serve as the main direct channel to connect with buyers, displaying the full list of offers available for order. In addition, the company will be present on numerous social media platforms in order to notify the target audience of current offers in a timely manner. Both the website and social media accounts will grow through paid advertising and influencer marketing. The project's initial funding consists of Barrett, the Honors College Thesis Funding. These resources covered the overhead costs required to get started, such as the website and initial product prototypes. The seed funding will also be used for market research and business process testing to improve the company's performance and subsequently maximize profits. The team will resort to a crowdfunding strategy if additional funding resources are needed to cover the initial costs. The project will be presented to the public to receive financial assistance for business development. The investment will be encouraged by incentives such as discounts on future sales.

There is a serious lack of local news in Arizona, the American Southwest, and the United States at-large. Arizonans are craving quality, factual, no-holds-barred journalism that is easy-to-read, and upfront. Quality, local news that covers the ins and outs of politics, culture, and community has an opportunity to not only enhance civic life, promote community healing, and expand knowledge made available to the general public (thus serving the communities it calls home), but to also generate revenue. Further, independent and center-right leaning voters in the state of Arizona — be reminded that independents make up the second largest voting bloc among Arizonans — are often crowded out in a media environment that consists of far-left nonprofit-funded news sites like the Arizona Mirror, formerly reputable papers that have bled readership as they veer further left like the Arizona Republic, and far-right online blogs that reach a very limited audience. The Western Tribune is an Arizona-based journalistic publication. This institution is dedicated to providing high-quality, well-sourced news and commentary on statewide, regional, national, and international current affairs through the lens of good government and free enterprise — as well as Southwestern values. We are a free institution that believes in free institutions. We cover stories that go uncovered because of the corporate media’s blind spots (and they’ve got many — they’re a result of news deserts and out-of-touch coastal attitudes) with the stable support of a robust institution dedicated to Truth-seeking behind them. Our storytellers are not just good writers. We seek to recruit and form critical thinkers with skills that span trades, disciplines, and educational backgrounds. We are building an institution committed to excellence.

Abstract Overview of America’s involvement with historical genocides, illustrated by general overviews, as well as more detailed approaches to some of our times most significant genocides. America’s involvement with genocides internationally is that of non-intervention, mixed with American exceptionalism that results in our country feeling as though it is above or outside the law. Also examined is the relationship that war and terrorism share with genocide, concluding with recommendations of how America should move forward with the way in which it handles itself in violence internationally.

This project examines war and community development in Avatar the Last Airbender. In the fictional world of the Avatar, I investigate the development of environmental, social, political, and human capital given the circumstance of war. I find that in the fictional world of the Avatar, and in the real world, the relationship between war and community development is complex and nuanced. The circumstance of war undermines the development of certain community assets. However, despite the deficiencies that war can aggravate, the ability of the human spirit to persist is often the catalyst for transformative change that begins the road to recovery and peace.

Orientalism as a cultural ideology serves the neo-liberal foreign policy goals of the West and has defined pop cultural perceptions of the Arab world from the Western perspective for centuries. Arab science fiction, often drowned out by dominant Western pop cultural forces presents the Arab world from an Arab perspective, fighting the negative global perception of the Arab world that Orientalism has worked hard to carefully cultivate. Cities such as the futuristic city of NEOM in Saudi Arabia, further serve to destroy the orientalist views of Arab society through innovative urban planning and artificial intelligence (AI) technology. In this thesis, I analyze the way Iraq+100 by Hassan Blassim and Linda Sansour’s Nation Estate push back against orientalist ideology in conjunction with Saudi Arabia’s urban and cultural revolution as the Arab nation builds the city of NEOM. Additionally, I will explore how Arab science fiction and dystopia reflect an optimistic future for the Arab world at large despite modern Western attempts to colonize the region.