Attack and Parry: An Examination of Gubernatorial Rhetoric and Agenda Setting for Higher Education in Texas, 2000-2015

This paper applies political discourse analysis to an examination of gubernatorial rhetoric and agenda setting around higher education in Texas during Governor Rick Perry’s leadership, from 2000-2015. The authors analyzed 28 gubernatorial speeches using manifest content analysis in STATA and qualitative coding via pattern matching in Atlas.ti. Findings reveal that Governor Rick Perry: 1) framed the higher education agenda around reform strategies to increase accountability, efficiency, and affordability; 2) functioned as both an agenda setter and policy entrepreneur; and 3) primed constituents to support his agenda by positioning higher education as a workforce development mechanism and invoking Texas’s tradition of leadership and competitiveness.Educatio

A temnospondyl trackway from the early mesozoic of Western gondwana and its implications for Basal tetrapod locomotion

BACKGROUND: Temnospondyls are one of the earliest radiations of limbed vertebrates. Skeletal remains of more than 190 genera have been identified from late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic rocks. Paleozoic temnospondyls comprise mainly small to medium sized forms of diverse habits ranging from fully aquatic to fully terrestrial. Accordingly, their ichnological record includes tracks described from many Laurasian localities. Mesozoic temnospondyls, in contrast, include mostly medium to large aquatic or semi-aquatic forms. Exceedingly few fossil tracks or trackways have been attributed to Mesozoic temnospondyls, and as a consequence very little is known of their locomotor capabilities on land. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We report a ca. 200 Ma trackway, Episcopopus ventrosus , from Lesotho, southern Africa that was made by a 3.5 m-long animal. This relatively long trackway records the trackmaker dragging its body along a wet substrate using only the tips of its digits, which in the manus left characteristic drag marks. Based on detailed mapping, casting, and laser scanning of the best-preserved part of the trackway, we identified synapomorphies (e.g., tetradactyl manus, pentadactyl pes) and symplesiomorphies (e.g., absence of claws) in the Episcopopus trackway that indicate a temnospondyl trackmaker. Conclusions/Significance Our analysis shows that the Episcopopus trackmaker progressed with a sprawling posture, using a lateral-sequence walk. Its forelimbs were the major propulsive elements and there was little lateral bending of the trunk. We suggest this locomotor style, which differs dramatically from the hindlimb-driven locomotion of salamanders and other extant terrestrial tetrapods can be explained by the forwardly shifted center of mass resulting from the relatively large heads and heavily pectoral girdles of temnospondyls

Léxico Estratigráfico de la Argentina. Volúmen VIII. Triásico

Fil: Stipanicic, P.N. Comité Argentino de Estratigrafía. Subcomisión del Triásico; Argentina.Fil: Marsicano, C.A. Comité Argentino de Estratigrafía. Subcomisión del Triásico; Argentina.Se escaneó la portada y las primeras páginas de este trabajo, adjuntándolas al trabajo digital, ya que las mismas estaban faltantes.Este trabajo fue publicado por la Asociación Geológica Argentina, y forma parte de una de sus colecciones. Desde el repositorio institucional del SEGEMAR tan solo se le da difusión y acceso, respetando la autoría del trabajo.El Léxico Estratigráfico de la Argentina debió formar parte del Léxico Estratigráfico Internacional, obra que comenzó a publicar la Comisión Internacional de Estratigrafía a partir de la década del 50. Causas de diversa índole impidieron concretar tal participación, pero el material que se reunió comenzó a ser editado en el año 1976 por el Servicio Geológico Nacional, en una publicación especial que se tituló "Léxico Estratigráfico de la República Argentina", que incluyó unidades estratigráficas ordenadas alfabéticamente desde la "A" a la "Ch". A posteriori, el Comité Argentino de Estratigrafía decidió que resultaba de fundamental interés el concretar la totalidad de la obra, a los efectos de tender a normalizar la compleja nomenclatura existente en el país, por lo general no regida por códigos ad hoc. Para su organización, se siguió un criterio estratigráfico, más adecuado a la estructura del Comité y de más fácil utilización tanto por los especialistas como por los geólogos y paleontólogos que se vinculan a estos temas. De _acuerdo a dicho criterio, el Léxico Estratigráfico de la Argéntina debería incluir los siguientes volúmenes: I. Precámbrico, II. Cámbrico, III. Ordovícico, IV. Silúrico, V. Devónico, VI. Carbonífero, VII. Pérmico, VIII. Triásico, IX. Jurásico, X. Cretácico, XI. Paleógeno, XII. Neógeno, XIII. Cuaternario. Al igual que en el Léxico Estratigráfico Internacional el orden de publicación del Léxico Estratigráfico de la Argentina no necesariamente será el expuesto, pues las diferentes partes se publicarán a medida que se completen. En 1993 se editó la primera entrega, correspondiente al Volumen IX. JURÁSICO, de la programación citada. A la fecha, se da a conocer otra entrega de tal Léxico, correspondiente al Sistema TRIÁSICO. El esquema que se adoptó para la presentación del Léxico Estratigráfico de la Argentina se adecuó a las normas que se emplearon en el Léxico Estratigráfico Internacional. Las Escalas del Tiempo Geológico se irán actualizando de acuerdo a las que recomienden sucesivamente la Unión Internacional de Ciencias Geológicas, aunque para el caso local, a veces deba procederse a ciertas adecuaciones, de acuerdo con parámetros y datos que se registran en el territorio argentino

The role of tetrapod trace fossils in continental ichnofacies models

The ichnofacies model provides the main framework to understand the paleoenvironmental significance of trace fossils. Traditionally focused on invertebrate trace fossil, the ichnofacies model has only recently expanded to include tetrapod footprints. The purpose of this work is to discuss the role of tetrapod footprints in the development of continental ichnofacies models, as well as in the reconstruction of sedimentary paleoenvironments. An integrative perspective was employed to tackle this problem, taking into account depositional environments, as well as tetrapod and invertebrate trace-fossil data. The case studies that constitute the empiric base of this research project are based on trace-fossil associations studied in different lithostratigraphic units of Argentina, complemented with other ichnologic associations reported elsewhere. Proposed models on tetrapod ichnofacies have established a relationship between fossil footprint associations and sedimentary paleoenvironments, but no insight on the controlling environmental parameters has been provided. However, available data suggest that the distribution of tetrapod footprints and invertebrate trace fossils are not controlled by the same paleoenvironmental factors. Contrary to local environmental parameters involved in the distribution of invertebrate trace fossils, the distribution of tetrapod trace fossils in terrestrial environments seems to be more related to key environmental regional-scale parameters, such as climate and resource availability.Simposio IV: Icnología: su aporte en interpretaciones paleoecológicas y paleobiológicasFacultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse