Browsing by Subject "Texas"
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Item The 21st century classroom : integrating educational technology with 21st century competencies in support of workforce development(2011-05) Bailie, Christine Marie; Treisman, Philip Uri; King, Christopher T.Information and communication technology demands are increasing across a range of occupations, creating intense global competition for highly-skilled workers. In order to meet the economic needs of the next century, education reform must prioritize student-directed learning that fosters innovation and creativity, enabling the United States to compete internationally in attracting and creating high-quality jobs for its citizens. Our system must strive to create lifelong learners and ensure equity in preparing all students for college- and career-readiness, which increasingly, are considered one in the same. Manor New Technology High School, in Central Texas, has successfully used technology immersion and project-based learning to expand the opportunities for its minority-majority population. Emphasis is placed on teaching students how to learn and in making authentic learning connections with the world through applied, and interdisciplinary coursework. An understanding of how educational technology can be used to create better student outcomes, through investment in teacher peer-to-peer supports to effectively integrate technology into instruction, has led to a sustainable and scalable model of technology immersion at Manor Independent School District. Through its partnerships with local businesses and not-for-profit organizations, Manor New Technology High School is graduating highly skilled and college-bound students, while concurrently promoting sector-based economic development within the high-tech industry. State educational agencies are ill-equipped to meet the challenges of workforce development; therefore, new mechanisms and incentives should be created to encourage and enable school districts to pursue 21st Century competencies (analytic skills, interpersonal skills, ability to execute, information processing, and capacity for change), which are enabled through the “invisible tool” of educational technology in the classroom.Item A Beggar?s Ride: Tales From Within the Herd(2012-02-14) Jensen, Katie LaurieThis story suite is a work of autobiographical fiction, a coming of age tale which uses a young girl?s relationship to horses?along with various people and places connected to the horse world?as its narrative theme. The collection is comprised of twelve chapters, including an Introduction and Prologue and much later, an Interlude and Conclusion. While the first person narrative voice is maintained through most of the chapters herein, the Interlude uses second-person perspective. Additionally, NOW DEPARTING is written in the present narrative tense. Poems are interspersed throughout the work, between chapters, as transitional bridges for the reader.Item A Comparative Analysis of Collective Efficacy Measurement and the Effects Collective Efficady Beliefs have on Student Achievement in Select Texas Suburban Elementary Schools(2013-01-09) Paz, DavidThe two part purpose of this study is to first test whether perceived collective efficacy is positively significantly related to student achievement in select Texas suburban elementary schools. The second part is to determine which of three collective efficacy belief measures has the greatest predictive validity. Collective efficacy beliefs are grounded in social cognitive theory which explains a group?s belief in its capability to attain desired effects. Collective efficacy beliefs can influence the effort a group puts forth to achieve desired effects. In the context of education, a highly efficacious faculty that collaborates and works hard on a daily basis is likely to overcome arduous obstacles and achieve high levels of student success. Five districts participated and 100 schools were sampled in this study. However, due to missing data, only 97 schools were included in this study. Teacher respondents varied in age, ethnicity and experience within the five districts included in the sample. For test of predictive validity, student level data was also used, which included student level characteristics as well as 4th and 5th grade reading and math Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) scores representing student achievement. Factor and reliability analyses were used to create the Collective Efficacy Scale Short Form (CES-Short Form) and the Collective Teacher Belief Scale (CTBS). Both measures have been utilized for over a decade and the results were aligned with past studies. The third measure of collective efficacy was developed by Bandura who pioneered the field of efficacy belief research. A partial correlation was conducted to find the unique variance in student achievement that was explained by each measure. Of the three measures, the CES-Short Form explained more variance in math and reading achievement when accounting for the other two measures while maintaining significant results (p = 0.01). Further tests using multilevel analysis were consistent with these findings, specifically the CES-Short Form had the strongest relationship with achievement and the Bandura measure was not significantly related to reading and math achievement in multilevel models with controls for student and school characteristics. The results confirmed that perceived collective efficacy was a positive predictor of student achievement in select Texas suburban elementary schools with the CES-Short Form having greater predictive validity than the other two measures. Implications of this study for future research are discussed on collective efficacy beliefs in schools.Item A comparison of first and fifth year Texas agriculture teachers on personal teaching efficacy, general teaching efficacy, and content efficacy(2007-12) McLaughlin, Erin K.; Burris, Scott; Fraze, Steven; Brashears, Michael T.The purpose of this study was to compare first and fifth year agriculture teachers’ on general teaching efficacy, personal teaching efficacy, and content efficacy. Teacher efficacy has been defined as a two dimensional construct composed of personal teaching and general teaching efficacy. Personal teaching efficacy involves a teachers’ evaluation of their own capability to bring about student learning. General teaching efficacy reflects the degree which a teacher believes other educators can control the learning environment despite influences such as family background, IQ and school conditions (Gibson & Dembo, 1984). Content efficacy is the level of confidence an agriculture teacher possesses in agribusiness and economics, plant and soil science, animal science, agricultural mechanics and technology, and natural resources and environmental science. The sample consisted of first and fifth year agriculture teachers in Texas during the 2006-07 school year. The sample frame of 129 first year teachers and 68 fifth year teachers yielded a 71% response rate. Personal teaching and general teaching efficacy were measured by the short form of the teacher efficacy scale (Hoy & Woolfolk, 1993). A researcher developed instrument was used to measure content efficacy. An independent t-test was conducted to compare the means between first and fifth year teacher efficacies.Item A comparison study of gravid and under house CO2 mosquito traps in Harris County, Texas(Texas A&M University, 2008-10-10) White, Stephanie LynHarris County Mosquito Control Division (HCMCD) is responsible for surveillance of mosquito species that are vectors of St. Louis Encephalitis (SLE) virus and West Nile Virus (WNV) within Harris County, Texas, including the Houston metroplex. The metroplex area has some unique attributes and a vast variety of environmental habitats that are attractive to vectors of arboviruses and for the transmission of arboviruses to the human population. Data describing the efficacy of Gravid (GV) and Underhouse (UH) CO2 traps were analyzed to determine if there is a significant difference between these two trap types with respect to the number of mosquitoes and the variety of mosquito species caught. This study was conducted during the off-peak HCMCD trapping season, to gain information in preparation for a yearround trapping program utilizing Underhouse CO2 traps for WNV and SLE virus surveillance. Adjusting for the week of collection, results suggest that Gravid traps caught significantly (P = 0.009) more mosquitoes (mean = 23.134 per trap) in the study area than Underhouse traps (mean = 3.616 per trap), and that Underhouse Traps caught a larger variety of mosquito species (n = 13) than Gravid Traps (n = 11), out of 15 total different species caught. Gravid and Underhouse traps caught 9 out of 15 of the same mosquito species during the study period. Culex quinquefasciatus mosquito catches in Gravid traps and temperature were strongly correlated (Spearman's Correlation Coefficient = 0.707, P = 0.005). Geographic Information System spatial analysis indicated clustering of Culex quinquefasciatus mosquito catches in both Gravid traps, week 9 and 21 (Moran's I = 0.69, P = 0.040 and 0.74, P = 0.021, respectfully ) and Underhouse traps, week 13 and 19 (Moran's I = 0.92, P = 0.002, and 0.89, P = 0.011, respectfully). It is recommended that Harris County Mosquito Control Division continue to utilize gravid traps as a primary method of surveillance. Gravid traps (16,194) caught 85% more mosquitoes than Underhouse traps (2,531) over the fourteen week study period. Their overall success far outweighs the additional materials or labor required for their use in a successful surveillance program.Item A Dietary Analysis of the Microwhip Scorpion (Arachnida: Palpigradi) from Val Verde County, TexasJones, Mary Patricia; Strenth, Ned E; Ammerman, Loren K; Negovetich, Nicholas J; Siefker, Andrew JPalpigrades comprise a poorly known group of arachnids found in caves and soil from numerous localities worldwide. Prior and preliminary studies have suggested arthropods and cyanobacteria as possible diet items of these organisms. This current study uses DNA