Central Arkansas Research Articles

Exploring the needs of urban producers in a rural state: A qualitative needs assessment

Urban farming is a phenomenon rising in popular­ity across the United States. Investigating the needs of urban farmers in a predominately rural state is important in informing future programming and technical assistance for these clients. This qualita­tive study used semi-structured, in-depth interviews that investigated the perceptions, needs, and expe­riences of Arkansas urban farmers and their inter­actions with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service. Inter­views were conducted with 16 urban farmers in Northwest and Central Arkansas. The interview data revealed highly individualized needs based on the operation size, years in operation, and mission of each urban farmer interviewed. While needs var­ied, some were consistent, such as market pricing, co-ops, and access to appropriate equipment. Par­ticipants also revealed a positive perception of Extension, though they cited that the organization did not always have resources specific to small-scale, sustainable farming. Building from the Com­munity Food System Development Framework for Change and informed by the AgroEcological-Educator theory, this study provides urban farm­ers’ insights and contextualizes urban farming in a predominately rural, southern state. Potential remains for increased collaboration and communi­cation between Arkansas urban farmers and Exten­sion. This article demonstrates the diverse needs of Arkansas urban farmers, which can be used by Extension and sustainable agriculture experts to inform research about urban and sustainable farmers in their respective states.

Increase Disinfectant Residual While Reducing Disinfection Byproducts

The relationship between the amount of disinfectant residual and disinfection byproducts measured in finished water poses a challenge for water treatment and distribution operators. Central Arkansas Water investigated how to effectively reduce microbial and chemical contaminants.

Identifying community needs of the Hispanic faith community to develop a research agenda.

ObjectiveTo conduct a community health needs assessment among the Hispanic faith community population to develop a community‐partnered research agenda.DesignA cross‐sectional design was used to conduct a community needs assessment using a community‐based participatory research approachSampleHispanic faith community members in Central Arkansas.MeasurementData collection was led by Hispanic faith leaders using an audience response system at places of worship. An 88‐item Community Health Needs Assessment survey was used that included demographic questions and questions related to five domains including community concerns, community resources, healthcare access, health concerns, and hunger and nutrition.ResultsThere were a total of 100 participants in the community needs assessment. Hunger and nutrition was the highest ranking community concern followed by healthcare access.ConclusionBased upon the results of the study, the university researchers and Hispanic faith community members have begun the initial steps to developing a research agenda to address the major concerns of the community.

Depositional patterns of slowly plugging neck cutoffs from core analysis and estimates of bedload transport, White River, Arkansas

AbstractMeander cutoffs and oxbow lakes are very common features of fluvial landscapes that add complexity and diversity to floodplain alluvial architecture and riverine habitats. Following initial cutoff, sediment accumulates within the entrance and exit of the original bend forming plugs that eventually disconnect the abandoned bend from the main channel. While studies have examined the sedimentology of these plugs once they have fully disconnected from the abandoned bend, fewer studies have detailed the sedimentological processes occurring during the early stages following cutoff initiation. Furthermore, recent studies have highlighted the importance that planform geometry plays in the evolution of neck cutoffs. This study examines the spatial depositional patterns of two neck cutoffs on the White River in central Arkansas, USA, that remain hydrologically connected to the main channel, providing a unique opportunity to research sedimentological processes before disconnection of the abandoned bend. Sediment cores were collected in key locations of each cutoff, including the entrance and exit of the abandoned bends, abandoned bend apices, and newly developed cutoff bars in the downstream channel. The cores were logged and interpreted and grain‐size analyses were performed. In addition to sediment cores, repeat high‐resolution multibeam echo sounding surveys were conducted roughly four hours apart to estimate bedload transport rates and patterns of bedload routing through each cutoff. Results from this research are different from previous studies. Sediment core results show a pattern of deposition typically associated with lower diversion angle chute cutoffs instead of higher diversion angle neck cutoffs. Previous research has indicated that plugging of abandoned bends drives disconnection from the active channel; however, this research shows that disconnection is more associated with the prevention of sediment from being delivered to the abandoned bends due to flow being pulled away from the abandoned bends and the evolving channel morphology.

