Digital Commons Network^™

Geospatial Analysis Of Weathering And Recession On Architectural Limestone At The 1891 Powerhouse/Icehouse In Eureka Springs, Arkansas, Stuart Bruce Wright

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study of the architectural limestone of the 1891 Powerhouse/Icehouse in Eureka Springs, Arkansas was to analyze the environmental factors that influenced the deterioration and surface recession of this historical stone structure. The focus of this research was to examine and establish a baseline study that may assist in future monitoring and documentation of this historic limestone structure on stone weathering. A replicable methodology was specifically created toward this baseline research in hopes that it represented a solid baseline study. Observations and data analyses revealed the relationship between the architectural limestone building structure and the dominating recession …

Social Media Impacts On Arkansas Consumer Perceptions Of Gmos, Elizabeth R. Berner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study builds upon previous consumer perceptions of GMOs studies. A need existed to determine what, if any, effects social media messages about GMOs had on consumer perceptions in Arkansas. The study utilized a qualitative approach with three focus groups. Data were analyzed using descriptive code. Participants were found to have a general understanding of GMOs, though discussion about what a GMO product was took an uncertain tone. Most participants did not consider GMOs as a factor when purchasing products. Rather participants considered characteristics such as price, quality, and convenience. Participants did not believe the infographics had changed their opinions …

A Multi-Criteria Ranking System For Prioritizing Maintenance Of Levee Systems In Arkansas, Nguyen Danh Phan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There are 208,009 properties in Arkansas that have more than a 26% chance of being severely affected by flooding over the next 30 years, which represents 13% of all properties in the state. A levee system is designed to reduce the flooding risk for urban and rural communities; however, most of the state's levees have been significantly outdated or built with engineering standards less rigorous than current best practices. The Levee Safety Action Classification (LSAC), as recorded in the National Levee Database (NLD), communicates the risk associated with living behind a particular levee and assists local, state, and federal stakeholders …

Identification Of Possible Vectors For Histomoniasis In Turkeys On Commercial Farms In Arkansas And Oklahoma, Treva Dillon

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Histomonas meleagridis, is a parasitic protozoan, commonly found in the gallinaceous species of birds and is the causative agent of Blackhead disease. The cecal worm, known as Heteraskis gallinarum, acts as a vector in the spread of H. meleagridis in gallinaceous birds. H. meleagridis develops inside the cecal worm and in its eggs which allows H. meleagridis a method to survive in the environment. Blackhead disease causes high mortality rates in both chickens and turkeys; however, turkeys are noted to have a higher mortality rate compared to chickens. Molecular diagnostic testing such as PCR has been developed by creating primers …

Forging Community In The Ouachita Foothills Of Southwest Arkansas: Duckett Township, Homesteading, Distilling And Race, Lisa C. Childs

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Community was key to successful subsistence agriculture in Arkansas, especially in the Ouachita foothills in southwest Arkansas (including Polk, Howard, Montgomery, Pike, Garland Counties) and Oklahoma (McCurtain, Pittsburgh, LeFlore Counties) until the 1940s. Nearly a quarter of Arkansas’s land remained in the federal government’s name twenty years after statehood, and even more of the land in the western Ouachita foothills. Much remains unknown about how farming communities were formed in this area from the end of the Civil War until approximately World War II. As seen in the Duckett community in northern Howard County, while family connections were important to …

Nitrogen Management In Rice Under Suboptimal Soil Conditions, Payton Suzanne Rhea

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In Mid-South rice (Oryza sativa, L.) production, nitrogen (N) fertilizer management for pureline varieties is most often recommended as a single preflood (SPF) or two-way split (2WS) application in a direct-seeded, delayed-flood system. Most of the N fertilizer is typically applied at the four- to six-leaf stage onto dry soil, and the second application, if necessary, into the floodwater during early reproductive growth stages (referred to as midseason). Environmental factors frequently prohibit growers from applying early N fertilizer under optimal dry soil conditions. A study was conducted to determine the best N fertilization management practices to utilize in rice when …

From Jerome To Dermott: Comparing The Treatment And Experiences Of Japanese Americans And German Prisoners Of War In Arkansas During World War Ii, Taylor Cash

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

During WWII the US government housed German POWs at a camp in Denson, Arkansas that it had previously used to incarcerate Japanese Americans. This thesis compares how US authorities treated the camp’s two different inmate populations—one composed of enemy soldiers and the other US residents, about 70 percent of whom were citizens—to analyze larger questions surrounding how the US government interpreted race, citizenship, gender, and nationhood during the war. Federal authorities regulated and surveilled Japanese Americans at Jerome concentration camp with more vigor and energy than they did German prisoners of war at Dermott POW camp. Moreover, US officials provided …

