Quantifying Temperature Effects on Developmental Rate and Plant Quality of Compact Container-grown Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)

Mean daily temperature effects on plant development rates and quality were evaluated for compact container-grown tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). Compact tomato varieties ‘Siam’ and ‘Red Velvet’ were grown in greenhouses at 18 to 26 °C (Experiment 1) and 20 to 30 °C (Experiment 2) under supplemental high-pressure sodium lighting and 16-hour photoperiod. The number of days to first open flower, first ripe fruit, and from flower to ripe fruit were measured and development rates calculated by taking the reciprocal (e.g. 1/days). Temperature effects were predicted by fitting a linear (for first open flower) and a nonlinear exponential function (for first ripe fruit and between first open flower and ripe fruit) which included base temperature (Tmin) and maximum developmental rate (Rmax) parameters. Plant quality attributes were measured in Experiment 2. As temperature increased, the time to flower and fruit decreased (i.e. developmental rates increased) for both varieties. Estimated Tmin was 8.7 °C for ‘Siam’ and 11.4 °C for ‘Red Velvet’ whereas Rmax was similar between varieties (0.030 at fruit, and 0.037 from flower to fruit). ‘Siam’ and ‘Red Velvet’ grown at ≈25 °C had a relatively short crop time, compact canopy, adequate fruit size, and a high number of fruits per plant at finish. Compact tomatoes are new crops being grown by greenhouse floriculture operations for ornamental and edible value, and the information from this study can help growers schedule these crops to meet critical market windows and determine the impacts of changing growing temperature on crop timing and quality

Lucky Charms: Leveraging Consumer Data Analysis for Strategic Decision-Making at General Mills

This undergraduate thesis examines the application of data analytics in sales strategy and consumer insights from the perspective of a summer internship at General Mills. It gives an overview of the company’s background, industry position, and intern’s role within the sales organization. It outlines the personal learning objectives established before the internship and how they evolved through practical experience. A central focus of the summer internship was the analysis of consumer demographics within the cereal category to enhance sales performance and optimize retail execution. Using the Data Science Analytics Process as a framework, this thesis details the problem statements, methodologies, and analytical approaches employed to complete the intern projects. By leveraging demographic data, purchasing patterns, and market segmentation, insights were generated to drive more effective product positioning and promotional strategies. A literature review contextualizes the project within existing research, evaluating relevant methodologies in sales analytics and their applicability to the internship assignment. Results highlight key insights gained, the impact of data-driven decision-making on sales operations, and recommendations for improving business performance. The analysis was conducted using Walmart Luminate, NielsenIQ, and E2Open, three business intelligence tools that provide data on consumer behavior, market trends, and sales dynamics. These tools enabled insights into sales performance and competitive positioning that were shared cross functionally with brand and supply chain teams. This thesis also discusses the challenges encountered in working with large-scale retail data and the strategic implications of these data-driven decisions. This thesis contributes to a broader understanding of how data analytics can be used to understand consumer behavior, optimize sales strategies, and drive growth within the cereal market. It offers a practical intern perspective on the growing role of data science in the corporate sales environments, particularly within the consumer-packaged goods (CPG) industry

Non-Profit Foundation Boards: An Investigation into Best Practices using Fayetteville Public Library Foundation as a Test Case

Effective governance is critical for the success of non-profit organizations, with foundation boards playing a central role in ensuring accountability, strategic direction, and resource allocation for the organization. This thesis investigates best practices for non-profit foundation boards, using the Fayetteville Public Library Foundation as a case study to evaluate the efficiency of its governance practices. The research aims to identify whether the Foundation board operates efficiently and adheres to established best practices for non-profit boards. To address this, a two-phase methodology was employed. The first phase involved an extensive review of scholarly journals, industry guidelines, and other resources to define criteria for best practices in non-profit board governance. These findings informed the development of interview questions designed to assess the efficiency of a non-profit board, specifically the Fayetteville Public Library Foundation board in this case. In the second phase, interviews were conducted with board members and library executives, providing qualitative insights into their operational strategies, decision-making processes, and adherence to the identified best practices. The research is expected to support the hypothesis that the Fayetteville Public Library Foundation board operates efficiently and incorporates several recognized best practices, including transparent decision-making, strategic alignment with the organization’s mission, and active engagement of board members. These results will contribute to the broader understanding of non-profit governance by highlighting how established best practices can be implemented and tailored within a specific organizational context to improve overall board effectiveness. By combining theoretical research with practical application, this study will offer valuable insights for non-profit boards seeking to improve their governance practices and better fulfill their organizational missions.https://scholarworks.uark.edu/hnrcsturpc25/1001/thumbnail.jp

Simulation-Enhanced Bayesian Optimization of System Designs using Hybrid Physical and Computer Experiments

