Digital Commons Network^™

Port Infrastructure Resilience Through Combined Wind-Surge Demand Characterization, Kaley Callaway

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The United States economy is reliant on maritime transportation for 70% of imports and exports. Structures that are integral to the operation of ports, such as cranes, are jeopardized when tropical storms approach land. While wind is the only environmental load used to design dockside container cranes, storm surge often accompanies severe wind events and can create large structural loads. This study focuses on determining coupled storm-surge demands and the effect of waves on dockside container cranes. A damage index prediction tool that considers both maximum wind speed and storm surge height is developed and applied to historical hurricane data …

Rodent Dental Microwear Texture Analysis As A Proxy For Fine-Scale Paleoenvironment Reconstruction, Jenny H. E. Burgman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) of fossil fauna has become a valuable tool for dietary inference and paleoenvironment reconstruction. Most of this work has utilized larger taxa with larger home ranges. These studies may result in broader-scale habitat inferences that could mask the details of complex mosaic habitats. Rodent DMTA offers an opportunity to work at finer spatial scales because most species have smaller home ranges. Rodents are also keystone species within their ecosystems, abundant, ubiquitous, and found in many fossil deposits. These attributes make them excellent proxies for environmental reconstructions. However, the application of DMTA to rodents remains relatively …

There Are Ghosts In The Machine, Jonathan Green

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There are ghosts in the machine is a body of paintings that dare to dissolve the boundaries between my physical body, intimate desires, and paintings. Utilizing the aesthetics of leather lifestyles, the paintings express the transformational potential of desire and transgression. Oriented within my experience as a queer, transgender male, I call upon influences that range from the body horror classics by director David Cronenberg or the transgressive attitude of Nine Inch Nails, to theoretical works on the power of eroticism by Audre Lorde and Georges Bataille.Modified by hardware such as chains, zippers, and grommets, the paintings express the transformational …

Temporal Changes In Surface Water Availability: Patterns Of Seasonal Shift On Water Stress In The Conterminous Us Under A Changing Climate, Quinn Montana

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The argument could be made that there is nothing more valuable on the planet than water. Our lives depend upon it. Climate change is already having an impact on the United States (US) and water stress will be one of the problems we increasingly face in coming decades. Regional research has shown that one or another part of the conterminous US (CONUS) is expected to experience an annual deficit or a surplus in runoff. Further studies have looked at changing patterns over the CONUS as a whole. Other research has focused on a particular season. This work addresses a gap …

Crying At Nothing But Colors, Maryalice Carroll

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

crying at nothing but colors is an installation of ceramic works that explores the abstraction of feelings, both physical and emotional. The installation itself is a house made out of tension cables that stretch wall to wall in the gallery space. Inside the house are 7 ceramic objects placed on wooden pedestals paired with tufted rugs.

Throughout this essay, I will describe the abstract ceramic objects as Beings. They are colorful and have textured glaze on the surface with a gloopy opalescent glaze oozing out of holes that cover each piece. They are an extension of myself. They are the …

A Boy Born On Wednesday, Charles Krampah

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My relocation to America has presented an unprecedented space for self-examination. The components of my identity and personality have been laid bare before me; My blackness in the face of racism and white hegemony, my African heritage in the face of post-colonialism and imperialism, and my faith in the face of an increasingly secular western culture.

Am I who thought I was? Am I more or less? Why do I feel like a different person, and what does this mean for my future?

My research and art practice serve as a form of introspection. I tell an internal story in …

Alternative Fixation Of Venous Valves For Bioprosthetic Applications, Makenzie Kapales

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Venous valve failure allows for the retrograde, or backward, flow of blood into the lower extremities, which leads to Chronic Venous Insufficiency (CVI). CVI infringes upon quality of life through ulceration and can result in death due to Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT), or blood clots, causing pulmonary embolism. A successful treatment of CVI restores valve function and prevents retrograde blood flow; however, current bioprosthetic venous valves exhibit low patency and high calcification. To improve upon bioprosthetic venous valves and CVI treatment, the University of Arkansas’s Cardiovascular Biomechanics Lab conducts studies with the purpose of comparing the properties and performance of …

How Flow Regime Affects Predator-Prey Relationships Of Stream Darter And Shiner Species, Anna E. Richardson

