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Municipalities, Let the People Have Their Chickens and Eat Them, Too
No full textIn the pre-industrial era, before the advent of long-distance transportation or food preservation, human survival necessitated proximity to where food was grown or husbanded. Cities located near agriculturally productive lands and domesticated livestock animals were commonplace within cities. But by the 1920s, the technological innovations of the Second Industrial Revolution left urban areas free of farm animals and farm-related activities. Local governments exercised their powers to codify the separation of residential and agricultural uses within cities and reinforce the idea that food production was not proper in community neighborhoods. Yet, a century later, local governments use those same powers to bring agriculture back to cities.
Today, urban dwellers are not only growing fruits and vegetables, but also keeping small livestock for eggs, milk, honey, and, increasingly, meat. In particular, the popularity of keeping backyard chickens has grown over the past two decades. Due to historical bans and restrictions on urban agriculture, food cultivation and production have been mostly unregulated, thereby creating conflicts and uncertainties. This Note contends that, as municipalities in the United States address the regulatory vacuum to regulate urban agriculture, local governments should also pass ordinances that permit chicken-keepers to slaughter their backyard chickens on-site at their private, residential property. Despite the potential offenses that backyard slaughter may cause, the practice could have numerous benefits, including strengthening the local food system, respecting private property rights, and regulating a growing urban practice
Cross-Facility Reliable Deep Learning Based Beef Marbling Assessment Via Unsupervised Domain Adaptation Regression
Get PDFBeef is one of the most important sources of animal protein and plays a crucial role in daily diets to support muscle growth, energy production and overall health. Historically, each beef carcass was evaluated by 3-5 skilled United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) meat graders, which are still considered as the gold standard for grading. Since 2009, electronic imaging grading systems have been approved by the USDA and have been gradually adopted in the grading facilities. Accurate and consistent beef grading plays a critical role in maintaining the quality, market value, and consumer trust in U.S. beef products. The USDA beef grading system, primarily based on fat marbling characteristics, has long served as the industry standard for classifying beef quality. However, traditional grading methods relying on human visual inspection have been prone to variability among graders and inconsistencies across processing plants. To address these challenges, this study developed a deep learning based solution to predict USDA beef grades by analyzing fat marbling patterns in carcass images collected from multiple processing facilities. The dataset provided by the USDA, which includes expert-graded images of beef carcasses from seven processing plants, provides numerical scores on a range of 0-1500, which was used to train convolutional neural networks (CNNs) such as ResNet, VGG, and Inception. Additionally, this study proposes a unified unsupervised domain adaptation regression method, which was employed to enhance the models’ ability to generalize across different environments. The dataset reflected real-world variability, such as differences in lighting, equipment, and operational practices, ensuring the models could adapt to diverse plant conditions. By correlating image-based features with USDA grades, the models successfully identified intricate marbling patterns and reduced variability compared to human graders. Statistical analyses showed that the deep learning based approach provided more uniform results across plants, addressing the inconsistencies of traditional methods. In comparison with commonly utilized generic CNN deep learning models, the newly proposed unsupervised domain adaptation model achieves a significantly better marbling score prediction performance in different processing facilities. This study not only automated the beef grading process but also introduced a scalable and efficient solution for the industry. The integration of domain adaptation ensured robust performance in varying plant environments, making the system practical for widespread adoption. Beyond reducing labor costs and improving grading accuracy, this research contributed to a fairer system for producers by further standardizing grading criteria across facilities. By bridging advanced technology with traditional practices, this study provides a framework for policy makers to regulate and approve deep learning based beef grading protocol into commonplace beef grading practices.https://scholarworks.uark.edu/hnrcsturpc25/1041/thumbnail.jp
Understanding the Impact of Language Barriers and Visit Duration on Caregiver Satisfaction in Pediatric Primary Care
Get PDFAbstract:
Problem. Children from households that speak languages other than English (LOE) face significant challenges in accessing healthcare, which can lead to poorer health outcomes and inadequate medical care (Flores et al., 2005). Language barriers contribute to these disparities, often resulting in diminished communication between healthcare providers and families (Ramirez et al., 2023). In pediatric primary care, visit duration—defined as the amount of time between when a patient is checked into and out of the clinic—may play a crucial role in facilitating effective communication and improving patient satisfaction (Tsiga et al., 2013). Physicians experience significant time pressure and productivity expectations, but shorter visits that enhance efficiency are associated with lower patient satisfaction (Tocher et al., 1999). While some studies suggest physician spend similar time with LOE and English-speaking patients (Tocher et al. 1999), other suggest longer visit duration in LOE appointments (Kravitz et al., 2000). But, interpreter-facilitated visits are likely to require twice as much time as language-congruent medical visits, since interpretation requires everything to be repeated at least once. This study explores how language barriers affect visit satisfaction in pediatric primary care and whether visit duration acts as a mediator. We hypothesize that caregivers of patients from LOE households will have comparable visit durations than those from English-preferring households; however, because they are likely to have received less information in that same period of time, we expect they will report less satisfaction with their visit.https://scholarworks.uark.edu/coesym25/1002/thumbnail.jp
Strengthening Voter Education Campaigns Through User-centered Design
Get PDFVoter education materials should serve as a bridge to civic participation, but can fall short due to complex language, inadequate access, or clarity issues. These issues have the potential to disproportionately discourage already impacted groups, such as rural voters, first-time voters, non-native English speakers, and voters with disabilities. Though voter suppression is commonly discussed in terms of restrictive law, there is a gap in research regarding how the lack of available and accessible voter information can contribute to disenfranchisement.
