Compounding evidence suggests a current or impending sixth mass extinction event and pollinator crisis. While several factors contribute to pollinator declines, the most notable driver is habitat loss and degradation. Agricultural grasslands provide crucial habitat for wild and domesticated fauna, regulate water and nutrient cycles, store carbon, and maintain soil stabilization. However, conventional tall fescue pastures, which dominate the southeastern United States, limit pollinator habitat, reduce ecosystem services, and diminish cattle productivity if infected with toxic endophytes. Establishing wildflowers (WFs) and native warm season grasses (NWSGs) into tall fescue pastures has the potential to boost both pollinator ecosystem services and cattle productivity. This study monitored the differences in honey bee colony health, productivity, and pollen foraging behavior between diversified and conventional grazing pastures in south west Virginia. Chapter 1 sought to evaluate the health and productivity of hives within NWSGW+ diversified and conventional grazing systems. Chapter 2 sought to 1) determine whether honey bees used sown wildflower species in diversified pastures as significant sources of pollen, 2) compare species composition and nutritive value of pollen collected from hives within diversified and conventional pasture systems, and 3) evaluate temporal trends in pollen collection. Floral surveys revealed diversified pastures had almost 4x greater mean bloom density than conventional pastures, with over half of all blooms recorded in diversified pastures belonging to unsown species. Results from this study suggest that colonies in diversified pasture systems may have a slight advantage in population resource acquisition, population growth, and winter survival following the first year of establishment, though further research is needed. Pollen DNA metabarcoding revealed that honey bees in both diversified and conventional pasture systems have similar diets, and that sown species were foraged upon primarily in the fall. Samples collected from diversified pasture systems yielded greater pollen weight, species richness, and protein content. In conjunction with previous research, these results indicate that diversified pastures could ultimately provide a more complex nutritional support system for pollinators in grazing agroecosystems. However, individual pasture renovation may not be large enough to yield statistically significant differences in honey bee colony success. / Master of Science / Many studies have suggested that we are currently experiencing or entering a sixth mass extinction event and pollinator crisis. While several factors contribute to pollinator declines, the most notable driver is habitat loss and degradation. Agricultural grasslands provide crucial habitat, regulate water and nutrient cycles, store carbon, and maintain soil stabilization. However, conventional tall fescue pastures, which dominate the southeastern United States, limit pollinator habitat, reduce ecosystem services, and can diminish cattle productivity. Establishing wildflowers (WFs) and native warm season grasses (NWSGs) into tall fescue pastures has the potential to boost both pollinator and cattle health and productivity. This study monitored the differences in honey bee colony health, productivity, and pollen foraging behavior between pastures diversified with WFs and NWSGs and conventional grazing pastures in south west Virginia. Chapter 1 evaluated the health and productivity of hives within diversified and conventional grazing systems. Chapter 2 sought to 1) determine whether honey bees used sown wildflower species in diversified pastures as significant sources of pollen, 2) compare species types and value of pollen collected from hives within diversified and conventional pasture systems, and 3) evaluate temporal trends in pollen collection. Floral surveys revealed diversified pastures had almost 4x greater mean bloom density than conventional pastures, with over half of all blooms recorded in diversified pastures belonging to species we didn't purposefully plant. Results from this study suggest that honey bee colonies in diversified pasture systems may have a slight advantage in resource acquisition, population growth, and winter survival following the first year of establishment, though further research is needed. A Pollen DNA analysis revealed that honey bees in both diversified and conventional pasture systems have similar diets, and that they collected pollen and nectar from the flowers we planted primarily in the fall. Honey bee colonies in diversified pastures collected more protein-rich pollen from a wider variety of flowers. These results indicate that diversified pastures could ultimately provide a more complex nutritional support system for pollinators in grazing agroecosystems. However, individual pasture renovation may not be large enough to yield large differences in honey bee colony success.

The purposes of this study were to (a) establish a profile of the current training practices of selected businesses and industries in Southwest Virginia; (b) identify the type of training methods these companies are choosing -- such as traditional classroom training or web-based training programs, and (c) identify how the training methods are selected. This profile established baseline data for current business and industry employee training programs. The population of this study included every business and industry that had participated in workforce development programs provided by community colleges located in the southwest region of Virginia in 2001 and 2002. The researcher developed an Internet-based survey instrument and solicited data from 205 organizations. Descriptive analyses were used to organize, summarize, and describe the data collected from all participants; specifically frequencies of responses to individual survey items were reported. Of the 205 organizations surveyed, 88 returned a questionnaire giving an overall response rate of 42.9%. The results showed that manufacturing was the most represented industry, most participants held a management position, and most worked in the human resources department. The majority of businesses expected some type of increase in their training programs within the next year. Nearly all indicated that they use classroom-based training programs, and a substantial number indicated using videotapes, self-study materials, computer software or CD-ROMS, and web-based training methods. Many of the participants said that they offer training for skill development in the areas of computer applications, technical skills and knowledge, communication skills, and safety procedures. Lastly, cost, flexibility, perceived value, and timeliness of the program were criteria rated as most influential in the decision to use a particular training method. / Ph. D.

