University Of Arkansas At Little Rock Research Articles

Assessing food insecurity at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock

In 2014, 567,250 (19.1%) Arkansans were classified as food insecure (Feeding America, 2016). According to Dubick, Mathews, and Cady (2016), 48% of students at community colleges and four-year colleges/universities qualified as food insecure. For this study, we implemented a non-probability convenience sample of 478 students enrolled at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR). Of the students who completed the survey: 54% identified as White; 37% Black or African American; 6% Hispanic or Latino; 3.5% Asian; 1% Native American and 62% were 19-24 years old. In terms of food security, 22.4% had enough to eat, but not always the kinds of food they wanted, 4.5% sometimes did not have enough to eat, 20.4% had to cut the size of their meals or skip meals because there was not enough money for food in the past three months, and 22.5% could not afford to eat balanced meals in the past three months. When one is always in search of their next meal, improper impulse controls can develop. Those who are food insecure or hungry, treat every meal as if it were their last. The link between food accessibility and academic performance can illustrate ways that policymakers can address the issue to help alleviate poverty and increase the chances that children can go to college and stay in college. By collaborating with students, faculty, and staff, UALR can increase its methods to address food insecurity among its college students.

A Model-Based Approach to Improved Understanding and Mitigation of Transport Losses in PEM Fuel Cells

Platinum-based catalysts are used to activate hydrogen oxidation and oxygen reduction in conventional polymer-electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Reducing the amount of Pt is an important step towards lowering cost [1]. Pt alloys and core-shell structures that are more active for oxygen reduction than pure Pt have been demonstrated and these materials can enable low Pt loadings [2]. In fact, membrane-electrode assemblies (MEAs) with low loadings of highly active Pt-group metal (PGM) catalysts have already been demonstrated to exceed the U.S. DOE’s high-efficiency target of > 0.3 A/cm2 at 0.8 V [3]. However, DOE’s rated-power target of 1 W/cm2 cannot be met with these MEAs due to voltage losses at higher current densities that increase as the amount of catalyst is reduced. This behavior needs to be understood and mitigated in order to maintain present levels of performance while achieving meaningful cost savings. United Technologies Research Center (UTRC) is leading a DOE-supported research project that is focused on understanding and mitigating the transport losses in MEAs with ultra-low loading of PGM catalysts (i.e., ≤ 0.125 Pt/cm2 on both anode and cathode). This project is part of DOE’s Fuel Cell Performance and Durability (FC PAD) Consortia. UTRC is utilizing an iterative approach to address this challenging problem, which is illustrated in the figure. UTRC has developed and validated a new cathode-catalyst layer (CCL) model that builds upon conventional agglomerate models by including localized spherical diffusion and slow adsorption at the scale of the catalyst particles in addition to the processes at the scale of agglomerates that are normally considered [4]. Including transport losses associated with each platinum particle leads to limiting currents that are proportional to the amount of platinum, which is not a characteristic of traditional agglomerate models. Predictions using morphological parameters and physical properties from the literature are commensurate with published investigations into the influence of platinum loading on oxygen transport. As depicted in figure, the team is using the insights into the key CCL transport phenomena provided by this new hierarchal model to predict how these losses may potentially be mitigated. After providing a brief summary of UTRC’s model, the major focus of this talk will on the team’s efforts to improve the performance of MEAs with ultra-low PGM-catalyst loadings. Acknowledgements This work is supported by the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) under contract number DE-EE0007652. The authors would like to thank their FC-PAD Consortia colleagues, especially those at LANL and ORNL, who have helped the team characterize electrodes and MEAs, as well as our FC-PAD project partners, Ion Power and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) for providing advanced materials. References H. Gasteiger, et.al., Appl. Cat. B: Environ., 56, 9 (2005).M. Shao, et.al., Chem. Rev., 116, 3594 (2016).D. Myers, et. al., DOE AMR, ID# FC106 (2015).A.Z. Weber, et. al., J. Electrochem. Soc., 161, F1254 (2014). Figure 1

Prebivalci lokalne skupnosti kot uporabniki severnoameriških visokošolskih knjižnic: poskus pridobivanja dodatnih finančnih sredstev

ABSTRACTIn 2007 the Ottenheimer Library at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR), decided to extend library privileges gratis to members of the community as a gesture of good will and a potential tool for fund-raising. Privileges extended include borrowing items from the circulating collection and use of reference materials (paper and electronic) and other non-circulating materials in the library building.Purpose: This paper reports the results of the five-year experiment to extend borrowing privileges to community users.Methodology/Approach: It describes the findings of a Web-based survey conducted to obtain information on demographics and community users’ perception of the value of library privileges (Dole and Hill, 2012) and the results of an appeals letter sent to solicit donations and to study the correlation between community users’ receiving library privileges and donating.Findings: Although these users had said that they value the services the Library extended to them and were more likely to donate money (Dole and Hill 2012), few did donate as a result of the appeals letter.Research Limitations: This paper reports on the responses of community users at one North American academic library and may or may not provide guidance for other libraries contemplating approaching community users for donations. The results of this study may or may not be generalizable to all academic libraries.Originality/Practical Implications: There has been little research that attempts to assess community users’ perception of the value of an academic library’s extending library privileges to them. Previous studies surveyed librarians about their perceptions of the pros and cons of extending privileges.