sequencing to identify contents of the digestive tract of eleven palpigrade specimens, Eukoenenia florenciae (Rucker) from Val Verde County, Texas. Three universal primer sets were used to target the COI region of arthropods, the 16S rRNA of cyanobacteria, and the ITS region of fungi. Additionally, a blocking primer was designed to prevent amplification of the palpigrade DNA itself. DNA from these specimens was extracted, amplified by PCR, and then sequenced using an Illumina MiSeq platform. Sequences were compared to the NCBI GenBank nucleotide database. The presence of arthropods, cyanobacteria, and fungi supports the premise of generalist feeding habits for this species.Item A Drop in the Bucket: Ten Years of Government Spending on Water and Wastewater Infrastructure in Texas Colonias(2011-02-22) Rapier, Richard EdwardSince 1989, the United States Federal Government and the State of Texas have targeted water and wastewater infrastructure development spending in the colonias to improve access to safe, reliable and adequate water supplies and wastewater service. Prior to widespread installation of piped, treated water infrastructure, waterborne illnesses attained levels only seen in developing countries. Despite the hundreds of millions of dollars that have been spent since 1989 on water and wastewater infrastructure improvements, roughly a quarter of colonias still lacked basic access to water and wastewater services. Previous research and assessments of where this government spending has been targeted have not evaluated all four largest funding sources together or demonstrated the impacts of water and wastewater infrastructure spending on either public health or the local economy. This report evaluates the first of these problems by analyzing government spending of these funding sources from 1996 to 2006 in Cameron, Hidalgo, and Starr counties. The report provides the history and context of the Texas colonia problem, discusses who provides water and wastewater services to the colonias, and describes the make-up of federal and state financial assistance to the colonias to develop their water and wastewater infrastructure. Conventional understandings of where government spending is going, for what, and to whom, are challenged by the data and analysis. Analysis results indicate greater spending on wastewater infrastructure improvements than water service in addition to greater allocation to municipal systems that extended service into colonia areas historically operated by water service corporations. Further research may build on this data as well as regional economic and epidemiological data to determine outcomes of the spending in quantitative terms using various impact assessment methodologies. This report concludes with a discussion of impact assessment.Item A history of the Texas National Guard between World War I and World War II(Texas Tech University, 1979-08) Krenek, Harry LynnNOT AVAILABLEItem A lost home in the birthplace of Texas: Unraveling the history of the McAdoo Plantation Home through archaeological, geographical, and historical investigations(2013-08) Fischer, Heather A; Walter, Tamra L.; Jordan, MichaelIn the mid-19th century, General John David McAdoo operated a plantation in Washington County, Texas. General McAdoo spent the early years of his professional and political life living on a plantation, and eventually became a successful lawyer and military figure. Notably, he was a General in the Texas State Troops and a member of the Texas Supreme Court. Today, little remains of the original plantation, and historical records are scarce. Archaeological excavations of the foundations of what may be the main plantation house during the 2012 Texas Tech Field School are providing information about the house's history and its relationship to the McAdoo Plantation. The investigations of 41WT69 resulted in an extensive collection of artifacts, spatial data and historic information. This thesis will use the archaeological, geographical, and historical data collected during the field school, to achieve three objectives. This first objective is to define the extant remains of the structure, and the second objective is to examine if the remains of the 41WT69 structure is the same structure depicted in visual and oral histories. The third objective is to determine if there is any connection between the structure and the McAdoo plantation. Through the comparison of the archaeological data and the historical records, the architecture and history of the 41WT69 structure and its connection to McAdoo plantation will be better understood.Item A new technique for delineating aboriginal trade and Spanish colonial expedition routes and the route of the Mendoza-Lopez expedition(Texas Tech University, 1998-05) Hays, JetOur theoretical background determines how research is viewed and can even color its resuhs. The historians who have studied the Mendoza-Lopez expedition use only documentary evidence or the experiences of early Anglo residents of the area in questions to come to their conclusions. The weakness here is that