We consider the problem of learning and optimizing the performance of a system by conducting a limited number of physical and digital experiments within a design space. Physical experiments are assumed to be unbiased but costly, while digital experiments (e.g., simulations) are less expensive but may introduce bias due to the limitations of the simulation model. This problem is relevant in many fields, such as optimizing engineered systems where performance (e.g., mechanical properties and reliability) depends on various design variables and external/internal factors. Without digital experiments, optimizing the system’s performance amounts to evaluating a noisy and expensive-to-assess black-box function, a task commonly handled using Bayesian Optimization (BO). Our research extends BO by incorporating digital experiments between subsequent physical experiments, aiming to (i) improve simulation model calibration and (ii) identify solutions that are likely to generate desirable physical experiment results. We introduce “Simulation-Enhanced Bayesian Optimization” (SEBO), a methodology that integrates these steps, and evaluate it using various one- and two-dimensional benchmark functions. A bias function is used to model the simulation model’s bias across the design space and its parameters. We compare SEBO to traditional BO, with preliminary results demonstrating SEBO’s advantages in optimizing experimental efforts; SEBO outperforms traditional BO for well-behaved functions, requiring fewer physical and digital experiments to achieve a desired objective function value. By effectively combining physical and digital experiments, SEBO offers significant potential for improving the design and optimization of engineered systems, reducing costs, speeding up design processes, and overall providing more efficient solutions in engineering and manufacturing.https://scholarworks.uark.edu/hnrcsturpc25/1016/thumbnail.jp

Metabolic Responses of Adipose-Derived Stem Cells in Collagen I Hydrogels

Peripheral nerve injury affects approximately 44 in 1 million people in the United States every year and can lead to incomplete nerve recovery and loss of motor and sensory function. A significant amount of energy is required for nerve injury repair. A lack of energy allocation to the injury site hinders repair. Current treatments include hollow nerve guidance conduits, decellularized nerve grafts, and autografts. However, they are limited by factors such as donor site morbidity and sustained immunosuppressive treatments. Using three-dimensional collagen I hydrogels laden with adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) can assist in neural regeneration. Three-dimensional collagen scaffolds aim to mimic the extracellular matrix, while ASCs encourage neural regeneration, providing a platform for nerve injury repair. This project investigated the metabolic activity of ASCs seeded in collagen I hydrogel scaffolds with varying topological properties—warm aligned, warm nonaligned, cold aligned, and cold nonaligned. Metabolic activity was assessed using alamarBlue, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), glutamine/glutamate, and glucose assays. Metabolic assays like alamarBlue showed 2.98% and 5.59% percent reduction values at 3 and 6 hours, respectively, at day 7 for warm stretched hydrogels. In comparison, cold stretched hydrogels exhibited values of 2.55% and 4.62% at the same time points. The ATP assay results showed a luminescence reading of 897,394 Relative Light Units (RLU) for warm nonstretched hydrogels at day 7. The glutamate assay showed a luminescence reading of 310,976.5 RLU for warm stretched hydrogels at day 7. Glucose showed a luminescence reading of 656,380.5 RLU for cold nonstretched hydrogels at day 7. The findings of this project demonstrated that ASC metabolism varies across scaffolds with different topological properties, contributing to a deeper understanding of the changes of ASC metabolism based on microenvironmental differences

Cornelius Nepos: Fortune, Biography, and the Late Roman Republic

Abstract: This paper examines ancient biography and the late Roman Republic by analyzing the surviving writings of Cornelius Nepos. Cornelius Nepos was a late Republican intellectual and friend of several of the most prominent literary figures of his day. The literature on Nepos tended to be dismissive of the author until the 1980s, when it began to shift towards viewing Nepos through the lens of ancient biography. By examining the theme of fortuna [fortune] throughout Nepos’ work and contrasting it with usage of the theme in other Latin authors or Greek historians, this paper demonstrates that Nepos adapts a longstanding historical theme to his own project and time in a number of ways. These include treating fortuna as a phenomenon that takes place at the level of the individual and focusing on how the invidia (jealousy) of one’s peers in response to good fortune can prove dangerous. These findings indicate that Nepos was an author with unique insights into the events of his own lifetime

Characterizing Heating and Resistance Properties of Nichrome Burn Wire to be Used in CubeSat Actuation

This thesis investigates the use of Nichrome 60 wire as a burn wire mechanism, commonly utilized in CubeSats and other aerospace engineering applications requiring precise, single-use release systems. The experiment focused on characterizing the thermal and resistive behavior of Nichrome 60 wire under Joule heating conditions. Four wire configurations were tested: 34-gauge and 36-gauge wires, each at lengths of 1 inch and 2 inches. Each configuration was subjected to a constant current until thermal failure occurred. During testing, real-time measurements of electrical resistance and wire temperature were recorded. This data was used to generate resistance vs. temperature profiles for each wire configuration. The resulting plots provide insight into the material behavior of Nichrome 60 wire leading up to failure and offer valuable information for predicting performance in burn wire applications. Additionally, the obtained experimental results were compared to prior research in the field to evaluate consistency and validate observed trends. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the thermal and resistive characteristics of Nichrome 60 and its suitability for controlled release systems, particularly in the context of CubeSat deployment mechanisms