Assessing the good will of community users in an academic library

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to report the second phase of a study on the impact of one North American academic library extending library privileges gratis to community users.Design/methodology/approachThe paper reports the results of a web‐based survey of community users at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR), Arkansas, USA. The survey was conducted to obtain information on demographics and community users' perception of the value of library privileges.FindingsCommunity users often have some connection to the university and tend to be satisfied with and value the privileges. Receiving the privileges may increase the users' good will toward the university and willingness to donate to development efforts. The benefits to the organization, such as increase in good will and social capital, are difficult to measure.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper reports a study of the perceptions of community users at one North American academic library and may provide guidance for other libraries contemplating the value of community outreach. The results of this study may or may not be generalizable to all academic libraries.Originality/valueThere has been little research that attempts to assess community users' perception of the value of an academic library extending library privileges to them. Previous studies surveyed librarians about their perceptions of the pros and cons of extending privileges.

Community users in North American academic libraries

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to report the results of a two‐year experiment at one North American academic library with extending free borrowing privileges to community users.Design/methodology/approachThe paper reviews previous research on services to unaffiliated community users by academic libraries and employs quantitative measures to examine the costs and benefits of providing such services at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR), Arkansas, USA.FindingsThe data indicate that services can be provided to unaffiliated community users with minimal effort and cost. However, the benefits to the organization, such as increase in good will and social capital, are difficult to measure.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper reports on one North American academic library's experience providing service to unaffiliated community users and may provide guidance for other libraries in allocating resources for community outreach. The results of this study may or may not be generalizable to all academic libraries.Originality/valueThere has been little research that attempts to assess the economic impact of unaffiliated community users on academic libraries.

A multidisciplinary bioinformatics minor

Our multidisciplinary approach to a Bioinformatics Minor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) allows students from Information Science, Computer Science, and Biology programs to participate in the growing field of bioinformatics. Two separate tracks allow students to complent the skills that they learn in their majors with skills in either information science or the life sciences. This eighteen credit hour minor begins with all students enrolling in an Introduction to Bioinformatics course that is followed by eleven credit hours of complentary courses. Then, in a final, senior level, survey format Bioinformatics Theory and Applications course, they once again converge to apply their training to a sester-long, multidisciplinary team project. This minor allows students to choose a wide array of careers in the medical and health sciences fields and in the analysis of biological data. It is also an ideal program to prepare the students for graduate programs in bioinformatics.

9.1.2 Structuring a Systems Engineering Program at UALR

AbstractBy all measures, we have founded a successful Systems Engineering program in response to industrial and state requirements. Being a new program, however, the faculty and administration have both learned from the experience over the three years since the program was instituted. Given the dearth of systems engineering programs, a major challenge is to recruit formally trained systems engineering graduates. Another is to reach a consensus on the goals and content of our program. This paper reports this learning process.The University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) is a regional university serving primarily the people of Arkansas. One half of the population in the state of Arkansas lives within 100 miles of Little Rock. The Little Rock metropolitan has a population of over 500,000. UALR is a member of the University of Arkansas system, which consists of eight campuses. UALR has approximately 11,500 undergraduate students and 1,500 graduate students. UALR offers bachelor's degrees in Engineering, Science, Education, Arts, and Humanities. It offers master's degrees in several areas, and doctoral degrees in Applied Science and Education. UALR is one of the fastest growing urban universities in the country. As a Carnegie doctoral intensive institution, it is one of several metropolitan universities in the country serving the industrial, commercial, and educational needs of the client population, including minority students (currently UALR's African American population is about 25% of the student body). The mission of the University is to provide the necessary support and access to a quality education for all citizens of Arkansas regardless of background.

Planting the seeds for a Mechatronic curriculum at UALR

In February 1999, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) launched a program in systems engineering. The program recognises the need for highly multidisciplinary, design-oriented education. This created a natural context into which a mechatronics discipline can be introduced. A course sequence in mechatronics is being developed to supplement the systems engineering curriculum and consists of the sequence Introduction to Engineering, C Programming, Elements of Mechanical Design, Circuits and Systems, Digital Systems, Control Theory, Instrumentation and Measurements, and Mechatronics. Facilities have been developed to allow students to design and analyse their parts in CAD, export them to a CAM program, which generates NC code for the CNC milling machine or lathe. This allows students to rapidly generate parts, and therefore create synergistic, integrated mechanical/electrical designs within a semester.

Closed-laboratory courses as an introduction to the uniformation science curriculum

The Information Science department at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) is just two years old. The challenges and choices of implementing a new curriculum are many. The department ha...

Tutoring in cyberspace: Student impact and college/university collaboration

The Writing Center Consultation Project is a collaboration between the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) and the Oak Ridge campus of Roane State Community College (RSCC) in Tennessee. Undergraduate RSCC students e-mail drafts of their essays to graduate students at UALR who then return the drafts through e-mail along with comments. The RSCC and UALR students then meet for a synchronous writing conference at a Cyberspace writing center. This study looks at the impact the pilot project has had on both the community college students and on the graduate students. Both groups of students said the experience was helpful. The community college students responded by engaging in more revision of their writing. The university students focused on the pedagogical potential and the contrast between traditional writing center and Cyberspace writing center conferencing. Specific student responses are cited. The benefit of collaboration between 2-and 4-year campuses is also discussed.

Liberal Arts Faculty as Mediators: The Pulaski County Program

The effectiveness and efficiency of the justice system is a continuing focus of research, and public attention. Burdened by crowded dockets and demands policy for improved conditions and service, the justice system is examining new operative and management alternatives to traditional adjudication such as court-ordered arbitration, mediation programs and even private sector initiatives for handling disputes. In this paper we discuss the Pulaski County Mediation Program (MPX an innovative alternative to the traditional courtroom resolution 01 disputes in small claims, juvenile, and chancery court. The MP brings together, in a joint program, the needs, facilities, support and strengths of Pulaski County and the human and administrative resources of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR), College of Liberal Arts.