historical theoretical framework generally ignores the contributions of anyone but the writer of the source document. Thus the other researchers into the route of the Mendoza-Lopez expedition do not use the Jumano knowledge of the area or even acknowledge the use of native guides by the Europeans (Foster 1997: 22). Without Native help the Europeans would have been unable to traverse what to them was unknown wilderness. Another relevant theoretical perspective used in this thesis is military science, specifically the current doctrine (theory), Air-Land Battle. This also is a body of knowledge that gives the user a perspective that allows the filtration of all but the information that is relevant to a military problem. It also gives a common bases for decision making and for operations. At the very basic level the current U.S. Army doctrine is almost identical to the doctrine used around the world and back through history (Headquarters, Department of the Army 1993). Thus a understanding of current military theory gives insights into past military theory and thus can help identify locations that Mendoza, a Spanish military officer, would have used. The last theoretical perspective used here is a anthropological one. Despite a great deal of flux, there are three generally accepted modem archeological theories. Processual archeology, or "new" archeology, is an attempt to place a scientific approach to understanding prehistoric human behavior. It is characterized by an attempt to find testable hypotheses and theories used to interpret human behavior. Processualism views culture as a "extrasomatic adaptation," or the Unkage between humans and their environment. Technology is the means of that interface and thus by understanding technology you can understand human behay^or (Schiflfer 1996:580).Item A Phenomenological Exploration of Novice Texas English/Language Arts Teachers' Experiences with Media Literacy(2012-10-19) Huie, Allison MartinThis mixed method study employs a phenomenological methodology to explore the experiences of novice secondary Texas English/Language Arts (E/LA) teachers' who integrated media literacy curriculum within their content area during the 2010-2011 school year. Data relating to the phenomenon was collected through Likert-type survey items and an in-depth three-interview protocol. The key findings in this study highlight the complex relationships that affect novice secondary Texas E/LA teachers' development of curriculum and pedagogy in the context of media literacy education. Participants' backgrounds were found to influence their beliefs and attitudes related to media literacy, which in turn, influenced the way they integrated media literacy curricula. Despite a commonly held belief in the value of media literacy education and intent to integrate media literacy in the E/LA curriculum, participants' confidence in their ability to teach students media literacy skills declined over time. Data suggest that this decrease is attributable to environmental factors such as access to technology resources and the culture and climate of the schools in which the participants teach. The study also finds that participants were insufficiently prepared to teach media literacy in the E/LA classroom and that both participants' teacher preparation program and school districts bear the burden for this deficiency. The findings of this study have specific implications for current educational practice. Schools of education and school districts are appropriately positioned to provide needed, but currently deficient, support to novice E/LA teachers with regard to media literacy integration in the content area. Such support could consist of formal coursework and/or mediated discussion in professional learning communities regarding: media literacy in the standards; technology skills and integration; pedagogical content knowledge related to media literacy education; sources for media literacy self-study and independent professional development; and teaching media literacy skills in technologically under-resourced or hostile environments.Item A study of regulation and placemaking in Austin, Texas : analysis of the Grove at Shoal Creek PUD proposal(2016-08) Sanders, Colton Wayne; Paterson, Robert G.; Wegmann, JacobLand use planning requires patience, organization and fortitude. This especially true in Austin, Texas and specific to The Grove at Shoal Creek PUD that is determined to create a mixed-use development that will be a model for future urban infill projects in Central Austin. The City of Austin is currently rewriting its Land Development Code embracing form-based code to better facilitate the complete communities objectives of the Imagine Austin comprehensive plan adopted in June 2012. This report explores the strengths and hindrances of the current land development code’s planned unit development (“PUD”) regulations to address the goals of complete communities through a case study of The Grove at Shoal Creek PUD proposal. The proposed development has been touted as a leading example of how PUD zoning can be used to accomplish