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Analysis of the interactions between abiotic and biotic factors of environments and ecosystems is a highly valued area of research. This study focuses on the interactions between the biotic component of predation and foraging of certain stream fish species and the abiotic component of the flow regime that those species reside in. Gut content analysis followed by statistical calculations in the form of t-tests and chi -quared tests were performed on two fish species who both inhabited a stream with a groundwater flashy flow regime as well as a stream with a runoff flashy flow regime. The research showed that …

Evaluation Of Selected Nuproxa Feed Additives For Protection Against Lameness And Improving The Wellbeing Of Broilers In A Lameness Challenge Model, Jaren Hernandez

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

A common concern in commercial industries profiting from broiler chickens is their inability to yield a completely healthy flock. Bacterial Chondronecrosis with Osteomyelitis poses a threat to these companies by impairing the birds' proximal and distal tibial and femoral heads. In 2000, roughly 17.3% of broiler chickens were affected by Bacterial Chondronecrosis with Osteomyelitis which caused a substantial economic loss in the industry (McNammee et al., 2000). BCO cannot be tied to a particular bacterial species; this experiment focuses on evaluating the efficacy of certain commercial feed additives while determining the bacterial species causing BCO in this set of the …

Broiler Efficiency As Affected By Dietary Protein Supply And Grain Source, Victoria Reid

Animal Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

This experiment was conducted to compare the effects of different diet compositions on performance and carcass yield of male broilers from 15 to 36 days of age. In total, 593 male birds were divided across a randomized design that consisted of 6 dietary treatments, each with 8 replications. The treatments included pelleted diets that varied in grain type and crude protein (CP) value: 3 sorghum-based diets at 20%, 18.75%, and 17.5% CP and 3 corn-sorghum blended diets at the same CP levels. CP amounts impacted only body weight gain and feed conversion rate while feed intake only differed with grain …

Effects Of Retail Case Environment And Led Lighting Temperature On Color And Oxidation Of Previously Frozen Ground Beef Patties, Devin Elaine Whiteside

Animal Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate different environments of retail cases and LED lighting temperatures to observe how these conditions affect oxidation of previously frozen ground beef patties. Coarse ground beef (85% lean) was purchased from a commercial beef processor, fine ground through a 10 mm grinder plate, and then formed into 1/3-pound patties with an automatic patty forming machine. Patties were then randomly assigned to four different treatments: open-front display cases with 3000 K lighting (OPEN3000), open-front cases 3500 K lighting (OPEN3500), reach-in door display with 3000 K lighting (CLOSED3000), and reach-in door display at 3500 K …

Can Violent Political Rhetoric Influence Bias Homicide Rates? Analyzing The Trump Effect, Tyler Joseph Patrick Ford

Sociology and Criminology Undergraduate Honors Theses

The founding document of the United States declares that all men are created equal. However, history has shown that this is not the case. Citizens in this country have been discriminated against since its inception based on their race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, and many other factors. The first Federal Legislation passed to prevent discrimination against citizens in the United States did not come until 1968, which “made it a crime to use, or threaten to use, force to willfully interfere with any person because of race, color, religion, or national origin” (United States, Department of Justice). It …

The Arkansas Ll.M. Program: Forty Years Of Leadership, Susan A. Schneider

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The University of Arkansas School of Law has been a leader in agricultural law education for over forty years through its innovative LL.M. Program in Agricultural and Food Law. This essay memorializes the history of this signature Program and charts its progress through the decades as agricultural law issues evolved and the discipline expanded.

Black-Owned Beef: Should Black Beef Producers Stake Space In Food Justice?, Shirah Dedman

Journal of Food Law & Policy

While there is growing interest in Black cowboys, the narrative is largely tethered to parades and urban and suburban saddle clubs, much like the fictional movie on Netflix, Concrete Cowboy. Missing from the narrative are today’s real Black cowboys: rural ranchers and farmers raising cattle for beef production and consumption.

