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A Colorful Dystopia: An Analysis of the Color Scheme in Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale
No full textThis thesis project focused on the color scheme featured in the first three seasons of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale. The series is based upon Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel and was adapted into a Hulu original series in 2017. While the series’ content is similar to that of the novel, the producers altered Atwood’s color descriptions to cast a narrowed design aesthetic, resulting in a strong, seven-color scheme showcased through the costumes, set designs, and props. The color scheme then provides viewers with a blueprint for understanding Gilead through pattern recognition, creating metaphorical significance. This study examined HMT’s color scheme by assigning a metaphor to each color and illustrating the metaphor through the series’ production elements. The colors were examined both individually and collectively to determine the color scheme’s impact on the storyline. As a result, the study determined that color is a driving force of HMT that creates a deeper understanding of the storyline through the metaphors identified. In turn, HMT’s use of color creates a unique television experience for many viewers
Magnetotransport and Fermi Surface Studies of SnxPb1-xTe Single Crystal
No full textWe have studied the magnetotransport properties of a topological crystalline insulator, SnxPb1-xTe with the applied fields up to 14 T. Magnetoresistance (MR) increases almost linearly with the applied field and reaches a value of 310% at H = 13 T without showing any sign of saturation. At higher applied fields, both longitudinal and Hall resistance show clear Shubnikov de Haas (SdH) oscillations with a single oscillation frequency at α = 57 T. However, an additional frequency at β = 69 T appears if the angle between the field direction and the sample surface is changed. Using the quantum oscillations data, we have constructed the Landau-level fan diagram and determined the trivial topology of the α-pocket. The obtained results are compared with the previous reports and the possible origin of the second frequency (β) will be discussed.Killgore Research Gran
The Effects of Mathematical Literacy on Standardized Tests
Get PDFThe purpose of this study is to examine the algebra-based questions on the 2017, 2018, and 2019 STAAR exams for grades 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th. The paper focuses on analysis of the various types of representations in question and answer type. The representations were found to be graphical, numerical, verbal, and symbolic. Within each algebra-based problem on the STAAR exam, each item was categorized to be a combination of a representation for question and a representation for answer. The linear regression and ANOVA found that students struggled in questions that were both verbally asked and had a verbal answer choice. This led to the conclusion that students need improvement of real-world situations and problem-solving to work their way through application problems. To provide a suggestion to help correct this error and produce a higher percentage in these types of questions, mathematical literacy was suggested as a possible solution
A SPATIOTEMPORAL ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF CROP PRODUCTION IN THE TEXAS HIGH PLAINS
Get PDFThe Texas High Plains is one of the most prolific crop-producing areas in the United States. Agriculture plays a vital role in the economy of this region. The agricultural industry in this area faces various challenges: environmental, economic, etc. Due to extreme weather conditions and climate change, crop production in the Texas High plains is facing a great threat. Crop production needs irrigation water. The primary source of irrigation water in this region is the Ogallala Aquifer. The saturated thickness of this aquifer is being depleted day by day, which is a big concern for the irrigation of crop production (Guerrero et al., 2019).
A survey of the literature shows that few studies have investigated the cropping pattern for a specific crop based on production amount, but there is no study that broadly investigated the cropping pattern based on harvested acres for this region. So, it is important for policy purposes to investigate the spatiotemporal change of cropping patterns in this region. The main objective of this research is to visualize the historical change of cropping patterns in the Texas High Plains from the standpoint of geographical concentration and spatial autocorrelation.
Historical county-level agricultural census data were collected from the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistical Services (NASS) from 1978 to 2017. Exploratory data analysis (EDA) techniques were employed
to examine the geographical concentration and the spatial dependence of crop production among nearby locations.