these objectives, and this report will critically analyze both the regulatory processes and content of the developer’s proposal against the desired objectives of the Imagine Austin Plan. CodeNEXT is a three-year undertaking by city staff to rewrite Austin’s land development code (“LDC”) that began in September 2013. CodeNEXT embodies the re-visioning of the LDC incorporating form-based code districts to providing an illustrative, hybridized land development code guided by participatory planning activities (Community Character Manual, 2015). The concepts of form-based code are introduced to discuss current trends surrounding the re-visioning of conventional (Euclidean) land development code to one that primarily focuses on the form of the public spaces and then the uses within the buildings as a secondary concern. There is also an emerging trend of hybridized code which combine convention and form-based codes, and it is expected that CodeNEXT will follow this process to guide future development in Austin, Texas with a new regulatory framework. Hybridized land development codes seek to retain and clarify the objectives of conventional code while formulating districts along activity corridors incorporating form-based code to create predictable development. This report seeks to determine, as a case study, how form-based code will facilitate or hinder future urban infill developments similar to The Grove at Shoal Creek. The developers of The Grove have submitted proprietary Project Design Guidelines to administer development within the site. The design guidelines are analyzed and compared to form-based code districts from other towns and cities in Texas and across the United States within this report. Also, the Envision Tomorrow suite of planning tools are used in connection with ArcGIS mapping analysis to compare and contrast the developer’s proposal with that of the stakeholders and a single family low density development scenario. The conceptual land use plans are evaluated against the requested entitlements of the zoning application to determine whether or not the illustrative concepts may become the final product. My report uses predictability as the ultimate indicator of a successful planning process while given consideration to flexibility required during the planning process and after approval of zoning to allow for changing market conditions. Furthermore, I find that form-based code and the phased planning approach prescribed by the Form-Based Code Institute facilitate predictable form of the built environment and flexibility with the uses within those building. The principles of form-based code seek to create a memorable relationship between the structures and the public spaces that is attractive to people allowing a place to stand the test of time by promoting compatibility and adaptability with its surroundings. My discussions with neighbors, city staff, developers and investors have afforded me a wide perspective on how land development code is understood as well as the perception of the regulatory environment in Austin. The regulatory delays inherent of real estate development in Austin have been observed for decades and widely discussed. This report seeks to address these short-comings by envisioning emerging methods of placemaking through form-based code. My hope is that the lessons learned from this analysis of The Grove PUD application process, and prescriptions formed by the creation of CodeNEXT will address recommendations from the Zucker Report through a hybridized land development code to effectuate placemaking in Austin preserving its eclectic character while guiding development to serve the needs Austin, Texas for the next thirty years.Item A study to identify cognitive frames accessed by special education administrators under conditions of required change(Texas Tech University, 2000-12) Shipley, Steven DaleEducational decisions by school administrators inevitably shape the lives of all students. With the passage of IDEA, the decisions made by special education administrators have been primarily concerned with how to implement the changes required by this legislation. How these required changes are implemented can impact significantly on the effectiveness of that implementation with a probable reduction of litigation and excessive costs. Organization theory and leadership theory inform the subject of school administration. This study grew from the research by Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal describing the management decision-making process through the use of the cognitive frames approach. In this model, an instructional leader views situations from different perspectives depending on the unique characteristics of the particular situation. Their research describes how through the use of reflective analysis of each situation, the instructional leader can find clarity and meaning amid the confusion of organizational life (Bolman & Deal, 1997). They have found that everyone has preferred frames through which they (1) gather information, (2) make judgments, (3) guide behavior and, (4) explain