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Many theories and approaches to policy studies have recently begun to question and research how emotions interact with peoples' understanding and behaviors, especially in policy and politics. This paper builds on and contributes to studying emotions in policy and politics via the advocacy coalition framework (ACF). In applying Emotional‐Belief Analysis, this paper examines the legislative testimony on one of the US' first gender‐affirming care (GAC) bans. It shows that those testifying can be organized in competing advocacy coalitions with distinct emotion‐belief expressions in combination with deep core and policy core beliefs. Moreover, expressions of negative emotions and policy core beliefs display significant and the largest effects in explaining coalition affiliation and shared views of the bill banning GAC. The conclusion summarizes the paper's empirical themes with suggestions for incorporating emotions more into the ACF and the broader policy studies field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At least 16 states have limited exclusionary discipline for elementary age students, but little is known about the effects of these policies on discipline rates and disproportionality. This paper tests whether a limit on exclusionary discipline in grades K-5 in Arkansas impacted the likelihood of suspension and expulsion overall, for different student subgroups, and in different types of schools. Using a comparative interrupted time series approach, we find the policy—which included exceptions that could be interpreted subjectively—reduced the risk of suspension or expulsion in grades K-5, but that students who are not Black, students without disabilities, and more economically advantaged students experienced larger reductions in suspension and expulsion risk. Implications and limitations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• ECE programs subject to state policy report lower suspension rates. • Attributing challenging behavior to families is linked to lower uptake of support. • State expulsion policy awareness does not equate to understanding the policy. • Educating both directors and teachers about the policy and supports is important. Some U.S. states have begun to implement policies and supports to prevent expulsion in early care and education (ECE) settings. Little is known about the implementation of these policies and supports within the complex landscape of state ECE systems. In this study, we investigate ECE program leaders' and teachers' understanding of one state's expulsion prevention policy, use of suspension and expulsion, and participation in professional development (PD) and other supports to meet the needs of children with challenging behaviors. Additionally, we conduct exploratory analyses to examine factors that are associated with teachers' uptake of social-emotional PD and support from the state's expulsion prevention system. ECE program leaders and teachers from a random sample of licensed Arkansas ECE programs completed surveys during the 2021–2022 academic year. Findings indicate that program leaders and teachers from publicly funded programs (who are subject to state policy) demonstrated higher awareness and knowledge of the expulsion policy than leaders and teachers from non-publicly funded programs. Although teachers in publicly funded programs reported more frequent challenging behaviors related to safety, they were not more likely to report use of expulsion than their counterparts in non-publicly funded programs. We found some indications that among teachers who reported using exclusionary discipline, the more strongly a teacher attributed children's behaviors to family-related reasons, the less likely the teacher was to seek assistance from the state's expulsion prevention system before suspending or expelling a child. The paper concludes with a discussion of policy implications and future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weathering steel enhances corrosion-resistant steel features over conventional steel when a patina properly forms on the weathering steel surface. The patina is a dense protective oxide film layer that develops on the steel member surface. The patina defends the steel from corrosion by preventing moisture, oxygen, and contaminant penetration. However, long periods of moisture and deicing chemicals applied during wet wintry conditions hinder proper patina formation. Weathering steel bridges in Arkansas are uncoated and exposed to ambient conditions that may promote steel corrosion. This paper presents the approach used by the authors to relate weathering steel bridge corrosion to bridge condition in order to prioritize bridges for remediation based on their oxide film deterioration severity. The study protocol used was to review uncoated weathering steel (UWS) bridges and prioritize bridges based on their need for immediate remediation. The potential for incorporating the use of a small unmanned aircraft system (UAS) for future bridge inspections is discussed. The research work in this paper serves as a basis for establishing bridge inspection guidelines to identify and grade oxide film degradation for bridge condition and performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new Broadway Bridge over the Arkansas River is located in downtown Little Rock, AR, USA. The Arkansas Department of Transportation replaced the existing historical structure, which was costly to maintain and considered structurally deficient. The new iconic structure consists of two basket-handled 134 m tied-arch bridges, which are designed to accommodate 24 000 vehicles daily, and includes a shared-used path. The US$98 million bridge was completed in 2017. Located along the existing alignment in a downtown metropolitan area, impacts to traffic were a prime concern. The bridge was closed to traffic for 6 months to allow for construction and to float the new arches into place. Throughout design, fracture-critical members were given careful consideration. The tie girder was designed with a bolted connection to prevent a fracture in one plate from propagating throughout the cross-section. It was then analysed as a three-sided section at the extreme event limit state. This internal redundancy minimised the potential risk of a catastrophic structural failure. This paper discusses the design considerations for the fracture-critical members, the construction technique and the expected movement of the main-span tied-arch superstructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article calls for oral and poster presentations for the 143rd Annual Meeting of the American Fisheries Society to be held in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Domestic violence occurs with far too much frequency, with an average of 24 people per minute being victims of rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States (The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, n.d.). Domestic violence shelters are typically 501c3 nonprofits which provide services to victims fleeing violence. This paper explores how shelters within the state of Arkansas have exhibited resiliency over the course of the recent COVID-19 pandemic and the 40% cuts required due to changes in the Crime Victims Fund (CVF), the primary source of funding for most shelters. Our findings reveal varied abilities to respond to these co-occurring stressors and found that contracting COVID-19, fears about closing, concerns over victims, and especially funding, weighed heavily on the minds of shelter staff. We also found that shelter staff who stayed were resilient, fully invested in their organizations and the clients they serve, and looking onward to the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents typically serve as the primary sexuality educators for their children. This qualitative research explored the experiences of parents from Arkansas in providing sexuality education to their children with intellectual disabilities. Semi-structured interviews were used to obtain the perspective of parents, followed by transcription and coding of data. The analysis of the interview data resulted in several themes related to effective comprehensive sexuality education. Themes discussed in this paper include the individual and unique needs of each child and their family, parents needing collaborative support from other knowledgeable adults, and clear communication in relation to communication partners, communication mode, and regarding topics and skills deemed necessary by parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Timely, accurate, and repeatable crop mapping is vital for food security. Rice is one of the important food crops. Efficient and timely rice mapping would provide critical support for rice yield and production prediction as well as food security. The development of remote sensing (RS) satellite monitoring technology provides an opportunity for agricultural modernization applications and has become an important method to extract rice. This paper evaluated how a semantic segmentation