Results of temporal changes indicate that harvested acres and the number of farms trend down through the study period. Maps were generated for each variable of interest which shows how much cropland acres have changed over time. The Gini coefficient and the quantiles of size distributions were computed for all variables of interest to analyze the change in geographical distribution. Total harvested cropland acres were nearly uniformly distributed across the 39 counties whereas irrigated harvested cropland acres were concentrated in a smaller number of counties, which is an indication of the change in geographical concentration in the Texas High Plains. Both total and irrigated harvested corn, cotton, sorghum grain, and wheat acreages were concentrated in a smaller number of counties over time while wheat production was mostly concentrated in the northern part of the region. The number of acres harvested for a specific crop relative to the number of total cropland acres show that most counties had more than 50 percent of its harvested cropland as cotton indicating that cotton is the prominent crop in the Texas High Plains. The percentage of acres of irrigated harvested cropland relative to total harvested cropland acreage has decreased over time. The Moran’s I test statistics for both irrigated and non-irrigated cropland areas suggest that there was spatial dependence among the neighboring counties in the production of crops in this region. In summary, there was a spatiotemporal change in cropping patterns in the Texas High Plains over the study period
Effect of Aspergillus Niger and Oryzae on the intake and digestibility of Coastal Bermudagrass and Tiffany hay in horses
No full textThe objective of this study was to compare voluntary dry matter intake and nutrient digestibility of Tiffany (T) and Coastal Bermudagrass (B) hays, and evaluate the effect of a functional feed additive containing a dried Aspergillus Niger and Aspergillus Oryzae fermentation product, MaxFiber (MF; Provida Supplements, Germany. Fecal samples were collected from 4 mature, stock type geldings in a 4 x 4 Latin Square design experiment with horses receiving all 4 treatments in a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement: B, T, B plus 10 g of MF (B+MF), and T plus 10 g MF (T+MF). Each period consisted of a 3-d acclimation, followed by a 17-d voluntary intake phase, and ending with a 72-h total fecal collection. Samples were analyzed for ash adjusted neutral detergent fiber (aNDFom; Dairyland Laboratories, Inc. Arcadia, WI) and proximate analysis (Servi-Tech Laboratories, Amarillo, TX). Data was analyzed using the Mixed Procedure of SAS v. 9.4 (SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, NC), with horse, period, hay, supplement, and hay by supplement interaction as main effects. Least Squares Means were compared using PDIFF in SAS to compare treatment mean with significance declared at P < 0.05 and trends declared at P < 0.10.
The overall apparent dry matter (DM) digestibility of T (53.2%) was greater (P < 0.01) than that of B (35.9%) regardless of the supplement inclusion. There was an effect of hay (P < 0.001) on overall mean apparent CP digestibility with T (75.9%) being greater (P < 0.001) than B (45.7%) regardless of supplement. There was a significant
effect hay (P = 0.01) on overall mean aNDFom. Digestibility of aNDFom was greater (P < 0.01) for T (54.0%) compared to B (41.0%). There was an effect of hay (P < 0.01) on overall acid detergent fiber (ADF) digestibility. Overall ADF digestibility was greater (P < 0.01) for T (46.0%) compared to B (30.2%). There was an effect of hay (P < 0.001) on VDMI, with intake levels of T (10.9 kg/d) greater (P < 0.001) than intakes of B (8.5 kg/d). These results indicate that there were no significant differences in DM and nutrient digestibilities or VDMI for MF-treated horses, however, Tiffany hay had greater VDMI, DM, CP, NDF, and ADF digestibility
MORPHOLOGICAL SIGNATURES OF HYBRIDIZATION BETWEEN THE ENDEMIC ENDANGERED PECOS GAMBUSIA (GAMBUSIA NOBILIS) AND INVASIVE GAMBUSIA SPP. AT BITTER LAKE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, NEW MEXICO
No full textFishes of the southwestern United States are among the most imperiled fishes in the world. Of the risks that these fishes face, extinction through hybridization is potent and is often facilitated by human activities. For example, native fish species may hybridize with closely related, introduced congeners. Moreover, these hybridization events are often difficult to detect and even more so among small, cryptic species. I attempt to identify and quantify the sites and extent of hybridization between the native Gambusia nobilis and introduced Gambusia affinis or Gambusia geiseri at Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Chaves Co., New Mexico, U.S.A., as well as identifying any possible barriers to fish movement on the property. This was done through studying the range of variability of morphological characteristics within populations and salinity throughout different wetlands at Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge. Morphology suggestive of invasive or hybrid Gambusia populations were found at sites in the southern portion of the property. The morphology of fish sampled from bitter creek and sinkholes were more indicative of G. nobilis and showed less variability in morphology relative to southern sampling sites. Bitter Lake, with a salinity 2.3 times that of seawater, may be halting the progress of invasive Gambusia spp. northward through the property
On the Existence of Stable Equilibria in Monotone Games