The Marianna Boycott: Healthcare, Political Organization, And Federal Intervention In The Arkansas Delta, Stephen James Franklin Iii

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Marianna Boycott was a thirteen month long civil rights boycott that took place in the Arkansas Delta town of Marianna from 1971 to 1972. The event shut down over twenty-five business, inflicted millions of dollars in economic damage, and forced people living in Lee County to address racial tensions that had been building for decades. This paper examines the Marianna Boycott as an expression of post-Civil Rights Movement conflict over what the various legislative victories of the 1960s meant for Black people in the rural south. This paper posits that while the Civil Rights laws of the era were …

Improving Gifted And Talented Education In Arkansas: Identification, Academic Benefits, And Local Norms, Bich Thi Ngoc Tran

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, education policies differ from state to state. Local research, therefore, is important to inform educators, policymakers, and researchers on the ground. This dissertation leverages ten years of administrative data to study three questions about gifted and talented (G/T) identification and education in Arkansas: does the current system identify the right students? Are gifted and talented programs beneficial for students? And, how can we improve diversity in gifted and talented education? Leveraging logistic regression, mixed-effects models, and descriptive statistics, I sought to provide answers to these three questions. First, are academically ready students from low-income families being …

Evaluation Of Benzobicyclon In Midsouth Rice (Oryza Sativa) Production Systems, Jake Patterson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Controlling weedy rice postemergence is challenging for rice producers in the United States because of the lack of herbicide options. Weedy rice is genetically similar to cultivated rice, thus making it difficult to control with mid-season postemergence herbicide applications without also damaging the crop. Hence, there is a need for a new effective postemergence weedy rice control herbicide. Findings from this research indicate that the use of benzobicyclon in current standard quizalofop- and imidazolinone-resistant rice herbicide programs provides tremendous utility for Midsouth rice producers. In both of these production systems, the addition of benzobicyclon to the respective standard herbicide programs …

Analyzing Carroll’S Model Of School Learning, Degree Of Learning, In Adult Basic Education, John Kelly

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined Carroll’s Model of School Learning (MSL) on adult basic education (ABE). The study's central question was, “Does Carroll's MSL account for additional variance in TABE 11 or 12 scores beyond instructional time after controlling for age?” A non-experimental cross-sectional design was employed to explore the fiscal year 2019–2020 dataset (n=99) from Arkansas ABE centers to show how instructional time and MSL account for variation in adults’ post-test reading scores. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were run to predict the correlation between MSL and the Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE) Reading score. The results show that MSL is …

Media Erasure: A 1904 Lynching In St. Charles, Arkansas, Mary Hennigan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As Americans grew increasingly interested in historic racial violence following the Black Lives Matter movement in 2021, select news publications chose to publish apologetic editorials and articles that addressed their failure of inclusive reporting for the last century (Lancaster, 2021; Fannin, 2020). In the theme of acknowledging past mistakes, the Printing Hate project emerged to investigate the power white-owned papers had in influencing lynching incidents in the county (Capital News Service, 2021). The present study examines one Arkansas lynching in 1904 St. Charles. The incident includes the death of 13 Black men. Findings from a content analysis of 70 original …

Public Libraries In Rural Arkansas: An Oasis In An Information Desert, Britt Graves

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Public libraries in Arkansas are welcome, but those found in rural Arkansas are almost a necessity. The public uses the library for more than just checking out books or their email: it’s become a community gathering place for all walks of life, regardless of age or economic status. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit the state, libraries also became essential for education, medicine, news, and employment, nearly overloading their resources and shining a spotlight on technology, or the lack thereof, that so many public libraries are needing. With the Arkansas governor planning an upgrade on broadband technology and the federal government …

The Effects Of Commercial Harvest On The Density And Demography Of Aquatic Turtles In Arkansas, Andrhea Darleen Massey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The United States is home to the second highest concentration of turtle species in the world, after Asia. As of 2018, there are 57 turtle species recognized within the US, 40% of which are listed as threatened or endangered, with the primary threats to population persistence identified as over-consumption and/or habitat loss. Within the US, the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV) region represents the second highest turtle species richness, after the Mobile River Basin. The MAV region of Arkansas is one of the least regulated in terms of commercial aquatic turtle harvest and has undergone large-scale habitat conversion from bottomland hardwood …

In The Line Of Duty - A Documentary Film About Davis Duty And His Seeing Eye Dog, Paulina Sobczak

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

“In the Line of Duty” is a documentary film about Jeff Davis Duty, a man from a small town in Arkansas, who lost his sight at the age of five. He is the oldest Seeing Eye dog user in the world. At the age of 22, he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship at the London School of Economics in England, as the first Fulbright Scholar with disability. Duty achieved great success in his career as a lawyer, leading a fulfilling and enjoyable life. The documentary film’s storytelling focuses on Duty’s life from his childhood to current times and presents all …