Production Matters

AbstractRecent absorbed residue studies have confirmed that ceramic and shell containers were used for consuming Datura in precolumbian times. Until now, no one has identified what tools precolumbian people used to produce a concentrated hallucinogenic concoction. In this study, we used mass spectrometry to identify Datura residues (a flowering plant with hallucinogenic properties) in two late precolumbian composite bottles from the Central Arkansas River valley. Unlike the construction of most Mississippian bottles, the bottles in this study are unique because ceramic disks with a series of concentric perforations were incorporated in the bottles at the juncture of the bottle neck with the globular portion of the body. The organic residue analysis revealed Datura residues in both bottles. We argue that the internal clay disks served as strainers that allowed Datura producers to separate the hallucinogenic alkaloids from the Datura flower to produce a powerful liquid beverage.

Characterizing Firearm Assault Injury Among Young Black Men Using Arkansas Hospital Discharge Data.

Using statewide hospital discharge data from 2005 to 2014, this study aimed to describe and identify predictors of firearm assault among young Black men ages 18 to 44 in Arkansas. Descriptive analyses of data were performed for patient demographics (age, marital status, residential location, etc.), injury, and health care information (hospital charges, length of stay, mortality, time, day and season of injury, etc.). Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify significant predicting factors for firearm assault among this population. Most of the sample survived firearm assault injury, were ages 18-35, were not married, resided in Central Arkansas, and were admitted to a Central Arkansas hospital during night hours on weekends. The majority had a short hospital stay, and total charges exceeded $34 million during the study observation years. Most patients had no diagnosis of a mental disorder, and a little less than half had drug use disorders. Being ages 18-25, living in the Central region of Arkansas, and being married were all significant predictors of firearm assault for this population. Death was also significantly associated with firearm assault. Our findings lay the groundwork for understanding firearm assault injury among young Black men in Arkansas. Research should be expanded to examine other important data sources for firearm assault and to further explore the context of predicting factors, in order to provide a more comprehensive understanding of firearm assault and to better inform future prevention efforts.

Creating a university-branded animated GIF library

Graphics interchange format (GIFs) are the lingua franca of Twitter. They can express complex ideas and emotions that cannot fit into a Tweet, create humour and levity or add a personal touch to a reply. In higher education, we use them constantly to congratulate students when they have just been accepted, share the excitement of the school year starting or wish students luck on final exams. But why use pop culture GIFs when you can create your own university-branded ones? The University of Central Arkansas created its own library of branded GIFs and GIF stickers on GIPHY, a popular GIF-sharing platform that has generated almost 100 million GIF views in less than two years. In this paper, we will give you a tutorial on making GIFs, promoting a brand GIF library and evaluating the results.

Inventory and Assemblage Classification of the Freshwater Mussels (Mollusca: Unionidae) of the Strawberry River, Arkansas, USA, with Implications for Conservation Planning

Spatial hierarchical approaches to classify freshwater systems can add to our understanding of biogeographical patterns and can be used for biodiversity conservation planning. The Strawberry River is located primarily in the Ozark Highlands Central Plateau of north central Arkansas, USA, with a small downstream portion in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain and has been designated an Extraordinary Resource Water, an Ecologically Sensitive Water Body, and a Natural Scenic Waterway. The goals of this study were to document Strawberry River, Arkansas freshwater mussels to aid in conservation planning. Our first objective was to inventory freshwater mussel species in the Strawberry River. Our second objective was to use this stream-wide dataset to classify the freshwater mussel assemblages. We used unpublished survey data of 59 sites distributed from the headwaters to the mouth to inventory species occurrence and abundance, classified mussel assemblages using non-metric multi-dimensional scaling (NMS), and conducted indicator species analysis on resulting assemblages. We observed 39 taxa across the 59 survey sites including two S1, five S2, 16 S3, 11 S4, four S5, and one state non-ranked conservation rank species. Furthermore, our assemblage NMS revealed two distinct freshwater mussel assemblages roughly organized by an upstream (Sites 1–31) to downstream (Sites 32–59) gradient. There were five upstream indicator species and 13 downstream indicator species. This study provides a case study on using existing datasets with NMS and indicator species analyses to classify mussel assemblages and adds to our understanding of freshwater mussel fauna classification at smaller spatial scales. Both NMS and indicator species outcomes can aid in conservation planning for freshwater mussels.

