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EVALUATING THE DAIRY INDUSTRY’S ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTION AND WATER UTILIZATION IN THE SOUTHERN OGALLALA AQUIFER REGION
Get PDFThe dairy industry in the Southern Ogallala Aquifer Region has continued to grow in the past decades. As dairy cow inventory continues to expand in the region, so do complementary economic sectors. It is essential to understand the dairy industry’s contribution to the regional economy as public concerns grow over the diminishing availability of water. Thus, this research focuses on the dairy industry’s economic contribution in the region as well as the water impact (direct and indirect) on the Ogallala Aquifer. Cows use water both directly and indirectly. Direct water use is water used by cows for drinking and facility maintenance. Indirect water use refers to water used for crop production, which is fed to cattle.
This study analyzed the dairy industry’s contribution to the regional economy for 120 counties that make up the Southern Ogallala Aquifer Region. IMpact analysis for PLANning (IMPLAN) was used to estimate the direct, indirect, and induced economic contribution of the dairy industry in terms of income, economic output, and employment in the region. Direct and indirect water usage were evaluated using an estimated inventory of dairy cows and a representative ration per cow unit for the Texas High Plains, which was assumed for the entire region. Inventory data were estimated from 2000 to 2020 to provide insight into the continued growth in the region.
Dairy cow inventory in the Southern Ogallala Aquifer region increased from 156,513 dairy cows in 2000 to 852,841 in 2020, with milk production in 2020 being approximately 19.3 billion pounds. Results indicate that milk production in the Southern Ogallala Aquifer region is valued at 7.6 billion. Milk processing has a value of 4 billion. Combining production and processing, a total direct economic output of 11.6 billion for the dairy industry in 2020. Overall, milk production and milk processing contribute to approximately 10,305 in direct employment, generating 31,431 total jobs in the region.
Direct water usage is estimated at 62,095 acre-feet for the area, accounting for 3.3 percent of the overall water used in dairy farms. The majority of the water use is indirect, and a large portion of that is imported virtually through crops from other parts of the country, as the Southern Ogallala Aquifer region demands more feedgrains than the amount of supply that is available locally. However, in this study, all indirect water was accounted for, regardless of the origin, for a total indirect water usage estimate of 1,832,598 acre-feet. Note that this estimate would be much lower if only considering crops grown and fed from within the Southern Ogallala Aquifer Region. Gauging the regional economic contribution for milk production against direct water use results in approximately 4,129. The value when combining direct and indirect water use is $3,994 in economic output per acre-foot.
Water is a vital resource for all agricultural production, and most of the study area solely relies on the Ogallala Aquifer as the primary water source. Estimated water use is increasing, and the Ogallala Aquifer’s withdrawals vastly exceed the recharge rate. Growing concerns about the reduction of water may have people questioning whether the economic benefits of the dairy industry justify the water use. This study provides awareness of the current economic contribution that the dairy industry brings to the regional economy. Overall, this analysis suggests that the dairy industry in the Southern Ogallala Aquifer region increases the economic activity, employment opportunities, and the value of water. The continued growth of the dairy industry may continue to benefit the region because, as water levels decline and irrigated agricultural crop production shifts to dryland, dairies and milk processing facilities are a higher-value use of water than traditional crop production in the region. Processing facilities such as the new Cacique and Hilmar continue to emerge in the region, suggesting that the dairy industry will continue to grow, as will the industry’s economic contribution
Rural Elementary Principals' Transformational Leadership and Trust-Building Efforts
No full textAbstract
Purpose: Rural principals’ trust-building efforts have not been comprehensively investigated, and there is a lack of research concerning how rural principals build trust
with teachers in relation to their leadership style. The purpose of the research was to develop an understanding of how rural elementary principals build trust with teachers and
how the principal’s leadership style relates to their trust-building efforts. Research Design: A qualitative grounded theory approach was used to understand a phenomenon by examining the perspectives (Corley, 2015) and experiences (du Plessis & Marais, 2017) of rural principals and teachers, utilizing semi-structured interviews to conceptualize data to generate a theory. Data were analyzed through iterative, open, axial, and selective coding. Findings: Findings indicated that rural principals did not identify with leadership style labels but rather actions or behaviors related to their leadership approaches and efforts to build trust. The overarching conceptual theme, support mechanisms, emerged as central to the development of trust through leadership actions/behaviors. Teachers’ perceptions pointed out that principals' supportive behaviors