Palmer Amaranth [Amaranthus Palmeri (S.) Wats.] Resistance To S-Metolachlor In The Mid-Southern Us And S-Metolachlor Dissipation In Soil, Koffi Badou Jeremie Kouame

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Palmer amaranth [Amaranthus palmeri (S.) Wats.] presents both a high genetic diversity and propensity to evolve resistance to herbicides of several sites-of-action which have made it one of the worst weeds in US agriculture. In Arkansas, Palmer amaranth is resistant to herbicides of seven sites-of-action, which are 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) inhibitor, acetolactate synthase inhibitors, microtubule inhibitors, protoporphyrinogen oxidase inhibitors, very long chain fatty acid inhibitors, glutamine synthetase inhibitors, and hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase inhibitors. Sustainable management requires a better understanding of its biology and that of herbicide environmental fate. This research had five objectives: 1) characterize the current status of Palmer amaranth …

Just Benjamin, Paige R. Murphy

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This documentary short film is about a now 30-year-old transgender man telling his story of growing up queer in a small Arkansas town, from being outed as a lesbian in high school, to ultimately being accepted as a trans man by members of his military and biological families. Benjamin “Benji” Davis grew up in the small town of Friendship, Arkansas, enlisted in the U.S. Army shortly after high school and served for six years, then came back to Arkansas and primarily lived in Little Rock until he moved to Denver, Colorado this fall. The documentary is structured linearly both with …

Cover Crop Effects On Infiltration, Aggregate Stability, And Water Retention On Loessial And Alluvial Soils Of The Lower Mississippi River Valley, Shelby G. Lebeau

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cover crops are a widely considered practice to improve soil health in the form of erosion control, organic matter additions, and improving water-holding capacity. Despite the well-documented benefits, little is known about the effect of cover crops on soils in the Lower Mississippi River Valley (LMRV), an area historically dominated by intensive cultivated agriculture, with soils prone to erosion, and unsustainable aquifer withdrawals for irrigation. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of cover crops [with cover crops (CC) and without cover crops (NCC)] on near-surface soil physical/chemical- and infiltration-related properties, aggregate stability, and water retention. …

Machine Learning & Big Data Analyses For Wildfire & Air Pollution Incorporating Gis & Google Earth Engine, Abdullah Al Saim

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The climatic condition, the vegetation type, and the landscape of the United States have made it susceptible to wildfires. This research is divided into two parts based on the analysis of two different aspects of wildfires of two distinct regions. The first part of the study investigates the wildfire susceptibility in Arkansas. Arkansas is a natural state, and it is heavily dependent on its forest and agricultural resources. During the last 30 years, more than 1,000 wildfires occurred in Arkansas and caused more than 10,000 acres of burned areas. Therefore, identifying wildfire-susceptible areas is crucial for ensuring sustainable forest and …

Live The Local: Exploring The Relationship Between Local News Media And Cities Undergoing Downtown Revitalization, Allison Wise

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The rise in suburban development has caused many downtowns across the United States to lose residents, businesses, attractions and community engagement. City officials and planners work to create policies, designs and urban development that help to revitalize downtowns. However, how do we bring people into our downtowns to live, work and play? That is where local news coverage can have an impact. The question arises: What can city officials, event organizers, business leaders do to foster a vibrant downtown? News outlets (e.g., television, print, digital) and their corresponding social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, can act as " …

Population Connectivity Of The Eastern Collared Lizard Crotaphytus Collaris In Arkansas, Whitney Allison Murchison-Kastner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Habitat reduction and fragmentation can isolate populations and decrease genetic diversity, making them susceptible to local extirpation. Additionally, geographic barriers can further impede dispersal among populations thus reducing gene flow. Field studies suggest these factors may be responsible for the decline in Eastern Collared Lizard (Crotaphytus collaris) populations in Arkansas. To address the impacts of habitat loss and fragmentation on the Eastern Collared Lizard (C. collaris) in Arkansas, I used DNA fragment analysis to examine genetic diversity, population structure and connectivity among C. collaris populations. I do so herein by employing microsatellite data from 138 adults across 11 loci to …

When It Rains, It Pours: A Case Study Of Spatio-Temporal Variations In High-Intensity Precipitation Events In Arkansas, Deanna Mantooth-Hendrix

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Climate change is having an impact on weather systems and ecosystems worldwide. Glaciers are receding, oceans are acidifying, hurricanes are stronger, and extreme precipitation is increasing in frequency. Even with the wealth of data and knowledge about the threat of climate change, some places are slow to adapt because they think that the impact to their ecosystem will not be severe. The goal of this project was to determine if climate change is having an impact on extreme precipitation in the top urban areas of Arkansas. The major concern with an increase in extreme events in urban areas is flooding. …