model U-net that used time series Landsat images and Cropland Data Layer (CDL) performed when applied to extractions of paddy rice in Arkansas. Classifiers were trained based on time series images from 2017–2019, then were transferred to corresponding images in 2020 to obtain resultant maps. The extraction outputs were compared to those produced by Random Forest (RF). The results showed that U-net outperformed RF in most scenarios. The best scenario was when the time resolution of the data composite was fourteen day. The band combination including red band, near-infrared band, and Swir-1 band showed notably better performance than the six widely used bands for extracting rice. This study found a relatively high overall accuracy of 0.92 for extracting rice with training samples including five years from 2015 to 2019. Finally, we generated dynamic maps of rice in 2020. Rice could be identified in the heading stage (two months before maturing) with an overall accuracy of 0.86 on July 23. Accuracy gradually increased with the date of the mapping date. On September 17, overall accuracy was 0.92. There was a significant linear relationship (slope = 0.9, r2 = 0.75) between the mapped areas on July 23 and those from the statistical reports. Dynamic mapping is not only essential to assist farms and governments for growth monitoring and production assessment in the growing season, but also to support mitigation and disaster response strategies in the different growth stages of rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Helena, Arkansas, was incorporated in 1833. The Mississippi River Delta city isn't a likely candidate for most people's lists enumerating Black Meccas. Yet, Helena was a concentration point for Contrabands and African American enlistment in the Union Army during the Civil War. After the war and during Reconstruction, Helena developed a thriving African American community with Black-owned businesses and an African American college. Blacks were drawn to Helena during the mid-20th century for employment in manufacturing and agricultural processing. They also came to Helena for opportunities as music entrepreneurs: Helena was a blues city for most of the 20th century. This paper explores Helena's rises and falls as a Southern Black Mecca. The Elaine Massacre of 1919, the Great Migration, and late 20th century deindustrialization were serial hits on Helena's Black communities. Municipal efforts to jumpstart the city's economy focused on African American heritage have had mixed results and significant implications for Helena's African American residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the spatial distribution of rock art sites in the eastern Arkansas Ozarks in order to identify the types of environments that were preferred by those who made the art. With few exceptions, Ozark rock art tends to appear inside of bluff shelters. Statistical hypothesis testing is therefore used to compare the spatial distribution of rock art sites with that of bluff shelters lacking any rock art, thus revealing which types of settings were specifically preferred for creating rock art. Results indicate that rock art site locations were carefully selected based on desired characteristics, which generally include southern- to southeastern-facing aspects, distance from streams and rivers, and occasionally large viewsheds. These patterns are consistent with ethnohistorical accounts of the Caddo and Osage and suggest that cosmology played an important role in selecting locations for rock art creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The promotion of human security has become the central focus of the new development paradigm because building of arms and ammunitions do not bring peace, security and political stability. Eradicating hunger, diseases, poverty and unemployment through sustainable development programmes, hold the key to an enduring national security. Against this backdrop, this paper examines the impact of human security on overall national security in Nigeria. The paper with the use of the Natural State theory, argued that the state emerged in order to provide the needs of individuals, given that human beings cannot satisfactorily provide their basic needs. We employed the documentation method as our method of data collection, which entails the use of materials from secondary sources. The paper also adopted content analysis, applied to establish a link between human security and national security. The paper concludes that fortifying the security walls with latest security equipments/gadgets as well as assigning security professionals to secure the populace will amount to nothing if the threats of hunger, diseases, poverty and unemployment, political and economic exclusion and lack of social amenities are not addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To better understand how contour-levee irrigation practice impacts water resources for formulating effective water management policies, it is important to obtain its application on large-scale data sets, e.g. state-wide. Automatic classification of contour levee croplands from high-resolution aerial images is of great potential given the success of deep neural networks and the availability of high-resolution remote sensing imagery. This paper proposes a gradient CNN model to classify fields with contour levees from remote sensing images. Our model produces high-quality segmentation masks that are refined with superpixel-based segmentation post-processing. Our method is evaluated using images by the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) for the counties in Arkansas. A comparison with the state-of-the-art methods demonstrates the improved performance of our proposed method. Our method demonstrates superior performance in the classification of challenging cases and achieves an overall 3.08% of accuracy improvement and 28.57% BER error reduction, compared to the second-best method. The p-value with respect to the second-best method is 0.005, which indicates great statistical significance. In addition, the results for data of different counties demonstrate the exceptional generalization ability of our method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Arkansas has the largest population of Marshallese Pacific Islanders residing in the continental United States. Marshallese are disproportionately burdened by poorer maternal and infant health outcomes. Exclusive breastfeeding can prevent or help mitigate maternal and infant health disparities. However, exclusive breastfeeding among United States Marshallese communities remains disproportionately low, and the reasons are not well documented. This paper describes the protocol of a mixed-methods concurrent triangulation longitudinal study designed to explore the beliefs and experiences that serve as barriers and/or facilitators to exclusive breastfeeding intention, initiation, and duration among Marshallese mothers in northwest Arkansas. Methods: The mixed-methods design collects qualitative and quantitative data during simultaneous data collection events, at third trimester, six weeks postpartum, and six months postpartum. Quantitative and qualitative data will be analyzed separately and then synthesized during the interpretation phase. The research team will disseminate results to study participants, research stakeholders, the broader Marshallese community, and fellow researchers. Discussion: Findings and results will be presented in subsequent manuscripts upon completion of the study. This study will be an important first step to better understand beliefs and experiences to exclusive breastfeeding intention, initiation, and duration in this community and will inform tools and interventions to help improve health outcomes. The study will also aid in filling the gap in research and providing essential information on the infant feeding beliefs and barriers among a Marshallese community in Arkansas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has advanced the onset of spring and, subsequently, avian nesting activity. Although this advance can have negative consequences such as phenological mismatch, species may be able to increase the annual number of young fledged. Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis) can rear 3 broods to fledging, but in this paper we report 3 pairs that reared 4 broods to apparent fledging in 2016 and 2020 in northeastern Arkansas. Nesting attempts began as early as 18 March with the first laid egg and concluded as late as 18 September with the last fledging event; brood sizes ranged from 2 to 5 chicks. Nests were checked daily 15–18 d post-hatching, increasing confidence in our determination of successful fledging. Unlike a previous report of 4 broods reared by a male that mated with 2 females at once, the pairs at our site all remained together through all 4 attempts. These pairs all consisted of after-second-year birds and we discuss why we believe these nests were successful, as well as factors that allowed these pairs to attempt to rear an additional brood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patient and/or provider satisfaction and experience are among the most important indicators for quality assurance of health care services, including telehealth. Validated surveys should be used for this purpose to provide reliable information for a program evaluation. Objective: To validate the newly developed satisfaction surveys, report patient, and provider satisfaction with Antenatal and Neonatal Guidelines, Education and Learning Systems (ANGELS) telehealth services. Methods: Two self-administered paper surveys were developed by a multidisciplinary team. The surveys were validated among obstetric patients who received telehealth services in 2016 and providers in Arkansas from July to August 2017. Psychometric testing was performed to establish reliability and validity of both the surveys. Descriptive statistics was performed to describe patient and provider satisfaction. Results: A total of 89 patient- and 66 provider surveys were analyzed. Construct validity and internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's α >0.7) were confirmed on both the surveys. The majority of patients were highly satisfied with telehealth services and reported positive perceptions toward future use of services. In the past 12 months, telehealth (78.6%) was the most used ANGELS service by providers. Finally, >90% of the providers reported high satisfaction and rated telehealth services as "excellent." Conclusions: The newly developed patient and provider telehealth surveys were reliable and valid. The surveys also demonstrated that the telehealth services were well-accepted and highly valued in a sample of obstetric patients and providers. As both surveys are short, they can be used in routine evaluation of patient and provider satisfaction with similar telehealth programs in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: New evidence has found breast and cervical cancer risk factors unique to African American women. Thus, there is a significant need to increase their knowledge and understanding of relevant risk factors and the potential protective benefits associated with breast‐feeding and HPV vaccination. The National Witness Project is a robust, evidence‐ and community‐based lay health advisor programme that uses group education, navigation and survivor narratives to increase cancer screening among diverse underserved women. Methods: A multi‐phase, community‐based participatory research study was conducted across three sites in Buffalo, NY, New York City and Arkansas between October 2016 and January 2017. Pre‐/post‐test surveys were administered during volunteer trainings and community programmes. An evaluation survey was also administered at the Annual Meeting for Education and Networking. Paired sample t tests were used to compare pre‐/post‐test survey scores. Results: Trainee survey results showed the overall mean per cent correct pre‐/post‐test scores were 47.7% (SD: 21.87) and 79.2% (SD: 16.14). Altogether, 31 educational programmes reached 332 community participants. Participants' breast and cervical cancer knowledge scores were significantly higher after the education programme (84.4%) than before (55.3%) with a mean change score of 29% (P ≤.001). Conclusion: This paper reveals the underlying complexities to update the educational curriculum content of a multi‐site, community‐based outreach organization. The new curriculum significantly improved African American women's knowledge about breast and cervical cancer by 10%‐36%, clearly demonstrating that this information was new to them. The need for education programming in African American communities to disseminate cancer prevention and risk information remains high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interspecific nest usurpation, a relatively common nesting strategy, is the act of one bird species taking over the nesting site of another species. Although used by secondary cavity-nesters, nest usurpation has never been reported for the Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor). In this paper, we document a mixed brood successfully reared by Tufted Titmice after usurpation of an Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis) nest in northeastern Arkansas during the 2019 breeding season. We monitored the focal nest box every 3–4 d from the first sign of nest building on 23 March 2019 until chick fledging by 12 May 2019. The Tufted Titmice took over the nest at the time the Eastern Bluebird had laid its fourth egg in the nest. By the end of the nesting period, the Tufted Titmice fledged 2 of their own chicks and 3 Eastern Bluebird chicks. Such successful rearing of nonconspecific nestlings is rare and we discuss factors that may have allowed it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective(s): Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrinopathy in women, which, unlike its impact on fertility and health of women, there is no clear understanding about the causal mechanisms of this pathogenesis. The aim of this review paper is to investigate the pathophysiological pathways affecting the PCOS etiology, based on functions of gonadotropins- and steroid hormones-related genes. Materials and Methods: Due to different hormonal and metabolic signs of this complex disorder, different hypotheses are mentioned about etiology of this syndrome. Because of the heterogeneity of the reasons given for this syndrome and the spread of the effective genes in its pathophysiology, most of genes affected by sex-related hormonal imbalances are examined for discriminative diagnosis. For this purpose, published articles and reviews dealing with genetic evaluation of PCOS in women in peer-reviewed journals in PubMed and Google Scholar databases were included in this review. Results: In previous studies, it has been well demonstrated that PCOS in some individuals have a genetic origin. Pathophysiological functions of genes are primarily responsible for the synthesis of proteins that have role in PCOS before hyperandrogenism including GnRHR, FSHβ, FSHR, LHCGR, CYP19A1, HSD17B, AR and SHBG, and their effects in PCOS of human have been confirmed. Conclusion: Hormonal imbalances are the first reason mentioned in PCOS etiology, and usually characterized with menstrual irregularities in PCOS women. Hyperandrogenism and gonadotropin secretion disorders are shown in PCOS condition, which are related to steroidogenesis pathways and hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis disturbances, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arkansas Discovery Farms (ADFs) are private farms that collaborate with on-farm research, verification, and demonstration of farming's impact on the environment. We have nine ADFs representing livestock (broiler poultry and pasture grazed beef and sheep) and row crop agriculture (corn, cotton, rice, soybean, and wheat), where we collect water use and water quality data as a function of conservation management, using autosamplers equipped with edge-of-field H-flumes or weir flow structures, which measure and collect surface runoff. On the poultry farms, we are monitoring nutrient and sediment runoff originating immediately near poultry houses due to concerns with spillage of litter during bird removal and house clean out, as well as dust from tunnel ventilation. On a nearby farm we are assessing the impact of rotational grazing on water quality, soil organic matter, and soil health metrics. On the row crop farms we are assessing the impacts of conservation tillage and cover crops on soybean–corn rotations and cotton on nutrient and sediment runoff and the benefits of water harvesting and reuse of water conservation and quality. The information in this paper while preliminary, demonstrates how a state-wide on-farm demonstration program operates. Elevated nutrient and sediment runoff from around poultry production areas are decreased three-fold by directing runoff into ponds or through grassed waterways. While conservation tillage and cover crops do decrease nutrient and sediment runoff, no significant difference between conventional and conservation operations is yet to be realized. Importantly, ADF empowers farmers to proactively address environmental concerns. This paper discusses the development, guidance, principals, and goals of ADF and contrasts this with other farm monitoring projects, where the sources of nutrient impairment are the subject of ongoing litigation. Monitoring in divisive and transparent situations presents unique challenges with data ownership and release of findings, which can hinder productive outcomes of such monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The history of the relationship between religion and mental health is one of commonality, conflict, controversy, and distrust. An awareness of this complex relationship is essential to clinicians and clergy seeking to holistically meet the needs of people in our clinics, our churches, and our communities. Understanding this relationship may be particularly important in rural communities. This paper briefly discusses the history of this relationship and important areas of disagreement and contention. The paper moves beyond theory to present some current practical tensions identified in a brief case study of VA/Clergy partnerships in rural Arkansas. The paper concludes with a framework of three models for understanding how most faith communities perceive mental health and suggests opportunities to overcome the tensions between 'the pew' and 'the couch.