The Broken Beef Cattle Industry: Cool, Covid And Cattletrace, Hayden L. Ballard

Journal of Food Law & Policy

While the Kansas City Stockyards themselves are gone, just like in the early 20th Century, a beef monopoly has once again found its way into the industry, and a way around the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 and is again suffocating the industry. While at the time of the act’s passage in 1921 five companies controlled the market, today the market is even more consolidated in the “Big Four,” as the four biggest meat packing companies in America are commonly known (Cargill, Tyson, JBS and National Beef/Marfrig), and are again arguably stifling the free-market. If Americans do not act …

Journal Of Food Law & Policy - Spring 2022, Journal Editors

Journal of Food Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Architecture As Stress Relief: What Makes A Meditative Space?, Angela Brown

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

Stress is a prevalent issue today. People can become stressed or overstimulated for various reasons, whether it be due to their physical environment, their physiological nature, psychological factors, or a combination. Although the causes of stress for our prehistoric ancestors were mostly periodic events such as predators or weather, modern-day stressors are often persistent and environmental, leading to chronic stress. Also, in today’s world of constant new information and stimulation, especially in urban locations, sensory overload is common. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic and its mental effects have brought new attention to the interaction between physical environment and well-being. The prevalence …

Plastic Bottles In Architecture: A How To Guide On Life-Cycle Through Reuse, Crystallyne Landram

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

This booklet is a collection of 6 case studies that utilize reused plastic bottles significantly within their design. Prior to working with the case studies, much time was dedicated to research that justified the need for such a project. In-depth research on the environmental crisis, waste management trends, stewardship, sustainability, and ethics was conducted and recorded in the introduction to contextualize the need for an accessible how-to guide such as this one. Time was also given to establishing background information on bottles, reprocessing, and architecture to elaborate further on each piece of the content matter. It is curated as a …

Life After Death – Does Carcass Biodiversity Scale With Carcass Body Size?, Troy Warfield

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Mammals play a large role in the ecosystems where some, especially large-bodied mammals, act as ecosystem engineers. Mammal carcasses, particularly those of large body mass act as a temporary island of dense nutrients that support other organisms, including other mammal species, for an extended period. Research in this field currently focuses on the link between mammal carcass size and nutrient availably or on non-mammalian size and biodiversity, but little is available on the correlation between mammal carcass size and its influence on ecosystem biodiversity. Here we ask, does the available biomass (i.e., body size) of the carcass affect its role …

Seasonality Of Orthohantavirus Seroprevalence In Northwest Arkansas Rodents, Amy Schexnayder

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Zoonotic viruses are viruses that can be transmitted from animals to humans. Rodent species are likely to be reservoirs for zoonotic viruses, and particular rodent-borne viruses, such as orthohantaviruses, may greatly threaten human health. Orthohantaviruses are a group of rodent-borne viruses that are at risk for spillover to human populations. Many aspects of orthohantaviruses have been well-researched, yet the seasonality of orthohantaviruses has not yet been thoroughly examined, especially in the southern United States. In this study, we captured 616 rodents trapped over 5953 trap nights across 13 grassland sites in Northwest Arkansas. Rodents were trapped for two consecutive nights …

Effect Of Larval Rearing Environment On Female Bicyclus Anynana Mate Choice, Adriana Beruvides

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Around eighty percent of animals go through metamorphosis or drastic phase changes at some point in their life. We know that juvenile interactions can influence adult behavior and mate choice in species that don’t go through metamorphosis, but we know very little about how social interactions during early life stages of animals who go through metamorphosis affect mate choice. To fill this knowledge gap, I used the butterfly Bicyclus anynana to assess whether female butterflies raised in complete isolation from the beginning of their lives exhibit the same mate preference as butterflies raised in normal social conditions. To test this, …

Determination Of Tissue-Level Changes In Tumors That Are Indicative Of Metastasis Using Optical Spectroscopy, Sanidhya D. Tripathi

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Breast cancer, accounting for 12% of all new cancer cases, is one of the leading causes of death in women worldwide. Although patient survival has improved over the years, metastatic spread to other organ sites and not due to the primary tumor is the most common form of tumor recurrence, accounting for 90% deaths. Hypoxia is a common hallmark of solid tumors and is linked with metastasis, therapeutic resistance, and poor patient survival. Defined as a state of decreased oxygen availability, cells under hypoxia have an increased rate of genetic mutation, local invasion, and resistance to treatment such as radiation …

Studying Acetylation Of Aconitase Isozymes By Genetic Code Expansion, Jessica Araujo

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle is a very important, centrally located, energy-producing pathway that connects numerous other metabolic and regulatory pathways. Enzymes of this cycle have been more recently implicated in various cancers and neurometabolic disorders, however, the exact mechanism by which this happens becomes quite complex when considering the potential modification of these enzymes and the presence of multiple forms of the enzymes and therefore there is much to be studied in this area.