developed trust, and concepts within the emergent categories were related to trust facets of benevolence, reliability, honesty, openness, and competency. Principals identified with
category sets of communication, relationships, provisions, rural context, and expectations, some of which had transformational underpinnings connected to trust. Implications: These findings help rural principals and the scholars who study them focus
on leadership behaviors, such as communication, relationship building, expectations, provisions, and transformational behaviors that support the development of trust-buildin
Thermal and Crystallization Properties of Carbon-nanotube Doped Phase Change Materials for Variable-load Heat Exchanger
Get PDFPhase change materials (PCMs) are emerging as efficient energy management materials for various applications ranging from building materials to heat exchangers. Paraffin waxes are versatile PCMs with attractive benefits such as high latent heat, chemical inertness, low vapor pressure, and good thermal stability. Additionally, wax-based PCMs can be emulsified, providing enhanced surface area for efficient heat transfer. Nevertheless, a significant drawback of paraffin waxes is low thermal conductivity, making heat storage and release slow. To address this limitation, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which have high thermal conductivity, are proposed as dopants in paraffin waxes. The PCMs need to go through many heating and cooling cycles (>1000) in PCM heat exchangers. The sedimentation/aggregation of CNTs can impact the dispersant of CNTs due to repeated heating and cooling cycles in the PCM heat exchanger. The dispersion of CNTs in PCMs changes the thermal conductivity and could change the phase transition properties of PCMs. The doping could also decrease the melting and increase the onset of crystallization. Here, doped elements work as seeding for crystallization. The dispersion characteristic of CNTs after several thermal cycles is unknown. Not much fundamental understanding exists on the nucleation and crystallization behavior of these advanced PCMs. We propose to exploit the effect of thermal cycles on the dispersion of doped CNTs in commercial paraffin wax. We synthesize CNT-doped PCM (paraffin wax) in bulk and microcapsules forms with desired thermal conductivity. The dispersion pattern of doped CNTs varies in microcapsules compared to bulk samples. We take two approaches to characterize the phase transition properties due to the thermal cycles of CNT-doped paraffin wax: 1) a bulk phase measurement of the melting and crystallization points and heat of fusion of CNT-doped wax samples using DSC (differential scanning calorimetry), and 2) a parallel microfluidic technology and microscopy methods to directly visualize the stochastic nature of the onset of crystallization and melting of microcapsules of CNT-doped paraffin wax due to thermal cycles. This fundamental investigation of crystallization and thermal properties of CNT-based PCMs broadly impacts the technology and engineering in areas as diverse as building materials, electronic cooling devices, and heat exchangers
Thermal Stability and Degradation of Batteries
No full textDirect observation of experimentation equipmentLi-ion batteries often run the risk of explosion via thermal runaway caused by internal short circuits. Such internal short circuits can be caused by mechanical, electrical or thermal means. Another cause of concern is the ageing of the battery that can limit its capacity, performance, lifespan and safety. In this work, we wish to investigate the thermal stability and degradation of batteries using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), battery analyzer and computer simulations. Specifically, the goal is study two aspects of commercial Li-ion coin cell batteries: (a) kinetics and mechanisms of thermal runaway mechanisms in coin-cell batteries, (b) degradation of battery components across various cycling rates and temperatures
The Role of Athletic Participation in Fostering Acclimation to Campus
No full textThis final composite considers executive leadership and social networking through two submissions. The first scholarly deliverable is a case study appraising how athletic coaches and staff members recruit and assist an at-risk transfer student acclimate to their new institution. This can be used for any staff or administrator level in the field of educational leadership. The title of this article is “Whose fault is it when a transfer student has trouble acclimating to their new university surroundings? A Case Study” This case reviews the various factors that can contribute to a successful transition for transfer students and what administrators and staff can do to increase the likelihood of success, especially for at-risk students. A case analysis and discussion guides are included to help further demonstrate how transfer student-athletes are assisted. The final scholarly deliverable is an empirical article titled “The Role of Athletic Participation in Fostering Acclimation to Campus: A Mixed-Methods Study of University Transfer Students.” This empirical article explores the factors most often associated with transfer student success and if transfer student-athletes acclimate at a higher rate than their non-athlete peers
Wheat Consumption Determinants and Food Security Challenges: Evidence from Pakistan