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Home healthcare encompasses a range of services that are provided in the home setting, including skilled nursing, physical therapy, and occupational therapy. In this paper, we study potential spatial accessibility of home healthcare services. Accessibility is a measure of the supply of and demand for home healthcare resources and the interaction between supply and demand within and between geographic regions. Home healthcare is unique in that the spatial interactions result from service regions selected by agencies, rather than from the distances between supply and demand locations. A new measure that simultaneously considers both staffing levels and eligible populations is developed and demonstrated via a case study using the state of Arkansas. To the best of our knowledge, no previous measure has been proposed to quantify potential spatial accessibility of home healthcare services within a geographic region. The results of the case study reveal disparities across the study area for each home healthcare service type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This paper is a report on a study exploring a potential typology of primary care patients referred for integrated behavioral health care (IBHC) services. We considered whether primary care patients could be grouped into meaningful clusters based on perceived need for behavioral health services, barriers to accessing care, and past-year service utilization. We also described the development of a working partnership between our university-based research team and a federally qualified health center (FQHC).Method: A total of 105 adult primary care patients referred for same-day behavioral health appointments completed a brief self-report questionnaire assessing past-year behavioral health concerns, service utilization, and perceived barriers to utilization.Results: Hierarchical and k-means cluster analyses revealed 3 groups: (a) Well-Served patients, characterized by high perceived need for services, high service use, and low barriers to service use (40%); (b) Underserved patients, characterized by high perceived need, low service utilization, and high barriers to service use (20%); and (c) Subclinical patients, characterized by low perceived need, low service use, and low barriers to service use (20%). Clusters were reliably differentiated by age, primary language, insurance status, and global functioning.Discussion: We found primary care patients could be grouped into 3 categories and that 60% (Underserved and Subclinical) represented groups less commonly seen in traditional mental health (MH) settings. IBHC may be a promising approach for extending the reach of MH care, and partnerships between FQHCs and university-based research teams may be a promising approach for conducting research on the IBHC service-delivery model. (PsycINFO Database Record [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the role that life chances and choices play in determining quality of life among homeless people. Given the prominent negative impact of homelessness, this paper specifically examines the impact of length of time homeless and location on adverse quality of life. OLS regression examined quality of life among 264 homeless adults living in Northwest Arkansas and Birmingham, Alabama. Analysis shows no significant impact of life choices on quality of life but a significant impact of life chances including strong social ties and mastery of fate, on adverse quality of life. Length of time homeless was related to adverse quality of life, but location was not, indicating that the homeless experience with regards to subjective quality of life did not vary significantly between Birmingham and Northwest Arkansas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Jackfork Group in Arkansas, U.S.A. is a major ‘training ground’ for academics, students, and petroleum industry geoscientists interested in deep water exploration and development. Several superb outcrop sections are exposed and over the years numerous papers have been published on these rocks. The Kirby sections in western Arkansas provide a unique opportunity to build a complete and continuous sequence stratigraphic framework for Early Pennsylvanian time in the ancient Ouachita Basin. There are 25 outcrops, including 12 roadcuts on Highway 27, and 13 measured sections in the Baumgartner Quarry. All the measurements and interpretations on the outcrops were integrated with previous work using modern concepts of deepwater turbidite geology, including (1) regional tectonic and sequence stratigraphic framework of the Stanley Group, Jackfork Group, and Johns Valley Shale in the Ouachita Basin, (2) deepwater outcrop characterization and correlation from the DeGray Lake Section, Dierks Section and Big Rock Quarry which are on the trend of the depositional fairway, (3) chemostrata data from key shale layers which are considered as potential correlative condensed sections. Twenty-five key shale samples from Kirby, DeGray and Dierks sections have been tested using Inductively Coupled Plasma and Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) tests. An additional 525 samples were later collected for Handheld X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) tests for both major and trace elements. Results of sequence and chemostrata analysis indicate that the entire Kirby sections consist of at least three 3rd order sequences from the bottom of the Jackfork Group to the middle of the Johns Valley Group, and over ten 4th order sequences caused by a combined effect of tectonic uplift, eustatic sea-level change, mixed sediment provenance and shifting of depositional fairways when the Ouachita Basin was transitioning from a passive margin to a remnant marine basin. Rare Earth and Trace Element results are compared with known tectonic data to further pinpoint the tectonic environment of the Ouachita Basin during early Pennsylvanian time, which is dominantly a continental arc setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It is generally well known that speech perception is often improved with integrated audiovisual input whether in quiet or in noise. In many health-care environments, however, conventional surgical masks block visual access to the mouth and obscure other potential facial cues. In addition, these environments can be noisy. Although these masks may not alter the acoustic properties, the presence of noise in addition to the lack of visual input can have a deleterious effect on speech understanding. A transparent ("see-through") surgical mask may help to overcome this issue. Purpose: To compare the effect of noise and various visual input conditions on speech understanding for listeners with normal hearing (NH) and hearing impairment using different surgical masks. Research Design: Participants were assigned to one of three groups based on hearing sensitivity in this quasi-experimental, cross-sectional study. Study Sample: A total of 31 adults participated in this study: one talker, ten listeners with NH, ten listeners with moderate sensorineural hearing loss, and ten listeners with severe-to-profound hearing loss. Data Collection and Analysis: Selected lists from the Connected Speech Test were digitally recorded with and without surgical masks and then presented to the listeners at 65 dB HL in five conditions against a background of four-talker babble (+10 dB SNR): without a mask (auditory only), without a mask (auditory and visual), with a transparent mask (auditory only), with a transparent mask (auditory and visual), and with a paper mask (auditory only). Results: A significant difference was found in the spectral analyses of the speech stimuli with and without the masks; however, no more than ~2 dB root mean square. Listeners with NH performed consistently well across all conditions. Both groups of listeners with hearing impairment benefitted from visual input from the transparent mask. The magnitude of improvement in speech perception in noise was greatest for the severe-to-profound group. Conclusions: Findings confirm improved speech perception performance in noise for listeners with hearing impairment when visual input is provided using a transparent surgical mask. Most importantly, the use of the transparent mask did not negatively affect speech perception performance in noise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about the implementation of voluntary policies in the homes of Black/African American women smokers who live in rural areas where health care access is limited. This paper examines 1) the sample's prevalence of comprehensive smoke-free rules; 2) sociodemographic, social, and smoking characteristics of women by home rule type; and 3) the association of social indicators with the outcome complete ban on smoked tobacco use in the home (n = 191). Families Rising to Enforce Smokefree Homes collected baseline data from 2019 to 2021 prior to randomization to an intervention that aimed to increase comprehensive smokefree policies in the homes African American women living in the rural Delta region of Arkansas. The primary outcome was implementation of a complete ban on all smoked tobacco products anywhere inside the home. Results showed that 26% of women had a rule that completely banned all smoked tobacco products in the home. Women who reported having no ban were more likely to be employed part-time (50.0%), while women with a partial (66.9%) or complete ban (60.0%) were more likely to not currently work for pay. Women who indicated that they just meet basic expenses and meet needs with little left had significantly lower odds of having a complete ban on smoked tobacco in the home than women who indicated that they live comfortably. Perceived financial security may be a motivating factor that helps women keep their homes free from all smoked tobacco products (# NCT03476837). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informing both program evaluation and practice research, this paper describes lessons learned during the planning, implementation, and pilot phases of an abstinence education program based in a rural community in a southern state in the USA. Although a number of challenges can emerge in successfully implementing and evaluating such a program in a school and community setting, few publications have focused on bringing these challenges to light and highlighting strategies that were used to overcome them. This paper fills this knowledge gap by describing a community-based abstinence education evaluation project, outlining the challenges in implementing and evaluating the pilot phase of the project, and presenting strategies to address these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key to the use of weigh-in-motion (WIM) traffic data for the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) is to be able to successfully recognize the differences in loading patterns and to estimate the full axle-load spectrum data occurring under different conditions. However, how to identify these patterns on the basis of the large amount of WIM data remains a challenge. In this paper, WIM data collected in the state of Arkansas are analyzed by using cluster analysis methodologies to identify groups of WIM sites with similar traffic characteristics on the basis of the MEPDG-required traffic attributes. Case studies are presented and the cluster results are discussed. Combining the loading clusters, four long-term transportation planning factors currently adopted in Arkansas, including the modified Arkansas primary highway network (APHN) classification, demography, geography, and region attribute (rural or urban) of a highway under design, are adopted as the influencing criteria to develop the truck loading groups. The most significant influencing criteria are identified by using Fisher's exact test. Consequently, truck loading groups and their categorical logit models are developed in the paper. The developed method for determining truck loading groups will simplify the understanding and applicability of the traffic patterns and ultimately ease the preparation of the traffic load spectra inputs on the basis of WIM data for the MEPDG procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information about several awards and competitions in the field of Arkansas history and presents several calls for papers. It comments on the James L. Foster and Billy W. Beason Award for master’s theses or doctoral dissertations on Arkansas history, the Violet B. Gingles and Lucille Westbrook Local History competitions for manuscripts on local Arkansas history, and the Charles O. Durnett Award competition for manuscripts on Arkansas’ history in the U.S. Civil War. Calls for papers for several conferences, including one entitled “The Legacy of Friedrich Gerstäcker: Arkansas and the Wild West,” to be held October 11-13, 2012 at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, are presented.

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to identify pre-loan factors that ultimately impact post-loan risk ratings of small business in southern Arkansas. Design/methodology/approach -- Ordinary least squares linear regression analysis is conducted on small business data to determine which factors contribute to higher post-loan credit risk ratings. Findings -- Businesses with records of loan repayment and personal financial assets at stake are more likely to be assigned better credit risk ratings. Additional analysis indicates that businesses with no past due collections or judgments, having good trade references, a profitable business, and not operating in a volatile industry are much more likely to result in loans ultimately receiving good post-loan performance marks and lower risk ratings. Research limitations/implications -- This paper has a small sample of firms in a historically economically depressed region. While the relevant factors seem intuitive they may not apply to other regions and/or larger businesses. Practical implications -- Results of this paper may be interesting to loan officers of banks and other lenders, particularly in this region given the current financial crisis. Originality/value -- This paper is the first to analyze actual data from small businesses in southern Arkansas. The results may help the organizations attempting to aid economic development in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper has the purpose of examining the process faced by African-Americans from the end of the Civil War to one of the most significant moments in their struggle for integration into the American society. This way, the paper analyzes the achievements of the Constitutional amendments approved during Reconstruction and the South's reaction to them. During the decades following their defeat in the civil war, the southern states established a growing number of laws intending racial segregation. Facing this situation, Afro-Americans were forced to look for options. Some decided to migrate to other regions, while others created organisms able to demand the protection of members of their community from the legal framework. The success they achieved in the Little Rock crisis, in which segregation was officially repealed, is a consequence of this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper is an exploration into the administration of water banking as a natural resource strategy in the West, and the State of Colorado in particular. Water banking is a relatively new strategy for managing water in the Arkansas Valley in South Eastern Colorado. In this paper, insights into water banking in the State of Colorado are provided. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Research examining substance users' recovery has focused on individual-level outcomes while paying limited attention to the contexts within which individuals are embedded, and the social processes involved in recovery. Objectives: This paper examines factors underlying African American cocaine users' decisions to reduce or quit cocaine use and uses practice theory to understand how lifestyle changes and shifts in social networks facilitate access to the capital needed to change cocaine use patterns. Methods: The study, an in-depth analysis of substance-use life history interviews carried out from 2010 to 2012, included 51 currently not-in-treatment African American cocaine users in the Arkansas Mississippi Delta region. A blended inductive and deductive approach to data analysis was used to examine the socio-cultural and economic processes shaping cocaine use and recovery. Results: The majority of participants reported at least one lifetime attempt to reduce or quit cocaine use; motivations to reduce use or quit included desires to meet social role expectations, being tired of using, and incarceration. Abstinence-supporting networks, participation in conventional activities, and religious and spiritual practices afforded access to capital, facilitating cocaine use reduction and sobriety. Conclusions: Interventions designed to increase connection to and support from nondrug using family and friends with access to recovery capital (e.g., employment, faith community, and education) might be ideal methods to reduce substance use among minorities in low-income, resource-poor communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article talks about the large trading boat called bateau, owned by a merchant named Sarpy, which was set from Arkansas Post to Illinois. The bateau's skipper was sailor William Fourgnac. It states that Sarpy had hired two boatmen Jean le Basque and le nommé Charlot, whose father was referred as Sieur Barthélémy, a habitant of Arkansas. Topics discussed are Arkansas Voyageurs and fur trading; Charlot's identity; and includes information on Charlot's succession papers.