Arkansas, in particular, struggles with voter participation. Despite barriers like strict Photo ID laws, lack of translated materials, and tight absentee ballot requirements, there is a significant lack of official government information to guide these communities through the voting process and to help them navigate these obstacles.
This research applies user-centered design to improve voter education materials in Arkansas by directly addressing information barriers that discourage participation
Navigating Local Values and External Strategies: Marketing and Development at Mayflower Bocawina National Park
Get PDFThis thesis explores the cultural and operational disconnect encountered while developing a marketing strategy for Mayflower Bocawina National Park (MBNP) in Belize. During a summer internship, my partner and I aimed to enhance MBNP’s visibility through targeted marketing initiatives, including website updates, promotional materials, and partnership proposals. However, our efforts revealed a deeper tension between external marketing objectives and the park staff’s prioritization of authenticity and experiential promotion. Through firsthand experience and reflection, this paper analyzes the challenges of aligning development strategies with local values, emphasizing the critical role of community engagement, cultural pride, and participatory planning in sustainable tourism development. Drawing on literature in eco-tourism, community engagement, and cultural preservation, the thesis highlights lessons learned and offers recommendations for fostering more collaborative, culturally sensitive marketing approaches in future projects
Customer and Employee Centricity: Insights from a Walmart Merchandising Internship
Get PDFThis thesis explores the application of customer and employee centric principles through the lens of a merchandising internship at Walmart. Over an eight week period, the author gained firsthand experience in Walmart’s School and Office Supplies category during the Back-to-School season. The project involved developing a new modular and assortment strategy grounded in data analysis, customer insights, and field research. Central themes include the value of curiosity, hands on learning, and the power of purpose driven leadership. The experience emphasizes how aligning merchandising strategies with real customer needs can drive success
Classification of TikTok Videos about Menthol Restriction Laws
Get PDFSignificance. Globally, nations, states, and localities have enacted laws to restrict tobacco products that include menthol flavoring. While literature has examined policy discussions on text-based social media platforms, less is known about the characterization of menthol bans on video-based platforms, such as TikTok, that are popular among youth and young adults. The purpose of this study was to classify video content from TikTok about menthol restriction policies to identify products commonly portrayed and main themes of policy discourse.
Methods. A sample of 1260 TikTok videos posted between October 2018 and September 2023 were collected via a TikTok application programming interface (API) from https://console.apify.com/ using #menthol (135.3 million views). A codebook was developed using the first 100 videos, where three authors expanded, collapsed, and edited codes. Using the final codebook, all data were annotated to classify: type of product (cigarette, non-menthol menthol cigarettes, e-cigarettes); flavor injection device demonstration; retail environment; method of circumventing law; and race-based discourse. We also identified if the video was posted by a social media influencer or micro-influencer (\u3e1,000 followers) and the influencers’ sentiment about the menthol restriction policy. Overall, 710 (56.3%) were relevant to menthol restriction policies. Frequencies were reported as a total of the relevant posts.
Results. Cigarettes (49.6%) were the most commonly portrayed tobacco product in the videos, followed by e-cigarettes (20.7%). Overall, 23.7% of relevant videos included a flavor injection device and 18.6% were demonstration videos, that displayed how to inject a flavor capsule into a cigarette. 8.7% of the videos displayed a retail environment, and 13.4% described methods of circumventing the policy. Overall, 31.8% of the videos were social media influencers and micro-influencers discussing the policy. Most sentiment negatively portrayed the policy (58.4%), 32.3% was neutral, and 3% was positive.