Get PDFSecondary Data sources include national and international agenciesGlobally, wheat is one of the most widely cultivated staple crop and extensively consumable staple food. It plays a vital role in overcoming food security. Wheat is one of the primary food source of Pakistan. In the beginning of time-period from 1975 to 2020 Pakistan had achieved near self-sufficiency in wheat production. It has been observed that during this period, Pakistan was somewhere a net importer and somewhere a net exporter. This trend shows an irregularity in the food policy of Pakistan. The wheat production and consumption gap is expected to further increase in the coming years due to higher population growth that will exert continuous pressure on wheat consumption that would be a reason for food insecurity issues in Pakistan in the upcoming years. A sustainable food security policy is required to overcome the upcoming food security issues in Pakistan. This study is conducted to explore the determinants of wheat consumption in Pakistan as well as to analyze the own price, cross-price elasticity, and income elasticity of wheat demand. For estimation purpose, annual time series data were used covering the period from 1972-2020. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag approach (ARDL) econometric technique was applied to investigate the presence of long-term association between wheat demand and wheat consumption determinants. The estimated findings of wheat prices, real GDP, and population highlight that wheat is the basic necessity commodity in Pakistan. Further, the results of rice prices and corn consumption reveal that rice and corn commodities are substitutes to wheat with less elastic demand in Pakistan. The estimated result of wheat imports exhibits a direct and significant impact on wheat consumption. Forecasting graphical analysis shows that in 2020, wheat consumption in Pakistan was 26 million metric tonnes (MT) and increasing at an increasing rate. In 2050 wheat consumption would be 38 million MT (Production 32 million MT) because of the pressure of population. The forecasting analysis results highlight that Pakistan needs 57 million MT of wheat to feed the 491million population of Pakistan in 2100. However, in 2100 the forecasted wheat production is 43 million. Overall, the results suggest that domestic efforts required to reducing the expected gap between wheat demand and supply, which may be decreased through the application of latest innovative production techniques, advanced varieties of wheat, land expansion, and exploring the additional water resources for irrigated agriculture. Based on empirical findings, it is recommended that policymakers, Pakistan government, and stakeholders required to concentrate on inclusive policy for parallel wheat, rice, and corn consumption. Additionally, this study suggested that policymakers, Pakistan government, and stakeholders must pay attention on exploring the ways to raise domestic production of wheat in order to decrease imports of wheat, saving of effective foreign exchange, and to resolve the upcoming food security issues in Pakistan. Keywords: Wheat Consumption Determinants, Own Price Elasticity, Cross Price Elasticity, Income Elasticity, Wheat Supply and Demand Gap, Food Security, Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL)
On Dynamic Adjustment and Comparative Statics Via the Implicit Function Theorem
No full textThe implicit function theorem (IFT) offers a way of deriving a correspondence between the parameter space and the Nash equilibria of a game. However, which equilibrium will actually emerge after a parameter change involves a dynamic adjustment process, which may significantly differ from IFT predictions. Utilizing the notion of local uniform contraction mappings, we show that IFT predictions are consistent with economic behavior at locally contraction stable equilibria, which is both a necessary and sufficient condition in games of strategic complements. When best response functions are monotone, we can address the convergence of play under more general adaptive dynamics
OLD DOG, NEW TRICKS: THE SHIFT FROM GRAPHIC DESIGNER TO UX/UI DESIGNER IN HIGHER EDUCATION GRAPHIC DESIGN CURRICULUM
No full textGraphic design as a profession continues to morph with technology. Graphic designers must consistently learn the latest software and industry trends to stay relevant. Therefore, the quick change in technology constantly influences the responsibilities of a graphic designer. One of these changes is the niche design field of User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) design that has emerged as an attractive field of study for undergraduate students in graphic design. The objective of this study is to explore opinions on UX/UI design and curriculum in higher education graphic design programs through semi-structured interviews with practitioners and educators. Opinions on UX/UI methods, best practices, projects, and skills are explored. Findings could guide class offerings, content, and projects for students studying graphic design to better prepare students for these emerging UX/UI jobs
Effect of Methionine Supplementation on Inflammation in Beef Cattle Challenged with Lipopolysaccharide