How to recognise traffic loading clusters and estimate load spectra using historical weigh-in-motion (WIM) data is critical to pavement mechanistic-empirical (ME) design. Various clustering approaches have been proposed in recent years mainly for high-volume roads. These methods require site-specific information to determine the design location cluster. In most cases for secondary road pavements, such data are missing due to resource constraints. In this paper, a simplified approach is developed to generate traffic loading for secondary road pavement design. With WIM data in Arkansas, theK-means cluster algorithm is applied and simplified Truck Traffic Classification clusters are developed. This method only requires prior knowledge of the dominant truck distributions on the design location and will alleviate the work related to traffic load data preparation. A case study is provided to illustrate the applicability of using the simplified clusters to generate Level 2 traffic inputs for DARWin-ME. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil moisture is a key indicator to assess cropland drought and irrigation status as well as forecast production. Compared with the optical data which are obscured by the crop canopy cover, the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is an efficient tool to detect the surface soil moisture under the vegetation cover due to its strong penetration capability. This paper studies the soil moisture retrieval using the L-band polarimetric Phased Array-type L-band SAR 2 (PALSAR-2) data acquired over the study region in Arkansas in the United States. Both two-component model-based decomposition (SAR data alone) and machine learning (SAR + optical indices) methods are tested and compared in this paper. Validation using independent ground measurement shows that the both methods achieved a Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of less than 10 (vol.%), while the machine learning methods outperform the model-based decomposition, achieving an RMSE of 7.70 (vol.%) and R2 of 0.60. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early Carboniferous (Mississippian) strata across the Laurentian cratonic interior record the transition from a stable carbonate platform, supporting a broad epicontinental sea, to a series of widespread, mixed carbonate-siliciclastic successions. As the southern terminal sink, the Mississippian succession preserved on the southern Midcontinent provides evidence and constraints for sediment dispersal patterns. This paper presents the first comprehensive U–Pb detrital-zircon geochronological record of all known Mississippian sandstones from the southern Ozark Dome of southern Missouri and northwestern Arkansas. This study identifies the provenance of these Mississippian sandstones and establishes their sediment dispersal networks across the cratonic interior. Results show that a major provenance shift occurred between Lower and Upper Mississippian strata. The Lower Mississippian Bachelor Sandstone was sourced from the Laurentian craton, while Upper Mississippian and basal Pennsylvanian sandstones were sourced through recycling of upper Proterozoic and lower Paleozoic sandstones within the Laurentian craton to the north, the unroofing of the Appalachian orogenic belt from the east-northeast, and potentially some direct contribution from uplifted Precambrian basement along the Transcontinental Arch to the northwest. By combining previously published detrital zircon data from Laurentia, we propose that the Mississippian sedimentation reflects an intertwining dispersal system associated with multiple sources. Sediments derived from all three potential sources were merged and transported southward across Laurentia. • A major provenance shift occurred between Lower and Upper Mississippian strata. • Lower Mississippian Bachelor Sandstone was derived from the Laurentian craton. • All Upper Mississippian sandstones were mainly derived from an Appalachian source. • Mississippian sedimentation was characterized by intertwined dispersal systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We know that certain components including demographics, cultural background, lifestyle choices and lack of access to health care contribute strongly to health disparities in rural regions of the United States. This paper explores perceptions of health, the environment, and the relationships between them that impact health disparities in the Arkansas Delta. The social-ecological model provides a conceptual approach to relate social determinants to health disparities. Few US rural health community-based studies have utilized this approach, or engaged ecological theory to explore rural contexts. This exploratory study blended a community-based, qualitative approach with social-ecological theory, to identify potential social determinants of health that impact rural Arkansans. Methods: Qualitative data were gathered with (n=79) women, ranging in age from 18 to 84, who were residents of 3 rural Arkansas Delta communities. Respondents poignantly described issues that affect health disparities in their communities. Conclusions: The study identified potential social determinants of health at multiple ecological levels among rural African American women. It was the social determinants of health and the legacy of segregation, that impacted their ability to conceptualize health in the resource resisted environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the highlights of the Symposium on Experimental Education Research (SEER), which took place in Little Rock, Arkansas in 2008. Four countries were represented in the papers, adding an international perspective to the symposium. One of the papers looked at how youth developed a sense of environmental virtue from an outdoor education course in a school setting. Licensed practitioner Maurie Lung opened the conference, while Dick Prouty of Project Adventure offered closing remarks.