behavior (1991). The four cognitive frames are the Structural Human Resource, Political, and Symbolic. This study was designed to examine whether special education administrators when faced with required change access a cognitive frame inferred by the required change or access their preferred frame. The following research questions were addressed: • Based on the data, do special education administrators "reframe" their perspectives to fit a given situation? • Do the results vary significantly based on gender? • Do the results vary significantly based on rural or urban location? • Do the results vary significantly based on the size of the district? Statistical analyses include chi-square analysis to determine the correlation between the two instruments and multivariate analysis of variance to examine the existence of statistically significant mean differences among the demographic data. Analysis of the data revealed that in conditions of required change, special education administrators do employ frames other than their preferred frame. This finding was contrary to the findings of Bolman and Deal. However, the alternate frames they did access were not the one(s) inferred by the required change. Implications for fixture research and application include staff development for special education administrators in the utilization of appropriate frames, particularly in conditions of required change and research into the cognitive processes that would lead special education administrators to switch from their preferred frame to other more appropriate frames in conditions of required change.Item A time for reform: the woman suffrage campaign in rural Texas, 1914-1919(2009-06-02) Motl, Kevin ConradThis dissertation offers a new narrative for the local woman suffrage movement in nine rural counties in Texas. I argue that, unlike cities, where women used dense organizational networks to create a coherent suffrage movement, conservatism inherent in rural Texas denied suffrage advocates the means to achieve similar objectives. Rural women nevertheless used the suffrage campaign to articulate feminist sensibilities, thereby reflecting a process of modernization ongoing among American women. Rural suffrage advocates faced unique obstacles, including the political influence of James E. Ferguson, who served as Governor for almost two administrations. Through Ferguson's singular personality, a propaganda campaign that specifically targeted rural voters, and Ferguson's own tabloid Ferguson Forum, rural voters found themselves constantly bombarded by messages about how they should view questions of reform in their state. The organizational culture that sustained suffrage organizations in urban Texas failed to do so in rural Texas. Concerned for their status, rural women scorned activism and those who pursued it. Absent an organized campaign, the success of suffrage initiatives in rural Texas depended on locally unique circumstances. Key factors included demographic trends, economics, local politics, and the influence of frontier cultural dynamics. The tactics and rhetoric employed by rural suffragists in Texas generally reflected those used by suffragists nationwide. While rural suffragists mustered arguments grounded in natural and constitutional rights, rural voters responded more to the claim that votes projected woman's feminine virtue into public life, which accommodated prevailing attitudes about woman's place. The First World War supplied rural suffragists with patriotic rhetoric that resonated powerfully with Texans. Rural Texas women successfully reframed public dialogue about women's roles, articulating feminist ideas through their work. Unlike rural clubwomen, suffragists pursued the ballot as a means to improve the status of all women. Feminist ideas increasingly obtained with women in visible leadership, and eventually reached all rural women, as countless hundreds registered to vote, and still more educated themselves on political issues. In doing so, rural women in Texas joined women across America in challenging the limits of domesticity and envisioning a fuller role for women in public life.Item Achieving the minimum 20 percent conservation and reuse mandate in the SWIFT process in Texas(2015-05) Harris, Shannon Carrie; Steiner, Frederick R.; Lieberknecht, Katherine E.; Huber, Karen L.In November 2013, the citizens of Texas approved a new water infrastructure-financing plan called the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas (SWIFT). SWIFT funds will provide low-cost loans for water projects included in the State Water Plan. A few conditions catalyzed this historic legislation, including a year of exceptionally severe drought in 2011, and the 2012 State Water Plan, the first such plan released since 2007. This document assumes one scenario for water planning in Texas in which the population nearly doubles and historic dry periods persist, resulting in an 8.3 million acre feet water shortage. A minimum of 20 percent of the fund must finance conservation and reuse water supply and enhancement methods. These