Get PDFThis paper shows that under very general conditions, there exists a locally stable Nash equilibrium in games of strategic complements (GSC), as well as in the more general case of games with non-decreasing best response correspondences. While it is well known that in such cases a unique equilibrium is globally stable, no equilibrium can be globally stable when multiple equilibria exist. However, the existence of a locally stable equilibrium remains an open question, as we give examples of GSC in which no stable equilibrium exists. One main advantage of our approach is that our results can be derived simply by exploiting the monotonicity properties of the game, and do not require any differentiability assumptions. Results on equilibrium refinement follow as a corollary under slightly stronger assumptions, in the sense that games with two equilibria possess exactly one locally stable equilibrium
More “likes” or no “likes”? An Online Experiment Evaluating the Effects of Secondary Cues on the Perceived Source Credibility of Corrective Messages
Get PDFAdopting an experimental design, this study examined the combined effects of tweet popularity data, profile image type, and need for cognition (NFC) on individuals’ perceived source credibility (PSC) of corrective messages. Three major findings were identified. First, PSC is positively associated with perceived message effectiveness and intentions to retweet a corrective message. Second, NFC moderates the effects of popularity data on PSC, such that high NFC individuals perceived tweets without popularity data to be most credible while low NFC individuals considered tweets with high popularity data most credible. Finally, in the high NFC group, a combination of a medical logo profile image and no tweet popularity data resulted in the highest PSC, and in the low NFC group, a combination of a real person profile image and high popularity data condition resulted in the highest PSC.The project is supported by the WTAMU Foundation Development Grant (grant code: S20-10)
GRAZING PATTERNS, DIET QUALITY, AND PERFORMANCE OF COW- CALF PAIRS GRAZING SHORT GRASS PRAIRIE USING CONTINUOUS OR HIGH STOCKING DENSITY GRAZING STRATEGIES
Get PDFTwo experiments were performed at the WTAMU Nance Ranch (Canyon, TX) to compare different grazing strategies. The first measured differences in intensity of defoliation among species when cattle were allotted the same mean daily herbage allowance but with different stocking densities and grazing period lengths on reclaimed farmland dominated by old world bluestem (Bothriocloa ischaemum L.). Eighty-seven cows were randomly assigned to four treatment herds from January 12 – February 13, 2018. Fifty-nine mature cows (567 kg ± 10.8 kg, std. dev.) were stocked to achieve a target mean daily herbage allowance of 68 kg standing biomass . hd-1 . day-1 for the grazing period allotted among four replicates of the continuous grazing treatment. Another 28 cows received the same daily herbage allowance, but moved daily in small paddocks among four replicates, consecutively. Paddock size was determined each day by standing biomass in the area to be used to achieve an herbage allowance of 68 kg standing biomass . hd-1 . day-1. Botanical composition of standing herbage was measured before and after completion of the study in order to measure herbage disappearance by species. At the end of the grazing season, a nearest-plant step point transect was used to measure severity of defoliation by species between treatments. Total standing herbage at the beginning and end of the grazing season was not different (p>0.05) between treatments. Neither herbage removal nor proportional weight remaining were different (p>0.05) between treatments for any species measured. The before and after index (BAI) was used to estimate the relative change in standing biomass (BAIweight) or composition (BAIcomp) by weight for individual species in the plant community. Neither BAIweight nor BAIcomp were different between treatments for any species measured. Proportional utilization index (PUI) was developed to evaluate differences in utilization among species comprising different proportions of the plant community among replicates. The only difference in PUI from the expected (even defoliation severity between species and treatment) was observed in minor species.
The objectives of the second study were to: 1) measure differences in diet quality using fecal near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy and performance of cow-calf pairs; and 2) quantify and compare vegetation defoliation and regrowth patterns on native rangeland in the Texas Panhandle when cattle were managed using continuous or rotational grazing employing weekly moves at the same stocking rate and intensity. Eighty lactating cow-calf pairs were weighed and assigned to two treatment groups among six native shortgrass-dominated rangeland pastures dominated by blue grama (Chondrosum gracilis Willd.), and gummy lovegrass (Eragrostis curtipedicellata Buckley). Botanical composition was measured before the study began to measure standing biomass by species, and after completion of the study in order to measure biomass disappearance by species. Grazing distribution was measured using point transects out to 386 meters from the water tank. Fecal near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (F.NIR) was used to compare differences in diet quality between HSD and CG treatments. Weights of cows and calves and average daily gain were recorded and compared between treatments. Cattle in the CG treatment maintained higher (p<0.05) mean dietary DOM and CP levels, but there were no significant differences in any measure of individual performance between treatments. Major species (blue grama and gummy lovegrass) exhibited no significant differences in TDN and CP levels between treatments. Total defoliation intensity at the end of the grazing season was different (p<0.05) between treatments in periods 1, 5, 6, and 7. Standing biomass of gummy lovegrass was lower (p<0.05) at the end of the grazing season in HSD than CG. Standing biomass and composition of cool season annual grasses were lower (p<0.05) at the end of the grazing season in CG than HSD