A growing literature documents significant differences in college student outcomes between adjunct and full-time instructors, although less is known regarding the causes of these differences. Many existing studies implicitly treat instructor quality—as measured by an instructor's effect on student outcomes—as a fixed trait. However, instructor quality itself may be sensitive to employment rank, given that adjunct and full-time instructors work under very different conditions. Understanding mechanisms driving these differences is important for informing policy decisions aimed at improving student outcomes. Using panel data on first-semester students at public colleges in Arkansas, this paper first establishes that adjuncts have significantly worse student outcomes than full-time counterparts on a number of metrics. Next, I investigate mechanisms underlying differences in outcomes across instructor rank. I take advantage of the panel structure of the data and use an instructor fixed effects approach to provide evidence that within instructors, student outcomes improve when the instructor is full-time, compared to when the instructor is an adjunct. Results indicates improving student outcomes is about more than just getting better instructors, since instructor quality is not a fixed trait. Rather, factors like an instructor's conditions of employment and teaching and working environment may affect the outcomes of their students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper synthesizes analyses of Native American artifacts collected at Wallace Bottom (3AR179)from 1998 to 2006. These artifacts offer the prospect of identifying the archaeological signature of the Quapaw people in the early colonial era, a decades-old conundrum in lower Mississippi Valley archaeology. While this artifact assemblage appears to date to the early colonial era (A.D. 1650-1750), it contrasts markedly with the archaeological "Quapaw phase" (Phillips 1970:943-944). The Wallace Bottom site now seems a good candidate for the location of both the Quapaw village of Osotouy and the French Arkansas Post. The native material from Wallace Bottom exhibits a generalized midwestern character, consistent with Degiha Siouan traditional narratives of migration. The material from Wallace Bottom and the neighboring Lake Dumond site also reflect continental scale interaction during the era in which the Quapaws and contemporary native societies of the historic period were taking form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose of the study: To examine (a) whether the content of caregiving tasks (i.e., nursing vs. personal care) contributes to variation in caregivers’ strain and (b) whether the level of complexity of nursing tasks contributes to variation in strain among caregivers providing help with such tasks. Design and methods: The data came from the Cash and Counseling Demonstration and Evaluation study conducted in Arkansas, Florida, and New Jersey. The paper analyzes the physical and emotional strain of 1,926 paid American caregivers who helped adult Medicaid recipients with personal and nursing care in the home. Results: Over 80% of home caregivers were providing assistance with nursing care, and over 50% of those were providing help with moderate or high complexity tasks. Caregivers who were providing any type of nursing care reported significantly more strain than caregivers who were providing only personal care. Those providing highly or moderately complex nursing care exhibited more caregiver strain than did those providing low-complexity nursing care. Implications: Medical complexity is an important contributor to caregiver strain. Policymakers should consider medical complexity in the development of practices to assist the caregivers of Medicaid long-term care recipients, especially through consumer-directed supportive service programs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Traffic incidents constitute a major cause for non-recurrent roadway congestion. This paper proposes a stochastic-programming model for clearing asymmetrical incidents in a network as quickly as possible. A response to an incident is asymmetric when the workloads among response vehicles are uneven due to real-time scheduling considerations. This is to be contrasted with a static (often conservative) allocation of vehicular resources. Such asymmetry, and the attendant efficiency, is attributable to additional services performed while a vehicle takes care of emergent incidents nearby. Other vehicles are simply too far away to be helpful. We articulate a fundamental principle of incident management in a theorem and three corollaries. An elegant (yet practical) corollary suggests that an operator should not dispatch additional response vehicles (say from a depot) when the shortest travel-times to an incident are longer than the remaining work time available from vehicles already at the scene. Otherwise, the maximum number of required vehicles should be dispatched. When executed over all instances of reported incidents on a rolling time horizon, the rule yields the optimal plan. The model is applied toward a network in Central Arkansas for peak and off-peak traffic. It shows that it can properly balance the service requirement of reported incidents with potential ones. Meanwhile, a certain reliability level can be guaranteed by our model—a threshold that can be tightened or relaxed at will. The fast solution time of this linearized model allows for real-time application in the field, as verified by a simulation performed on a Central Arkansas highway network. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Skeletal concentrations in mudstones may represent local facies produced by storm winnowing in shallow water, or time-specific deposits related to intervals of diminished sediment supply. Upper Ordovician (Katian) of the Cincinnati region is a mixed siliciclastic-carbonate succession including meter-scale cycles containing a shelly limestone-dominated phase and a mudstone-dominated phase. The “tempestite proximality model” asserts that shell-rich intervals originated by winnowing of mud from undifferentiated fair-weather deposits. Thus shell beds are construed as tempestites, while interbedded mudstones represent either fair-weather or bypassed mud. Meter-scale cycles are attributed to sea-level fluctuation or varying storm intensity. Alternatively, the “episodic starvation model” argues, on the basis of petrographic, taphonomic, and stratigraphic evidence, that, despite widespread evidence for storms or other turbulence events (e.g. tsunamis), winnowing alone could not generate shell beds where none had previously existed. Instead, variations in sediment supply are construed as the principal cause of shelly-mudstone cycles. Shell-rich deposits accrue during periods of siliciclastic sediment starvation and relatively shell-free mud accumulates during periods of sediment influx. Tempestite proximality and episodic starvation models lead to contrasting predictions about proximal-to-distal facies patterns. These are: (i) large versus small volumes of distally-deposited, bypassed mud; (ii) proximal grainstones and distal packstones versus distal grainstones and proximal packstones; and (iii) proximal versus distal amalgamation and condensation of shell beds. In this paper, these predictions are tested by (i) comparing meter-scale cycles from different horizons and depositional environments through the lower Cincinnatian succession (Kope through McMillan Formations representing deep subtidal through intertidal environments), and (ii) correlating intervals and individual meter-scale cycles from the Fairview Formation of the Cincinnati Arch (shallow subtidal) north and west into the Maquoketa Shale (deep subtidal) in subsurface of Ohio and Indiana. Both approaches show patterns consistent with episodic starvation, not winnowing, including: (i) small differences in stratigraphic thickness indicate small volumes of bypassed mud; (ii) discrete distal deep-water grainstones that splay proximally into bundles of thinner shallow-water packstones alternating with shelly muds show that grainstones formed from a lack of, rather than removal of mud; and (iii) distal shell‐bed amalgamation and condensation (and corresponding proximal splaying) of shell beds shows a proximal source of mud. Thus, winnowing by storms or other turbulence events did not generate shell beds or cycles from undifferentiated sediments despite abundant evidence for storm deposition. High-resolution