Racing Fire to the River is a novella about a poverty-stricken community in the Southwest navigating hardship, violence, and the tantalizing mania of an unclaimed lottery ticket jackpot.

Osteopathic Manipulative Therapy (OMT) is underutilized in addressing lung function and symptoms in asthma patients. The objective of this study was to determine if a single session of OMT can improve lung function and symptoms in patients suffering from asthma, and if patients can be taught a self-administered home OMT protocol to control their symptoms, in order to develop a protocol by which physicians can apply OMT to address lung disease in patients. This was a purposive randomized controlled quasi-experimental study which took place in family practice, pulmonology, and asthma specialist offices in southwest Virginia. The intervention was a ten-minute semi-individualized OMT protocol and a self administered home OMT education session. Variable baseline, within-subject study design was utilized, allowing each person to serve as his or her own control. Pre and posttest measurements included: participant spirometry FEV1, FVC, and PEF; thoracic excursion upper and lower rib cage motion; and a five-question rating scale to determine current asthma symptoms. A ten-minute OMT session included an individualized thoracic and rib screening and treatment, suboccipital release, diaphragm release, and thoracic pump. Comparison between pre- and post-OMT lung function and symptoms portrayed change. For the second part of the study, the participants were divided into two groups with group two receiving a ten-minute home OMT education session and a handout of the home OMT techniques. All participants returned two weeks later for a follow up lung function assessment. Statistically significant (p<.05) improvements after initial OMT were documented for 8 of 10 measurements. Only two spirometry values, FEV1 and PEF, did not significantly improve. The group who participated in the home OMT education session had statistically significant improvements in 3 of 10 measurements, including the upper and lower thoracic excursion measurements and the overall asthma symptoms rating. With a simple, easy to repeat, 10 minute semi-individualized OMT session, researchers demonstrated improved lung function and symptoms in this group of participants in Southwest Virginia. The addition of a home OMT education session was demonstrated to be at least partially beneficial. Future studies should expand on this pilot study with the researchers recommending using a larger patient population including patients with lower pre-treatment spirometry values in order to accurately monitor potential for change. / Ph. D.

In the Middle Ordovician strata of southwestern Virginia, a distinctive succession of yellow-drab and gray mudstones, shales, and limestones occurs between the overlying Martinsburg formation and the underlying red Moccasin formation. For many years, part of this succession was classified with the Martinsburg formation and part with the Moccasin formation. This practice could not be condemned on faunal grounds because the fauna of the sequence between the Moccasin and Martinsburg is so sparse and equivocal in general character. Altered volcanic ash beds which are especially characteristic of the succession range as low as the middle part of the Moccasin formation and are also present in the lower Martinsburg formation. Mathews (1934, p.48) proposed the name, Eggleston, and defined it to include the relatively unfossiliferous transitional beds and intercalated bentonites younger than the upper maroon Moccasin formation and older than the Trenton beds of the lower Martinsburg formation in Giles County, Virginia. Until the present study was undertaken, few detailed studies of the Eggleston, as a separate unit, had been made. The almost barren beds had drama little or no interest from the paleontologist. The intercalated bentonites were studied, only as a part of the Moccasin-Martinsburg succession, and an attempt was made to correlate these related beds with similar beds in other localities. The name, Eggleston, has been accepted and is used in much of the literature published since 1935 but no attempt has been made to correlate the entire succession of beds lying between the Moccasin and Martinsburg formations with similar succession throughout southwestern Virginia. The writer has made a detailed study of this succession between New River and the Tennessee line to determine the relationship of faunas to the intercalated bentonites, and to correlate the beds of the succession with those at other localities in southwestern Virginia. / Master of Science

