Power analysis for detecting trends in juvenile spotted seatrout abundance in Florida Bay

The spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus) is considered a key species relative to the implementation of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). One of the goals of the CERP is to increase freshwater flows to Florida Bay. Increased freshwater flows can have potential positive and negative impacts on spotted seatrout populations. At low salinities, the planktonic eggs of spotted seatrout sink to the bottom and are not viable (Alshuth and Gilmore, 1994; Holt and Holt, 2002). On the other hand, increased freshwater flows can alleviate hypersaline conditions that could result in an expansion of the distribution of the early life stages of spotted seatrout (Thayer et al., 1999; Florida Department of Environmental Protection1). Thus it would be useful to develop a monitoring program that can detect changes in seatrout abundance on time scales short enough to be useful to resource managers. The NOAA Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research (NOAA) has made sporadic collections of juvenile seatrout using otter trawls since 1984 (see Powell et al, 2004). The results suggest that it might be useful to sample for seatrout in as many as eight different areas or basins (Figure 1): Bradley Key, Sandy Key, Johnson Key, Palm Key, Snake Bight, Central, Whipray and Crocodile Dragover. Unfortunately, logistical constraints are likely to limit the number of tows to about 40 per month over a period of six months each year. Inasmuch as few seatrout are caught in any given tow and the proportion of tows with zero seatrout is often high, it is important to determine how best to allocate this limited sampling effort among the various basins so that any trends in abundance may be detected with sufficient statistical confidence. (PDF contains 16 pages

Defying Mandatory Motherhood: The Social Experiences Of Childfree Women

Research suggests motherhood is central to a woman\u27s adult identity. In 2000, however, almost twice as many women ages 40-44 were childless than in 1980. Scholarship points to the social, economic, and attitudinal factors shaping the dramatic increase in the number of childfree women, many of whom are white, educated beyond high school, and upper-middle class. This qualitative case study focuses on the growing social phenomenon of childfree women in the United States. Using in-depth interviews, I examine the reasons behind women\u27s decisions to remain childfree and the experiences of being childfree in their everyday lives. I focus on the meanings that women and the broader society place on women when they choose not to have children. This research contributes to the feminist literature on motherhood by examining an understudied phenomenon of childfree women who occupy a stigmatized identity in a generally pronatalist society

King Tutankhamun: Bringing Egyptian Culture to America

A review of the impact of three different tours of artifacts from the burial chamber of King Tutankhamun on American culture and knowledge of ancient Egypt

Cultivating Identity, Sowing Relationships, Fertilizing Success, and Harvesting Coexistence: Understanding Oklahoma Producer Identity and Relationships

The USDA has identified coexistence, or producers growing food in a variety of ways (conventionally, organic, etc.) in a harmonious manner as a critical challenge and high priority. Despite this call for coexistence and assurance of mutual success, agricultural sectors often have conflicts. Both sides of the niche and mainstream rift tend to pick and choose radical examples of problematic practices to portray the opposition. Producers, more so than most other occupations, have a deeply entrenched occupational identity. Many studies focused on the need for relationships between agricultural producers and the public. No work has been found to understand how producers from different sectors of agriculture view one another. This study sought to understand producers’ identities and the relationships producers have with one another. Results indicate the occupation of farming, family ties, connection and duty to the land, hard work and pride defines producers’ identities. When defining a “good farmer,” producers cited innovation and efficiency, farm succession, passion and joy, and profits as markers of success. The relationships between producers varied. Overall, producers respected other producers enough to make their own choices concerning production. Social media was often mentioned when producers talked about how they communicate with one another

Examining the Social Properties of Oklahoma Agricultural Facebook Pages: A Quantitative Content Analysis

Social media is used by millions of people in the United States, and producers are often encouraged to maintain a social media presence to promote their businesses and agriculture in general. Farmers have deeply entrenched identities. Social identity theory states people self-sort into certain groups. Social comparison and positive distinction are two principles of social identity theory. There is a need to research how agricultural operations are portraying those identities, including how they portray the identities of dissimilar agricultural operations online. This study compared Oklahoma mainstream and alternative producers in a quantitative content analysis of their Facebook pages. The following objectives guided this study: 1) Describe the agricultural operations in Oklahoma present on Facebook, 2. Describe the Facebook presence of agricultural operations in Oklahoma, 3) Describe operations’ expression of social-identity via Facebook, and 4) Compare the communication of alternative and mainstream agricultural operations in Oklahoma. Results of this study indicate that overall agricultural operations do not post frequently. While operations were likely to use positive distinctions to distinguish products from others, they were not likely to use social comparison. Moreover, there were not major differences between mainstream and alternative producers. Qualitative research exploring producers’ sense of identity would be valuable. Future studies should also explore the personal pages of agricultural producers, how producers use other social media outlets, and how the results of this study compare to other states’ producers

Coauthor Network Analysis of Journal of Applied Communications Articles from 2008-2017

Coauthorship networks offer a glimpse of collaborations within a discipline, illustrating the social networks that enable users to leverage more resources than they could on their own. This study used relational bibliometric data from the last 10 years of the Journal of Applied Communications (JAC) to create a social network analysis. The following research objectives guided this study: 1) Describe authorship, category (i.e., research article, commentary, book review), and number of JAC papers published from 2008 to 2017, 2) Describe the coauthor network characteristics of JAC papers, and 3) Describe the relationship between publication frequency and social network characteristics of authors. Results showed the majority of articles published in JAC were research articles and written by more than one author. Typically, authors who were well connected in the network were those who collaborated with other faculty at their own institution and continued to collaborate with graduate school classmates after graduation. Based on the results, recommendations to broaden connections in agricultural communications included increasing collaborations based on research interests, as opposed to geographic proximity and past working relationships to increase connections across the agricultural communications discipline

How Agritourism Operators Make Marketing and Promotion Decisions

Agritourism operators in Oklahoma were interviewed to determine how they make promotional decisions. Three themes were found from the interviews. The first was Educated Guessing. Participants were not formally trained in promoting agritourism operations, but they used their past experiences and the resources available to them to make decisions. The second theme was Facebook First. All 10 operations in this interview used Facebook as their primary marketing method based on positive experiences with the site as a promotional tool, followed by other options, such as websites. The third theme was More of the Same. The participants mostly intended to keep doing what they were already doing and were hesitant to make changes. Even those who wanted to make changes often just wanted to improve what they were already doing. It is recommended that new agritourism operations focus their initial marketing approach on Facebook due to low cost and high reach, while other options can be considered later to meet the operation’s needs. Organizations that help agritourism operators should be mindful of differing needs, so a one-size-fits-all approach is not appropriate

Friendships Moderate an Association between a Dopamine Gene Variant and Political Ideology

Scholars in many fields have long noted the importance of social context in the development of political ideology. Recent work suggests that political ideology also has a heritable component, but no specific gene variant or combination of variants associated with political ideology have so far been identified. Here, we hypothesize that individuals with a genetic predisposition toward seeking out new experiences will tend to be more liberal, but only if they are embedded in a social context that provides them with multiple points of view. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we test this hypothesis by investigating an association between self-reported political ideology and the 7R variant of the dopamine receptor D4 gene (DRD4), which has previously been associated with novelty seeking. Among those with DRD4-7R, we find that the number of friendships a person has in adolescence is significantly associated with liberal political ideology. Among those without the gene variant, there is no association. This is the first study to elaborate a specific gene-environment interaction that contributes to ideological self-identification, and it highlights the importance of incorporating both nature and nurture into the study of political preferences.Sociolog