Cardiovascular Health in Individuals with Exceptional Longevity Residing in Arkansas.

Cardiovascular disease is a common comorbidity associated with an aging population. However, there is a unique group of individuals whose age-defying qualities are still being investigated.This retrospective chart review analyzed various cardiac and metabolic health parameters to characterize the prevalence of heart failure and metabolic derangements in individuals aged 90 years old or older in central Arkansas. Only 236 of the 291 patients in our study cohort had blood pressures recorded. Of these, 50% had systolic blood pressures ≥140 mmHg. Additionally, 77% had pulse pressures ≥50 mmHg. Of the 96 patients with BNP data, 44% had values ≥300 pg/mL. There was a slight positive correlation between aging and HDL cholesterol, while there was a negative correlation between aging and both total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. A majority of our patients had both elevated systolic blood pressures and elevated pulse pressures. A majority also had high BNP values, indicative of some degree of heart failure. Additionally, atrial fibrillation was a common arrhythmia identified on EKG. However, these oldest of the old patients had fewer documented metabolic derangements. These findings lay important groundwork for further investigation into lifestyle and genetic components that allow them to live exceptionally long with such comorbidities.

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Educating Medical Students About Dementia Assessment and Treatment Planning.

Many general practitioners consider dementia care beyond their clinical domain and feel that dementia assessment and treatment should be addressed by specialists, such as geriatricians, geriatric psychiatrists, or neurologists. An urgent need exists to educate all medical trainees in dementia care, regardless of their specialization interests. We developed a multicomponent, experiential, brief curriculum using team-based learning to expose senior medical students who rotated through the US Department of Veterans Affairs Memory Disorders Clinic at the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System in Little Rock to an interdisciplinary assessment of dementia. The curriculum included didactics, clinical experience, and team-based learning. In pre- and postevaluation, students rated their perception of the role of interdisciplinary team members in assessing and managing dementia, their personal abilities to assess cognition, behavioral problems, caregiver burden, and their perception of the impact of behavioral problems on dementia care. Dementia knowledge gaps were prevalent in this cohort of senior medical students. Providing interdisciplinary geriatric educational experience improved students perception of their ability to assess for dementia and their recognition of the roles of interdisciplinary team members. Plans are in place to continue and expand the program to other complex geriatric syndromes.

VA Video Connect for Clinical Care in Older Adults in a Rural State During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-Sectional Study.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the need for telehealth at home. Although the Department of Veterans Affairs is a leading provider of telehealth, disparities may exist in reaching older veterans living in rural areas. VA Video Connect (VVC) is a video conferencing app that enables veterans to connect with their health care provider via a secure and private session.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to examine the capability and willingness of older veterans to participate in a VVC visit during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted on older veterans (N=118) at the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System. Participants were interviewed over the phone and responses to the following items were recorded: availability of internet, email, and an electronic device with a camera; veterans’ willingness to complete an appointment via a VVC visit; and availability of assistance from a caregiver for those who were unable to participate in a VVC visit alone.ResultsParticipants’ mean age was 72.6 (SD 8.3) years, 92% (n=108) were male, 69% (n=81) were Caucasian, 30% (n=35) were African Americans, and 36% (n=42) lived in a rural location. The majority reported having access to the internet (n=93, 77%) and email service (n=83, 70%), but only 56% (n=67) had a camera-equipped device. Overall, 53% (n=63) were willing and capable of participating in a VVC visit. The availability of internet access was significantly lower in rural compared to nonrural participants (P=.045) and in those with or less than a high school education compared to those who pursued higher education (P=.02). Willingness to participate in the VVC visit was significantly lower in rural compared to nonrural participants (P=.03). Of the participants who reported they were able and willing to partake in a VVC visit (n=54), 65% (n=35) opted for VVC and 35% (n=19) preferred a phone visit. In total, 77% (n=27) of the scheduled VVC visits were successful.ConclusionsDespite advances in technology, and willingness on the part of health care systems, there are some lingering issues with capability and willingness to participate in video telehealth visits, particularly among older adults residing in rural areas.