This thesis examines the ill-fated Texan Santa Fe Expedition of 1841 to analyze the state of a lucrative market network in the Southwest. Cut off from Santa Fe, the hub of the network, Texas struggled economically as an independent nation. Commercially isolated and dealing with near- worthless paper money, Texans hoped that trade with the people of Santa Fe would divert wealth into their nation. To justify the expedition, Anglo-Texans used the rhetoric of Manifest Destiny and turned the trek into a liberation mission. Moreover, Texans desired an overland route to Santa Fe to attract merchants to their otherwise inactive ports. Texans invested much into the expedition both economically and culturally; however, the Texan Santa Fe Expedition ended in utter failure and convinced many Texans that annexation to the United States was the wiser path to take. / Master of Arts

Using a transactional model of reading and writing, the dissertation discusses rhetorical aspects of the experience and representation of the American desert. The dissertations extends recent nonfiction scholarship that claims nature writing as literature by focusing on seven major nonfiction works: Some Strange Corners of Our Country (1891), by Charles F. Lummis; The Desert (1901), by John C. Van Dyke; The Land of Little Rain (1903), by Mary Austin; The Desert Year (1952), by Joseph Wood Krutch; Desert Solitaire (1968), by Edward Abbey; Desert Notes (1976), by Barry Lopez; and Secrets from the Center of the World (1990), by Joy Harjo and Stephen Strom. The Desert, by John C. Van Dyke, is treated in depth, in terms of its use of aesthetic experience to argue for conservation and for a particular philosophy of nature. Van Dyke's establishes his rhetorical stance (including the creation of the narrator and appeals he makes to particular audiences) and initiates his aesthetic and scientific delineation of the subject in the preface to the book, which is studied in detail.

The purpose of this study was to determine if the successful aspects of alternative schools aimed at retaining potential high school dropouts could be conducted in the traditional school setting with similar results. The study explored the effect of career education, individual counseling and weekly progress monitoring on how long potential high school dropouts will remain in school. The experimental hypotheses were focused around the following research problems. The first question was "Does the combination of career education, individual counseling and weekly progress monitoring have a more significant effect than weekly counseling and weekly progress monitoring or just weekly monitoring." The second research question asked, "Do the previous methods of intervention significantly effect how many classes students complete." The third question was "Does career education have a more significant effect on females." The fourth question was "Does career education have a more significant effect on Mexican-American males." The research design included three groups of potential high school dropouts who were randomly assigned to three treatment levels. There were two experimental groups and one control group. The first group participated in a career education class, weekly counseling and weekly progress monitoring. The second group participated in weekly counseling and weekly progress monitoring and the control group participated in weekly progress monitoring. The dependent measures were number of days students remained in school, number of classes they were enrolled in at the end of the semester or when they withdrew and the percentage of students in each group that completed the semester. Results of an analysis of variance and Chi Square analysis revealed that career education did significantly effect retention of potential dropouts. Results of t-tests revealed that career education did not significantly increase retention of females or Mexican-American males.

The language of regulations implementing the 1977 Clean Air Act Amendments distinguishes between humanly detectable visibility impairment in Class I Parks and Wilderness areas and the extent to which such impairment adversely affects a park visitor's visual experience. Two lines of environmental perception research have arisen from this distinction, one emphasizing the detectability of visibility impairment, and the other emphasizing a park visitor's experience. This study attempts to deal with issues relevant to both lines of research. Subjects were shown color slides depicting varying levels of visibility in Class I Parks and Wilderness areas under four treatment conditions. A sensitivity gradient emerged from these conditions: Subjects who rated repeated versions of selected vistas for visual air quality were most sensitive to changes in visibility, while subjects who rated a random series of scenes for scenic beauty were least sensitive. Other variables (i.e., scattering angle, and the particular vista being viewed) also proved to have substantial influence on perceptual ratings.

The effects of planting date were evaluated on field establishment and flowering of ten southwestern wildflower species combined in a mix. Species tested include Baileya multiradiata, Castilleja lanata, Eschscholtzia californica, Eschscholtzia mexicana, Gaillardia pulchellum, Lesquerella gordonii, Lupinus sparsiflorus, Orthocarpus purpurascens, Penstemon eatonii, and Phacelia campanularia. Seeds of all species were combined in a mix and directly seeded into field plots. All species are native to the southwestern deserts of the United States. Treatments consisted of five planting dates, starting September 30, 1987 and continuing through November 30, 1987, with treatments planted at two week intervals during the ten week period. There were significant differences in both plant stand and flowering between planting dates. The October 15 planting had the optimum plant stand with regard to the largest spectrum of species represented by desirable numbers. Flowering was most pronounced in the September 30 and October 15 plantings.