projects must have associated capital costs and be included in the State Water Plan. Conservation strategies often have no capital costs, or if they do, expenses are lower than for other techniques such as desalination. Therefore, this research seeks to discover whether it is possible to meet the 20 percent minimum set-aside. The study focuses mostly on conservation procedures since reuse typically incurs significantly higher costs, and could, theoretically, meet the set-aside alone. Texas water users must think strategically about conservation in order meet the minimum set-aside. In a state with a history of large infrastructure projects, such as 60 years of reservoir construction, planners are no longer in tune with a diverse array of potential projects. Alternative water enhancement techniques not only supply water, but provide benefits to the local ecology and economy. The research also explores alternative water conservation technologies. Texans are fiercely independent, pragmatic, innovative people by nature. The cultural history of the state underscores these facts. The SWIFT fund is a result of creative thinking by planners, legislators, and citizens to alleviate problems before they become serious. That same vision is necessary to inspire synergies between participants using auxiliary water technologies financed through new funding mechanisms resulted from changing economic philosophies. The citizens of the state, and its ecological health, will benefit if they can muster the political will to resourcefully meet the minimum 20 percent conservation and reuse set-aside.Item Agricultural phosphorus in an integrated crop/livestock system in the Texas High Plains(Texas Tech University, 2003-12) Collins, Jennifer L.This study Is a component of a project designed to develop a productive and environmentally sustainable integrated crop/livestock system that will assure the viability of agricultural activities in the Texas High Plains. The integrated crop/forage livestock system consists of (1) a Conventional Irrigated Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) System and (2) an Alternative Integrated Crop/Forage/Livestock System with 1-paddock of Old World Bluestem (Bothiiochloa bladhii) and a 2-paddock rotation of rye {Secale cerea/e)/cotton/wheat (Tiiticum aestivum), and wheat/fallow/rye. Cattle sequence grazed the forages. The objective of this study was to evaluate changes in soil phosphorus (P) concentrations between the Conventional and Alternative Systems. Each system was replicated three times In a complete randomized block design. Soil samples were collected in 1997 and 2002 at multiple locations within each paddock by compositing three cores at each of the following depths: 0-15 cm, 15-30 cm, and 30-45 cm. Available P was determined using the Olsen bicarbonate extraction method.Item Agroecology of three integrated crop-livestock systems in the Texas High Plains(2012-05) Zilverberg, Cody; Allen, Vivien G.; Johnson, Phillip N.; Galyean, Michael L.; Moore-Kucera, Jennifer; Villalobos, Carlos; Kellison, RickTechnological advances have enabled agriculture to feed and clothe a growing global population with great success. It is now imperative that we remain productive while halting the natural resource degradation that often accompanies high productivity. In the semi-arid Texas High Plains, sustainability of current agricultural practices is threatened by depletion of the Ogallala aquifer and soil erosion. Perennial grasses, the region’s historic vegetation, can build soil rather than lose it and require little or no supplemental irrigation. We designed and tested three agroecosystems that integrated crop and livestock production using a base of perennial forages. All systems were designed to decrease water withdrawals from the Ogallala aquifer relative to conventional irrigated agriculture. The experiment covered a total of 42 ha in a randomized block design with three blocks. The non-irrigated system, DRY (evaluated from 2004 to 2008), included a paddock of native perennial grasses and a rotation of cotton (Cynodon dactylon [L.] Pers.) and foxtail millet (Setaria italica [L.] P. Beauv.). The buffer-irrigated system, LOW (evaluated from 2009 to 2011), was the same as DRY except that LOW added an irrigated paddock of ‘WW-B. Dahl’ old world bluestem (Bothriochloa bladhii [Retz] S.T. Blake; hereafter bluestem), which was harvested for grass seed as well as grazed. The limit-irrigated system, MED (evaluated from 2007 to 2011), included two irrigated paddocks of bermudagrass that were grazed and harvested for hay, and one paddock of bluestem that was grazed and harvested for grass seed. Angus beef stocker steers (Bos taurus L.; initial BW: 245 kg) sequence-grazed each system. We evaluated these systems with a variety of criteria, including forage and animal production, water use, crop yields and quality, forage quality, soil C fractions, soil penetration resistance, forage species stability, economic performance, fossil fuel energy use, and C emissions associated with fossil fuel use. We found that each system