Implications. Video-based social media platforms are being used as a platform to share information about menthol restriction policies. Understanding methods of circumventing these policies can help policymakers and enforcement agencies ensure policy language does not create loopholes for flavor injection devices. Further, those creating messaging campaigns about such laws can address issues raised in popular social media posts.https://scholarworks.uark.edu/hnrcsturpc25/1028/thumbnail.jp
Intercellular Stress Generation During 1D Collective Migration of Cancer Cells
Get PDFPhysical forces drive many cellular processes such as migration and proliferation. A metastatic tumor will have invasive strands/chains that extend from the main tumor. These chains of cells collectively migrate away from the main tumor to establish new colonies elsewhere in the body. However, how physical forces drive this collective invasion and the required energy for this process is not well understood. Invasion of a metastatic tumor to surrounding tissues leads to a majority of cancer-associated death and is often a collective effort among cells, it is therefore important to fully understand the process behind collective cancer invasion.
The goal of this project is to determine the forces that drive collective cell migration in a one-dimensional system of cells. Analyzing a single strand of migrating cells allows for an in vitro analysis of metastatic chains developed by a tumor.
To confine migrating cells to a one-dimensional chain we engineered the extracellular environment via micropatterning such that cells only migrated along a thin line of extracellular matrix proteins patterned onto an elastic substrate. Once contained on a patterned elastic substrate with known physical properties, cell-matrix, and cell-cell forces were quantified via Traction Force Microscopy (TFM) by tracking substrate deformations. To connect these forces with cellular bioenergetics, we quantify the energy level of these migrating cell chains by measuring the cellular NADH:NAD+ ratio with a genetically encoded molecular probe.
Current results suggest that cells leading the collective migration experience greater forces, implying that these cells have greater bioenergetic needs. We have not found a statistically significant correlation between cellular energy and force generation, more replicates are needed to establish a relationship between the two.https://scholarworks.uark.edu/hnrcsturpc25/1047/thumbnail.jp
Optimizing the Effects of YODA1 and Assessing the Effects of mRNA Silencing of PIEZO1 Gene in Mesenchymal Stem Cells
Get PDFMesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are multipotent adult stem cells that are capable of differentiating into various skeletal tissues, making them promising candidates for regenerative medicine. A critical factor influencing their differentiation potential is mechanosensitivity, the ability to respond to mechanical stimuli. The mechanosensitive calcium ion channel PIEZO1 has emerged as a key regulator in this process, particularly in osteogenic differentiation. This study investigated the role of PIEZO1 in MSC osteogenesis through pharmacological activation using YODA1 and gene silencing via siRNA. Human bone marrow-derived MSCs were cultured and induced for osteogenic differentiation under varying concentrations and durations of YODA1 treatment. Alizarin Red staining demonstrated enhanced calcium deposition in YODA1-treated groups compared to controls, indicating increased osteogenic differentiation. Quantitative PCR revealed that YODA1-induced PIEZO1 expression was both dose- and time-dependent. However, higher concentrations and prolonged exposure led to diminished expression, suggesting a feedback regulatory mechanism. Additionally, siRNA-mediated silencing of PIEZO1 significantly reduced mineralization, confirming its necessity in osteogenesis. These findings underscore the pivotal role of PIEZO1 in MSC differentiation and highlight its potential as a target for enhancing bone tissue engineering strategies
Examining the effects of quercetin on phenotypic characteristics of human mesenchymal stem cells
Get PDFIntroduction A significant obstacle to mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) potency and therapeutic utility is in vitro senescence, an irreversible cessation of replication associated with age-related complications. Senolytic drugs, such as quercetin, may be helpful in selectively culling senescent cells while leaving non-senescent cells unaffected, thereby increasing potency of high-passage MSCs.
Methods The phenotypic, genotypic, and immunomodulatory effects of quercetin were assessed using in vitro models. Senescent cells, created through repeated subculturing of MSCs in vitro, and non-senescent cells were treated with 10 μM quercetin, differentiated into osteocytes, adipocytes, and chondrocytes, and analyzed to observe the effect of quercetin.
Results Quercetin was not found to be beneficial to MSC function. It did not exhibit a consistent senolytic effect as evidenced by SAb-gal and live dead staining, hindered proliferation in the short term in some donors, and lowered the expression of osteogenic markers COL1A1 and ALP. Quercetin treatment did not, however, negatively affect adipogenesis, chondrogenesis, or indoleamine 2,3 dioxygenase secretions.
Conclusion This study contributes insight into the nature of quercetin and its effects on in vitro MSC culture and function