Leave or Die: Dispersal of Red-Bellied Mudsnakes (Farancia abacura) from their Home Ranges in an Isolated Wetland

We radiotracked eight, free-living, Red-Bellied Mudsnakes (Farancia abacura) from April to October 2019 in a bottomland hardwood forest wetland in Central Arkansas. Four snakes emerged in April from their overwintering sites in an earthen dam of a 1.2 ha pond and confined all of their movements to the pond basin. All four snakes were lost to predators during the course of the year. Four other snakes emerged from overwintering and dispersed up to 1580 m from the pond. One dispersing snake was lost to a predator when it returned to the pond. Dispersing snakes followed ephemeral streams upstream and downstream, ditches, and flooded bottomlands. The dispersal movements occurred in an extraordinarily wet period that began in August 2018 and continued through August 2019. These results contrasted sharply with the radiotracking results of eight, free-living, F. abacura at the same locality in 2018, each of which maintained a home range in the pond and experienced no predation. Included in the eight 2018 snakes were three of the dispersing snakes radiotracked in 2019. Possible year-to-year variation in movement patterns driven by environmental variability and predator pressure should be considered in designing management plans for at-risk wetland species.

Mary Lowe Good (1931-2019).

Renowned chemist, respected leader, and inspiring mentor

Dog Sniffs Out Leaks to Reduce Nonrevenue Water

Everyone knows dog is man's best friend, but can it be man's best co‐worker, too? In a time when everything seems high‐tech, sometimes low‐tech is just the innovation needed. Central Arkansas Water introduced Vessel, a black Labrador retriever mix, to its staff in the fall of 2019 to aid in leak detection.

Central Arkansas Water's Lead Service Line Replacement Program: Investigation, Communication, Implementation

Key TakeawaysNews coverage of elevated lead levels has caused widespread concern among consumers about lead in their drinking water.In 2016, a multidisciplinary team of Central Arkansas Water (CAW) employees developed a lead service replacement program to improve public health protection.In a concerted effort that included stakeholder engagement, transparent communication with customers, and a deliberate inventory and replacement process, CAW effectively reduced customers’ exposure to lead in drinking water.

Machine‐Learning‐Based Analysis of the Guy‐Greenbrier, Arkansas Earthquakes: A Tale of Two Sequences

AbstractWe revisited the June 2010 to October 2011 Guy‐Greenbrier earthquake sequence in central Arkansas using PhaseNet, a deep neural network trained to pick P and S arrival times. We applied PhaseNet to continuous waveform data and used phase association and hypocenter relocation to locate nearly 90,000 events. Our catalog suggests that the sequence consists of two adjacent earthquake sequences on the same fault and that the second sequence may be associated with the wastewater disposal well to the west of the Guy‐Greenbrier Fault, rather than the wells to the north and the east that were previously implicated. We find that each sequence is composed of many small clusters that exhibit diffusion along the fault at shorter timescales. Our study demonstrates that machine‐learning‐based earthquake catalog development is now feasible and will yield new insights into earthquake behavior.

