Incentive Payments for Planting Upland Bird Habitat Field Borders in Tennessee

Crop yields along field perimeters that are adjacent to trees and other tall-herbaceous are known to have the lowest yields in a field. An alternative use of these areas that might be more profitable and sustainable is to remove the land from crop production and enroll these areas into the upland bird habitat (UBH) buffer program. However, the adoption of UBH buffers have been limited by producers, despite being eligible for receiving an incentive payment for adopting UBH buffers. Therefore, the objective of this thesis was to determine the breakeven incentive payment for corn [Zea mays L.] and soybean [Glycine max L.] producers to convert field perimeters adjacent to tree lines into UBH buffers. Simulation models were established to find distributions of annualized incentive payments that would be required for Tennessee corn and soybean producers to adopt UBH buffers. The models were built using five years (2008-2012) of corn and soybean yield data from 69 West Tennessee fields. Enterprise budgets for establishing switchgrass [Panicum virgatum L.], big bluestem grass [Andropogon gerardi L.], and indiangrass [Sorghastrum nutans L.] UBH borders were developed and historical corn prices, soybean prices, and production costs were collected. The average incentive payment a corn producer would require to plant field borders next to trees with UBH buffers ranged from between $97-$109/acre, while soybean producers would require a payment between $169-$189/acre depending on the UBH species. Results are also presented when the current incentive payment levels are increased and decreased to determine how producers might respond to policy changes. The results may help inform state policy makers in determining if the current incentive payment is sufficient to influence Tennessee producers to replace tree lines into a UBH buffer

Effect of Forest Vegetation on Nest-Site Selection by Spruce Grouse Across Two Spatial Scales

The spruce grouse (Falcipennis canadensis) is a gallinaceous bird that is threatened or endangered throughout much of the southeastern limit of its range. Generally associated with short-needled conifer forests like those characteristic of northern Maine, this species may be particularly sensitive to recent changes in timber harvesting practices. I examined nest-site selection to better understand spruce grouse habitat associations in northern Maine. In the summer of 2013, I located the nests of 12 female spruce grouse in commercially-managed forests of north-central Maine. I measured vegetation characteristics at nests and at sampling points 30 meters from nests, as well as points randomly distributed throughout the stand where a nest was located. I examined differences in characteristics at sites used for nesting and sites available across within-patch and patch-scales. Logistic regression revealed that at within-patch scale, sites with higher lateral cover were selected for nesting. At the patch-scale, lower tree density and lower basal area of live trees, but higher lateral cover and greater recess height were associated with sites selected for nesting. These scale-dependent differences suggest that high concealment is selected by nesting hens, but that small forest-gap structure is also selected for by hens in the stand surrounding their nest. My results indicate that nesting spruce grouse select for gaps within dense forest structure which provide a combination of nest-level lateral cover, overhead canopy cover, and nearby trees for escape cover by adults

Relation of Swine Industrial Livestock Operation Air Emissions Exposures to Sleep Duration and Time Outdoors in Residential Host Communities

Residents of communities hosting swine industrial livestock operations (ILOs) in North Carolina are exposed to mixtures of air pollutants originating from animal confinements, waste lagoons, and waste spray-field systems. To add to the understanding of swine ILO impacts on nearby community residents, I estimated the impact of swine ILO air emissions on sleep and time outdoors. These outcomes have not been formally assessed using epidemiologic methods, but are important components of quality-of-life, have implications for health and disease, and have been raised as concerns by community members. Acute exposure effects on sleep and time outdoors were estimated by applying discrete-time hazard models to data collected in the Community Health Effects of Industrial Hog Operations (CHEIHO) study. CHEIHO was a community-based, participatory research study that coupled continuous monitoring of pollutant plume markers with twice-daily odor and activity diaries. Dynamic Bayesian network models were used to estimate the total chronic effect of exposures accounting for potential feedback between subsequent exposures and outcomes. Detectible swine ILO pollutants at night was associated with an average sleep deficit of approximately 15 minutes. Exposure to outdoor odors was associated with decreased odds of being outdoors during the following hour (OR 0.62, 95% interval 0.44 to 0.89). Dynamic models estimated that the total effects of exposures exceeded the expected total effect calculated by summing individual acute effects, suggesting the importance of a feedback mechanism. The results demonstrate measurable and important impacts of ILO air emissions on sleep and time outdoors among those living nearby. The modeling approaches used were robust to bias from factors that remained constant for each participant over the course of the study and to factors that varied with the time-of-day or the weather, suggesting a causal effect. Policy interventions to reduce community exposures to swine ILO emissions from lagoon-and-sprayfield systems could have positive impacts on public health in rural North Carolina communities.Doctor of Philosoph

What’s This Feeling? Understanding Elementary Music Performance Anxiety

The purpose of this study was a qualitative analysis of how elementary general music teachers adapt their instruction to meet the needs of elementary students with anxiety disorder in Virginia public schools. The phenomenological research design described the meaning of the shared experiences by students with performance anxiety. The participants for this research consist of elementary music teachers in central Virginia. Through a survey, phenomenological information was collected about how elementary music teachers teach students with anxiety disorder. Data was collected through a survey of elementary school music teachers in central Virginia. This qualitative study employed thematic coding to look for the relationship between past data and current survey results. The study results directly correlated with prior research and the participants\u27 survey answers. Conclusions that were drawn from this research are that music performance anxiety is a mental health phenomenon that many music teachers in Virginia lack proper training to handle the symptoms resulting from students who experience music performance anxiety. Recommendations for future research include utilizing follow-up surveys or interviews to explain why the participants chose the answers that they did and analyzing music performance anxiety research with other areas of the United States to look for correlations between music performance anxiety resources in Virginia compared with the rest of the United States of America

The Hunt for the Rest of the Higgs Bosons

We assess the current state of searches at the LHC for additional Higgs bosons in light of both direct limits and indirect bounds coming from coupling measurements of the Standard Model-like Higgs boson. Given current constraints, we identify and study three LHC searches that are critical components of a comprehensive program to investigate extended electroweak symmetry breaking sectors: production of a heavy scalar or pseudoscalar with decay to $t \bar t$; $b \bar b$ and $t \bar t$ associated production of a heavy scalar or pseudoscalar with decay to invisible final states; and $t \bar b$ associated production of a charged Higgs with decay to $\bar t b$. Systematic experimental searches in these channels would contribute to robust coverage of the possible single production modes of additional heavy Higgs bosons.Comment: 44 pp., 23 fi