had strengths and weaknesses. Annual irrigation water use by each system was: DRY, 0 mm; LOW, 44 mm; and MED, 229 mm. The MED system was the most productive, yielding 446 kg steer live weight gain ha-1, compared with 107 for LOW and 57 for DRY. Bermudagrass yielded the most animal unit grazing days ha-1 (644; bluestem: 246; native grasses: 90; annuals: 41) of any forage and was the highest quality forage with the exception of the annual, foxtail millet. Bermudagrass also had the highest soil concentration of particulate organic matter C (3.1 g kg-1 soil in top 5 cm; native grass: 2.5; bluestem: 2.1), an indicator of higher potential nutrient mineralization and soil C accumulation. The annual fields had the lowest levels (1.3 g kg-1 soil in top 5 cm); however, the MED system was the worst economic performer and emitted the most C (774 kg C ha-1; LOW: 226; DRY: 205) as a consequence of fossil fuel use. In contrast, DRY produced the least amount of grazing (72 animal unit grazing days ha-1; LOW: 76; MED: 434), but was the most profitable and used no irrigation water. Although productivity of DRY and LOW were less than MED, LOW and MED beef carcasses were of equivalent quality (68% USDA Choice; DRY was not evaluated) and cotton lint from DRY and LOW received price premiums in all years (mean $0.024 and 0.106 kg-1, respectively). The lessons learned from this experiment should be used to design future agroecosystems that conserve soil and water while producing agricultural goods. Relative to annual and perennial non-irrigated paddocks, applying irrigation and N to introduced forages increased productivity and accelerated soil C sequestration, but the additional inputs were not justified economically. It may be more profitable to integrate, at the farm or landscape scale, large areas of non-irrigated native grasses in combination with smaller areas of intensively farmed, high-value crops that receive irrigation and fertilizer. Ley farming, which includes long rotations of perennial grass with annual crops, is one option that may hold promise for the future.Item Algae biofuels in Texas(2009-08) Salpekar, Ashwini; Sylvie, George; Malcolm Brown Jr., RobertTexas – the energy center of the world – is emerging as a pioneer in algae biodiesel research and production. There are a number of reasons for this. Texas is the largest emitter of CO₂ in the country, and efforts are being made to reduce the state's dependence on fossil fuels. Also, algae – robust and promising organisms – need non-arable land, lots of sunlight and brackish/waste water, along with CO₂. Texas has all of these in abundance, plus universities and algae start-ups that are doing crucial RItem Alonso de Le??n's 1690 expedition diary into Texas: an edition and study of the Spanish texts with semi-paleographic transcriptions(Texas A&M University, 2006-04-12) McLain, Jana DaleThe 1690 expedition led by Alonso de Le??n into present day Texas proved to be a pivotal journey that had lasting effects on the development of Spain's land north of the Rio Grande. This expedition established the first Catholic mission in the area. Also, La Salle's abandoned settlement was burned, and several Frenchmen living among the Indians were captured and returned with the expedition party to Mexico. The bartering for the release of some of these Frenchmen resulted in a skirmish in which four native Indians were killed. In addition, De Le??n chronicled a great amount of information about the land through which he traveled, leaving a lasting diary recording his experiences as well as offering a glimpse into the then unsettled lands in present day eastern Texas. The 1690 expedition diary exists in the form of six manuscripts, and their analysis is the focus of this thesis. No scholar has ever taken into consideration all six manuscripts when conducting research regarding this expedition, and therefore research conducted thus far is not thorough. A comparative analysis of these six manuscripts is undertaken in this thesis, and the manuscripts are classified as revised or unrevised. Foster (1997) was the first scholar to classify manuscripts of the 1690 expedition as unrevised and revised. He classified only the Beinecke manuscript as revised, but this thesis also incorporates two other revised manuscripts unknown to Foster, the Gilcrease 67.1 and Gilcrease 67.2. The unrevised manuscripts included in this study are the AGI, AGN, and BNMex manuscripts. Three semi-paleographic transcriptions of manuscripts of Alonso de Le??n's 1690 expedition diary are also presented. The AGI and Beinecke manuscripts are transcribed and an in-depth comparative analysis of the unrevised and revised manuscripts is completed. This analysis presents the numerous discrepancies that exist between the two families of manuscripts. Also, a transcription of the Gilcrease 67.1 manuscript is included to present a document previously unknown to scholars. The findings of this thesis should be of interest to scholars in many different fields of study who have interest in this time period and this region of the U.S. Southwest.