Recovering From Substance Abuse In Arkansas: The Accessibility And Affordability Of Drug Treatment Programs, Whitney King

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is going to examine how people recover from drug addiction and see if there are any similarities due to their socioeconomic statuses at the time of recovery. This research addresses the following questions: How accessible and affordable are drug addiction recovery programs and rehabilitation facilities in Arkansas for mid- to low-income individuals? What are the social costs for people who can’t obtain drug rehabilitation services? The goal of this research is to explore whether there is a lack of affordable recovery programs in the state of Arkansas. This project utilizes survey responses as well as in-depth interviews with …

Characterization Of Problematic Red Clay Soils In Arkansas For The Purpose Of Onsite Wastewater System Placement, Bailey Darnell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Distinguishing between red-clay soils that are non-expansive and can reduce and red-clay soils developing in problematic red parent material, which are expansive, but also non-reducing, is key for proper on-site wastewater system placement. The Arkansas Department of Health allows for the placement of on-site wastewater systems in certain red-clay soils that have the potential to reduce, but only in the Ozark Highlands [Major Land Resource Area (MLRA) 116A], which is referred to as the red-soil exception. There is currently little scientific data to support the geographic restriction of the red-soil exception. The objectives of this study were to: i) confirm …

Geospatial Analysis Of Registered Sex Offenders: A Case Study From Pulaski County, Arkansas, Maggie Rose Bridges

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this case study was to analyze the spatial distribution patterns of the residences of registered sex offenders in Pulaski County, Arkansas to determine the impact of state enforced residence restrictions. Density and clustering factors were used to identify census tracts of the study area with high and low concentrations of offenders. These zones were then compared to identify which characteristics were similar and dissimilar between high and low concentration zones. The results indicate that there is a non-random distribution of registered sex offenders in the study area. The findings also indicate that the residence restrictions placed on …

Description Of Job Embeddedness In Arkansas County Extension Agents, Anika Parks

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Cooperative Extension System (CES) has had a long-standing problem with the retention of its county Extension agents (CEAs), who are in charge of running various programs in over 3,000 counties within the United States. When a CEA leaves a county, voluntarily or involuntarily, the community members are left without that leader, and their needs go unmet, which was proposed to increase voluntary turnover among CEAs even further. Arkansas CES has had its problems with turnover, and studying this issue through the lens of Job Embeddedness Theory was identified as a gap in the literature.

Job Embeddedness Theory is a …

The Shallow End Of The Deep South: Civil Rights Activism In Arkansas, 1865-1970, Sarah Riva

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

On April 7, 1968, Governor Winthrop Rockefeller claimed that “Arkansas today stands at the threshold of leading the nation...for a better America,” The Republican Arkansas Governor spoke on the steps of the state capitol at a memorial for the beloved civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. who had been assassinated three days earlier. Rockefeller’s claim that Arkansas could lead the nation came just two years after the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) formally ended its work in the state to improve racial equality. Their efforts had seen widespread acceptance of integrated public facilities, increased voter registration and more meaningful …

A Spatial Analysis Of Student Safety And Perception, University Of Arkansas-Fayetteville, Casey Goodman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this research lies within a community's effects upon, reactions to, and perceptions towards safety in their inhabited landscapes during various periods of the day. Through cognitive and spatial research, we can construct bridges between individuals' perceptions and reality. This study pertained to a student population sample and their views of public safety on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Questions were asked as to why they felt unsafe, and where they felt the most unsafe (or safe). The student perceptions were compared to reported crimes on the University of Arkansas campus to ascertain gaps in …

From Start To Finish: Predicting Enrollment And Attainment In Arkansas Postsecondary Education, Katherine Kopotic

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Postsecondary education has become a popular option for students, as evidenced by increases in enrollment over the last two decades. However, while enrollment has increased, completion has not. It is therefore important to investigate the factors that could lead to students’ enrollment, persistence, and completion of college. This dissertation examines two broad topics over three chapters. Chapters 1 and 2 focus examine the impact of a policy change that resulted in backloading the award disbursement of a state-wide merit-based scholarship program in Arkansas on college enrollment and success. Chapter 3 examines factors that influence the predictive nature of high school …

Arkansas Aprons: Food Power And Women In Arkansas, 1857 To 1891, Robyn Shahan Spears

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Arkansas foodways in the late nineteenth century were defined by times of plenty and scarcity, need and connection, traditions and innovations. These components created a unique culture in which women through food exchange, were able to improve their standard of living. The years of plenty established in the antebellum era lay in stark contrast to the scarcity during the Civil War. What followed during the Progressive Era are fascinating histories of women employing their agency to empower and improve not only their lives but also future generations. I argue that these women utilized their agency to engage in “food power,” …