correlations imply that the shell-bed and mud-bed hemicycles reflect simultaneous basin-wide changes in sedimentary style rather than contemporaneous facies belts that track sea level. In this sense, shell-rich and mud-rich hemicycles are “non-Waltherian” facies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Several announcements from the Arkansas Historical Association (AHA) are presented, including information on a call for papers for the seventy-second annual conference in Helena-West Helena, Arkansas from April 11-13, 2013, the death of memoirist A. Cleveland Harrison, and the opening of the Arkansas Aviation Historical Society Collection of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Multivariate analysis can be used to identify the effects of several factors on the causes of a crash compared with univariate analysis. This paper uses a multivariate-analysis technique, the multinomial logistic regression (MLR) model, to examine the differences in crash-contributing factors for six collision types for both divided- and undivided-highway nonjunctions, given that a crash has occurred. Multinomial logistic regression was used to investigate (1) single-vehicle and (2) multivehicle collisions, which included (1) angular, (2) head-on, (3) rear-end, (4) sideswipe-same-direction, and (5) sideswipe-opposite-direction collisions. The risks associated with different collision types were found to be significantly influenced by various vehicle actions. The risk of sideswipe-same-direction collisions was higher while changing lanes and merging on undivided and divided highways. Similarly, while merging, drivers were prone to angular collisions, and when slowing down to rear-end collisions on undivided and divided highways. On weekdays, there was higher risk of multivehicle collisions, whereas on weekends, single-vehicle collisions were found to be statistically significant. The risk of single-vehicle collisions attributable to drivers negotiating a curve, driving on a wet road surface, during nighttime, when vision was obscured, avoiding objects on the roadway, and driving under the influence of alcohol was higher compared with that of other collision types. On the basis of the results of the analysis, it was found that the risk of single-vehicle collisions was higher on divided and undivided highways compared with other collision types. Further, binary logistic regression model was used to identify the factors that contribute to crash-injury severity, given that a crash has occurred. Drivers and passengers who did not wear lap and shoulder belts, and drove under the influence of alcohol were involved in serious crash injuries. Drivers involved in a crash on horizontal and vertical curves were prone to severe crash injuries compared with crashes on straight and level roadways. Head-on and single-vehicle collisions were found to be at a higher risk for severe injuries compared with other collision types. Additionally, collision types were strongly related to driver behavior (decision making) parameters, such as merging, changing lanes, and slowing/stopping, compared with parameters such as roadway geometry, atmospheric conditions, and surface conditions. From these results, the importance of different statistical techniques is evident, as the significant variables varied for crash severity and different collision types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In northeastern Siberia, Russia, a 1.2m sediment core was retrieved and radiocarbon dated from a small and shallow lake located at the western side of the lower Lena River (N 69°24′, E 123°50′, 81ma.s.l.). The objective of this paper is to reconstruct the palaeoenvironmental variability and to infer major palaeoclimate trends that have occurred since ~13.3cal. kyr BP. We analysed the diatom assemblages, sedimentology (grain-size, total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN)), and the elemental and mineralogical composition using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and X-ray diffractometry (XRD) of the sediment core. Our results show parallel changes in the diatom species composition and sediment characteristics. Enhanced minerogenic sediment input and the occurrence of pyrite is indicative of a cold period between ~12.7 and 11.6cal. kyr BP. The diatom data enable a qualitative inference about the local ecological conditions to be made, and reveal an oligotrophic lake system with alkaline and cold conditions during the earliest Holocene. Moderately warmer climates are inferred for the period from ~9.1 to 5.7cal. kyr BP. The major shift in the diatom assemblage, from dominance of small benthic fragilarioid taxa to a more complex diatom flora with an influx of several achnanthoid and naviculoid diatom species, occurred after a transitional period of about 1400yr (7.1 to 5.7cal. kyr BP) at ~5.7cal. kyr BP, indicating a circumneutral and warmer hydrological regime during the Holocene thermal maximum (HTM). Diatom valve concentrations declined starting ~2.8cal. kyr BP, but have been rising again since ≤600cal. yr BP. This has occurred in parallel to the increased presence of acidophilous diatom taxa (e.g. Eunotia spp.) and decreased presence of small benthic fragilarioid species in the most recent sediments, which is interpreted as the result of neoglacial cooling and subsequent recent climate warming. Our findings are compared to other lake-inferred climate reconstructions along the Lena River. We conclude that the timing and spatial variability of the HTM in the lower Lena River area reveal a temporal delay from north to south. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

J.N. Heiskell, owner and editor of Little Rock’s Arkansas Gazette in 1957, was a firm believer in segregation, but when he realized that the practice was nearing its end in American life, his belief in law and order as a necessity for any civilized society led him to support an editorial stance that seemed to contradict him. This led the Gazette to become the first newspaper to win two Pulitzer Prizes for coverage of the same event. He believed a paper should be the conscience of its community, requiring it to do things it might not like but that it knew were right, if not popular, and while his position seemed to be contradictory for a man of his time and place, it emerged fairly naturally over a lifetime of experience. He was committed to fairness and justice, and those values culminated in the Gazette’s stand during the Central High School integration crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Success of alkaline hydrolyzable nitrogen (AHN) to predict N fertilizer needs when soils were sampled over the effective rooting depth of the crop rekindled an interest in more traditional soil procedures including soil total nitrogen (STN) and total carbon (STC). The benefits of a N soil test that can accurately predict N fertilizer needs are not solely about optimizing economic or agro- nomic returns, but include making environmentally sound N fertilization decisions. This paper presents the results of a study assessing the ability of STN and STC to predict the N fertilizer needs of direct-seeded, delayed-flood rice (Oryza sativa L.) produced on silt loam soils in Arkansas. Twenty-five N response trials were conducted from 2004 to 2008 to correlate STN and STC with rice response parameters such as total nitrogen uptake (TNU), check plot grain yield, and percent relative grain yield (RGY) and calibrate STN and STC to predict the fertilizer N rate required to achieve 95% RGY. Relationships with the selected parameters were evaluated for both methods over a series of soil depth increments using linear regression models. Soil TN was significantly and positively correlated with all rice response parameters except check plot grain yield at the 15- to 30- and 45- to 60-cm depths. Coefficients of determi- nation were greatest for percent RGY at the 0- to 45- cm depth for STN (r² = 0.62) and STC (r² = 0.33). Calibration of the fertilizer N rate to achieve 95% RGY mimicked correlation of rice response parameters with soil depth, but with higher r² values. The highest coefficients of determination were observed in the 0- to 45-cm depth where STN explained 74% and STC explained 54% of the variability in the fertilizer N rate required to achieve 95% RGY. These relationships indicate the importance of proper sampling depth for successful correlation and calibration of soil analytical methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]