No full textThe objective of this study was to determine the effects of methionine supplementation with MetaSmart before lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge on inflammatory biomarkers in beef cattle. Cattle (n = 65; 295.8 ± 46.5 kg BW) were randomized to three treatment groups: L0 (n=21) received 0 g of MetaSmart/animal/d, L1 (n=22) received 10 g of MetaSmart/animal/d, and L2 (n=22) received 20 g of MetaSmart/animal/d. The supplementation period consisted of 44 d before relocation for the LPS challenge period. On d 35, the cattle were weighed to determine performance and assist in selecting the cattle for LPS challenge. Temperament, body weight, and treatment history were considered in the selection of 32 cattle (n = 10 for L0 and n=11 for L1 and L2) for the LPS challenge. On d 42, steers were challenged i.v. with LPS (0.25 µg/kg BW). Four blood samples from each animal were taken -2, 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 18, 24, 36, and 48 h relative to the LPS challenge at h 0. The first sample was used to measure complete blood count. A second sample was used for plasma isolation to measure amino acid concentration. The third sample was used to determine serum variables that were analyzed for cortisol, cytokines, haptoglobin, serum amyloid A, and non-esterified fatty acid concentrations. The fourth sample was processed for plasma to measure oxidative stress parameters. During the initial 35 d feeding period, there was no difference in DMI (P = 0.75) or ADG (P = 0.97). A tendency (P = 0.09) was observed for gain:feed; L2 had a greater gain:feed than L0 (P = 0.04). Time affected (P < 0.01) rectal temperature, water intake, sickness scores, cortisol, acute phase proteins, hematology parameters, serum chemistry, and cytokines, which illustrate LPS challenge efficacy. There was a treatment x time interaction (P < 0.01) for rectal temperature. Specially, L2 had greater rectal temperature than L0 (P < 0.01) and L1 (P < 0.01) at h 3. At h 4, L2 continued to have a greater rectal temperature than L1 (P = 0.04) but only tended to have a greater temperature than L0 (P =0.08). At h 17, L2 had a greater rectal temperature than L1 (P = 0.04). For h 18 (P = 0.05) and 19 (P =0.07), L2 had a greater rectal temperature than L1. Water intake volume was not different (P = 0.14), but there was a treatment difference observed in drinking bouts (P < 0.01), where the L1 and L2 steers had more drinking bouts per h than L0. Serum haptoglobin (P = 0.80) and serum amyloid A (P = 0.65) concentration did not differ between treatments. A treatment x time interaction was observed (P = 0.02) for total white blood cells such that L0 had a greater (P < 0.01) concentration than L1 at h -2 and 0. A treatment x time interaction existed for the change in white blood cells (P = 0.04). With the L0 group having more negative change than L1 and L2 from h 2 to h 12. Alkaline phosphatase had a treatment x time interaction (P < 0.01), and there was a treatment effect for change in alkaline phosphatase relative to time 0 h, with L0 having a greater change than the L1 group (P = 0.04). Calcium concentrations differed (P = 0.01), being less in the L0 group compared to the L1 and L2 treatment groups. There was a treatment x time interaction for sodium concentration (P < 0.01). The basal sodium concentrations (h -2 and 0) were greater for the L2 and L1 treatment groups compared to L0 and this occurred again at h 24. Total protein had a treatment x time interaction (P < 0.01). Specifically, at h -2, L2 cattle had greater total protein than L1 (P < 0.01), and L1 had a greater total protein than L0 (P = 0.02). There was a treatment difference between L1 and L2 compared to L0 for albumin (P = 0.04). No difference was observed in globulin concentration (P = 0.36), non-esterified fatty acids (P = 0.53), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (P = 0.87), interferon-gamma (P = 0.26), interferon-alpha a (P =0.37), interleukin 13 (P = 0.32), interleukin 1 alpha (P = 0.32), interleukin 1 F5 (P = 0.41), interleukin 21 (P = 0.37), interferon-gamma inducible protein 10 (P = 0.26), and monokine induced by interferon-gamma (P = 0.30). The L0 treatment had a greater macrophage inflammatory protein-1 beta concentration than L1 and L2 (P = 0.01). These data suggest that methionine supplementation had immunomodulatory effects in beef cattle that may improve pathogen responses, but further research is needed to determine health and performance responses in the production setting
PUBLIC HEALTH AND RACIAL SANITATION: MEDICALLY MOTIVATED IMMIGRATION RESTRICTION AT MAJOR UNITED STATES PORTS OF ENTRY, 1892-1924
No full textUnited States immigration restriction during the early twentieth century is a
complex and broad subject. Among the relevant historiographies is the common thread of
disease mitigation that, when followed, leads to a number of interesting conclusions
about the development of immigration policy. Medically motivated immigration
restriction at the ports of entry is an intriguing subject that can be analyzed using a
number of historical lenses. By taking a deeper look at typhus mitigation at three United
States ports of entry from 1892-1924, this work argues that these spaces need to be
treated differently than other borderlands spaces. Ports of entry, when treated as
borderlands space, are not the same as other negotiated spaces between different
demographics. They were not places of negotiation; rather, these ports of entry were
places of unilateral racialization, and the growing medicalization of the country. These
spaces were in a liminal bubble where the cultural makeup of the surrounding area
mattered little to the enforcement of medical examinations and forced medical
procedures. With this concept in mind, these liminal spaces will be treated in this work as
a single space that just happens to be separated geographically. This thesis demonstrates
that ports of entry are unique borderlands spaces by isolating three different locations
during the same global outbreak of typhus. Ellis Island in New York, Angel Island in San
Francisco, and the Santa Fe Bridge in El Paso all had dedicated procedures to the
mitigation and “curing” of diseases on the bodies of immigrants