Aconitase has become a recent enzyme of interest as its substrate, citrate, has been found to play a major role in many vital processes within …

Comparison Of Carbon Footprints Of School Lunches In Dangriga, Belize, And Northwest Arkansas, Lauren Greenwood

Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

The original purpose of this study was to investigate differences in carbon footprints of school lunches by comparing a school in Arkansas, USA, and a school in Belize. Due to complications imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the purpose was revised to gathering preliminary data about the school lunch program at a school in Northwest Arkansas; data were to be used to estimate CO2-equivalent emissions for cafeteria energy use, meal ingredients from the two most popular meals served, and food transportation at the last point in the supply chain (food service delivery to school). This study highlights the intersection of food …

Consumer Preferences For Lab Grown Meat: The Effect Of Information On Consumer Choice, Aryn Blumenberg

Food Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Global population growth and increased meat demand present challenges for the agricultural industry to produce meat sustainably. In-vitro meat (IVM) is an alternative that could reduce negative impacts associated with livestock production. The goal of this study was to examine consumers’ preferences for IVM. A choice experiment was created with twelve choice tasks that varied across five attributes: production method (IVM or conventional), carbon trust label, organic label, animal welfare label, and price. 1,120 US consumers were randomly assigned to one of four information treatments, differing by information presented regarding IVM: 1) neutral (baseline), 2) positive, 3) negative, and 4) …

Using Community Science To Assess The Effect Of Wing Pattern And Weather On Butterfly Behavior, Abbigail Merrill

Animal Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Signaling in insects is used as communication and for attraction of mates. The physical appearance of the insect as well as conditions such as weather can play a role in visual signaling, by influencing the wavelengths of light available, and subsequent signal detection. We do not know, however, whether signals butterflies present broadly correlate with how they behave. In this study, we looked at the wing patterns and behavior of butterflies in Northwest Arkansas over a 3.5-year period to assess the relationship between wing pattern, weather, and behavior. We used observational data collected by hundreds of University of Arkansas students …

Effects Of Cottonseed Meal Containing Gossypol On Testis Physiology In Boars, Kristin Ryan

Animal Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Feral hogs are an invasive species found in 35 U.S. states without an effective control method to limit their population growth. According to a 2019 survey of 467 landowners in Arkansas, feral hogs caused an estimated $12 million in damages (Cook, 2019). While there are current control methods such as hunting and trapping, 65% of the feral hog population must be eliminated in a specific area to prohibit population growth (Cook, 2019). It is theorized that gossypol, a phenolic compound known to negatively impact reproductive function in other species, could cause sterility in boars. In this preliminary research study, 21 …

Isolation And Production Of Tandem Collagen Binding Domain From Clostridial Collagenase Colg And Developments In C1q Reagent Production For Future Molecule Characterization Work, Stephanie Beitle

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis covers a two part project: the production methods to create a double collagen binding domain molecule with a growth factor for wound healing applications and the development of a new in-house production method for isolating C1q from bovine blood. The wound healing molecule was created using transformation, sonication, and purification before being tested via electrophoresis SDS page and Western blots to confirm the molecule’s presence. The C1q in-house production method utilizes an ultrafiltration flow cell rather than dialysis at a critical point in the process, allowing for researchers to not only be able to use a single small …

Pediatric Seizure Management With Ketogenic Diet, Lydia Beller

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Seizure disorders can be life altering and debilitating, especially for developing children. Children who have seizure disorders often require social, emotional, educational, and behavioral adjustments for children. Most medication regimes do not achieve complete management of seizure frequency and intensity. For children, seizure disorders can lead to unsuccessful education experiences, low self-esteem, severe injury, and difficulties with social skills and engagement. Discovering that a dietary means can reduce their frequency and intensity is groundbreaking. The ketogenic diet is a high protein, high fat, and almost no carbohydrate diet. The ketogenic diet is an effective non-pharmacological method for treating epilepsy (Karimzadeh, …

Alleviation Of Atopic Dermatitis Symptoms By Implementation Of Standard And Alternative Treatments, Nika Sayvongsa

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Atopic Dermatitis (AD) is a chronic dermatological disease caused by a combination of hereditary and environmental factors. This is a common condition that is primarily diagnosed among children, but can persist throughout adulthood. Twenty peer-reviewed articles are analyzed in this expanded literature review. Various methods were implemented throughout these studies, including randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, and single-blind studies; all of the studies shared the objective of evaluating AD alleviation with the use of either standard treatment modalities or alternative/ complementary therapies.