Mary L. Good

Mary L. Good, 88, died on Nov. 20, 2019, in Little Rock, Arkansas. “Mary Good was a towering figure in the chemistry enterprise. In her various roles, she made lasting scientific and policy contributions to industry, government, academia, and the nonprofit world. No matter how busy she was, Mary always found the time to offer perspective and advice to young chemists starting their careers. Mary was truly a unique individual, and I don’t think we will ever see anyone like her again. She will be deeply missed by all those whose lives she touched and enriched.”—Madeleine Jacobs, friend and colleague Most recent title: Dean, University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s George W. Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology; served as American Chemical Society president in 1987 Education: BS, chemistry, University of Central Arkansas, 1950; PhD, inorganic chemistry, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, 1955 Survivors: Sons, Billy and James; four grandchildren;

Report: Abstracts from the 71st Caddo Conference held at University of Central Arkansas

The 61st Caddo Conference was held on March 21-23, 2019 in the McCastlain Hall Ballroom on the campus of UCA. The Caddo Conference coincided with Arkansas Archeology Month. Funding was provided by UCA Foundation, the Department of Sociology, Criminology, and Anthropology (SCA) at UCA, the Caddo Conference Organization, the Arkansas Archeological Survey, and the Arkansas Archeological Society. The conference began Friday, March 21st at 9am with several research presentations throughout the day. Twelve presentations and three research posters were presented. Additionally, several book publishers and Caddo artists displayed books and art for sale. There were 45 paid registrants attending the conference. Maximum attendance was during the Saturday afternoon public session, which is estimated around 100 people. A special Saturday afternoon "Caddo Art and Heritage" session featured Caddo culture, art, and dance. In the session, six contemporary Caddo artists discussed their ceramic, beadwork, and stonework art.

Development and implementation of a collaboration between a patient-centered medical home and community pharmacy

ObjectivesThis study aimed to describe the development and implementation strategies used in the collaboration between a patient-centered medical home (PCMH) and a grocery pharmacy chain and to evaluate the effectiveness of a community pharmacist’s clinical integration in reducing hemoglobin A1c levels at clinic and patient levels. SettingThe Kroger Co and Catholic Health Initiative St. Vincent. Practice descriptionThe Kroger Co is a large grocery store that operates 27 pharmacies in the state of Arkansas, with 20 locations in the central Arkansas area. PCMH is part of a large health system in central Arkansas with 10 primary-care clinics in the area. Practice innovationWith the transition to value-based payment models, pharmacists are being utilized in settings outside of the pharmacy. This project demonstrates a partnership between a community pharmacy and PCMH. The community pharmacist spent 20 h/week in the PCMH providing medication therapy and disease state management services. Services were focused on patients with uncontrolled diabetes. EvaluationDescriptive statistics were used to describe the distribution of the pharmacists’ time. A patient-level pre–post analysis of the mean changes in hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) was conducted for patients who interacted directly with the pharmacist. A clinic-level analysis was conducted to evaluate changes in HbA1c compared to that in a nonequivalent control group using a standard quality measure. ResultsIn total, 312 individual patients interacted with the pharmacist. Of those patients, 228 had diabetes. A total of 111 patients underwent pre–post HbA1c analysis. In those patients, there was a statistically significant reduction in mean HbA1c . There was no difference in clinic-level results between the intervention and control locations. ConclusionCollaboration between a community pharmacy and PCMH is feasible and may improve patient care. Future research should include pharmacy-based visits and development of a process for improved communication.

Historic Preservation: The Boyhood Home of Levon Helm

Historic preservation has significant impact on communities. The purpose of this study was to involve students in a historically based, culturally diverse community project in a rural region of Arkansas in order to make a positive impact in that region. Interior Design Program students (n = 6) within the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences at the University of Central Arkansas adopted the boyhood home of Levon Helm in Marvell, Arkansas, as their capstone project. This site was chosen based on the criteria of the study and was need-based for the Marvell, AR, community. The capstone project charged students to develop a strategic plan using design skills from Family and Consumer Sciences Guidelines in the Housing and Interior Design Area of Study to improve tourism, economy, and civic pride of the rural Arkansas community. The project results: the structure was named to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places, funds were raised for restoration of the property, nationwide publicity was received, and a positive economic impact was realized.