Degree Level

The Effect of Group Counseling Experiences in a Didactic Classroom Setting on Selected Personality Variables and Counseling Effectiveness (open access)

The Effect of Group Counseling Experiences in a Didactic Classroom Setting on Selected Personality Variables and Counseling Effectiveness

The specific purposes of this study were to measure the changes in self-insight, dogmatic attitudes, Dominance and Change variables on the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule, and discrimination variables on the Carkhuff Discrimination Scale subsequent to personal group counseling experiences and their relationships to other measures believed to be indicative of counselor effectiveness.
Date: December 1971
Creator: Mitchell, Russell A., 1941-
System: The UNT Digital Library
Photo-induced Toxicity of Deepwater Horizon Spill Oil to Four Native Gulf of Mexico Species (open access)

Photo-induced Toxicity of Deepwater Horizon Spill Oil to Four Native Gulf of Mexico Species

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill resulted in the accidental release of millions of barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). Photo-induced toxicity following co-exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation is one mechanism by which polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from oil spills may exert toxicity. Blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) are an important commercial and ecological resource in the Gulf of Mexico and their largely transparent larvae may make them sensitive to PAH photo-induced toxicity. Mahi-mahi (Coryphaena hippurus), an important fishery resource, have positively buoyant, transparent eggs. These characteristics may result in mahi-mahi embryos being at particular risk from photo-induced toxicity. Red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) and speckled seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus) are both important fishery resources in the GoM. They spawn near-shore and produce positively buoyant embryos that hatch into larvae in about 24 h. The goal of this body of work was to determine whether exposure to UV as natural sunlight enhances the toxicity of crude oil to early lifestage GoM species. Larval and embryonic organisms were exposed to several dilutions of water accommodated fractions (WAF) from several different oils collected in the field under chain of custody during the 2010 spill and two to three gradations of natural …
Date: December 2015
Creator: Alloy, Matthew Michael
System: The UNT Digital Library

Alternative Information Processing Formats for Overcoming Information Processing Deficits in Senior Adults

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
The objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of alternative advertising presentation formats, and the quantity of information presented in advertisements in overcoming possible information-processing deficits in senior adults that could affect their recall of ad attributes and brand name, the cognitive responses generated, and attitude toward the ad. In addition, the study examined the effectiveness of retirement status as a classification or segmentation variable in comparison with the use of the more traditional classification variable, chronological age. A convenience sample of senior adult volunteers from church groups, social clubs, and civic organizations from the local area were randomly assigned to one of nine experimental conditions. The experiment utilized a simulated magazine to test the effects of presentation formats (3 levels), and quantity of information (3 levels) on senior adult's recall, cognitive responses and attitude toward the test ads. Covariates (gender, wealth, education, activity level, health, and income) were used to reduce variance. The findings clearly indicate that the presentation format of the can ad adversely affected the memory of some senior adults. In addition, the results were significantly different across the different age levels. Retirement status was less beneficial than chronological age in the current study, but …
Date: December 2000
Creator: Muller, Lynn F.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Multiple Dimensions of Fish Functional Traits, Trait Relationships, and Associations with Community Structure and Dynamics

Trait-based approaches are useful in ecological research because of their potential ability to predict species responses from patterns present in the community and to infer mechanisms driving community assembly. Current approaches for fishes are lacking traits across all five fundamental niche dimensions (i.e. habitat, life history, trophic, metabolic and defense). This study quantified a broad range of fish functional traits across all five niche dimensions (commonly used traits and novel traits), quantified intra- and interspecific variation for each trait, tested for relationships among traits within and among niche dimensions, tested for phylogenetic conservatism of traits and assessed trait-environment relationships for a subset of these traits under two different contexts. Approximately one third of the quantified traits exhibited greater intraspecific variation than interspecific variation and were not included in subsequent analyses. There were similarities between phylogeny and trait dendrograms for all traits, and habitat, metabolic and defense traits. The traits identified in chapter 2 were able to explain species responses during different flow periods in two intermittent streams as well as species-specific differences in host microbiome at the onset of drought in one intermittent stream. The novel traits identified in chapter 2 did contribute to our understanding of the community assembly …
Date: December 2021
Creator: Harried, Brittany Lee
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Effect of Comparative Well-Being on the Perceived Risk Construct: a Study of the Purchase of Apparel (open access)

The Effect of Comparative Well-Being on the Perceived Risk Construct: a Study of the Purchase of Apparel

The purpose of this research was to examine how the intervening variable of comparative well-being (which is how persons view their age, financial resources, and health compared to others of their own age) will enhance the significance of the relationship between selected demographic and psychographic variables and perceived risk. Specifically, the research investigated the structural relationship between comparative well-being in four different statistical models: (1) as an independent predictor of perceived risk; (2) as an intensifier of the psychographic and demographic predictors of perceived risk; (3) as a covariate of perceived risk; and (4) finally, as a jointly dependent variable with perceived risk. This approach was pursued in an effort to enhance the traditional marketing use of demographic and psychographic variables in predictingconsumer buying behavior. The data for this study were gathered as part of a national consumer-panel mail survey utilizing approximately 3,000 households. The research instrument was a self-administered questionnaire which collected demographic, psychographic, and perceived risk information from purchasers of apparel wear. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, Pearson product moment correlation analysis, factor analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). The findings have identified the importance of how consumers position themselves in society, based …
Date: December 1987
Creator: McConkey, C. William (Charles William)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Interactions of Presentation Formats and Decision-Maker Characteristics upon Multiple Decision-Making Tasks: an Experiment Using Multiple Cognitive Assessments (open access)

Interactions of Presentation Formats and Decision-Maker Characteristics upon Multiple Decision-Making Tasks: an Experiment Using Multiple Cognitive Assessments

Information systems research tends to ignore individual differences in users. This laboratory experiment sought to illuminate contributions of decision-makers' cognitive processes to decision outcome as reflected in four hypothesis sets: the impact of imagery preference and presentation format upon (HI) recall accuracy and upon hemispheric activation during (H2) encoding and (H3) recall, and (H4) to examine the relationship between hemispheric activation differences and accuracy differences. Point-value (specific values) and intraset-pattern (relationships between values) recall were considered. Thirty MBA students, grouped by imagery preference (cognitive style) as favoring verbal (textual) or visual (graphical) information presentation, performed computer-based recall tasks using tabular and graphical formats in a repeated measures design. Hemispheric activation (cognitive process) was assessed using ratios of EEG activity in six frequency bands captured from six pairs of homologous electrode sites during encoding and recall.
Date: December 1994
Creator: Henson, Kerry L. (Kerry Lynn)
System: The UNT Digital Library
In-service Teacher Perception of Feedback From Formative Evaluation Within the Teacher Appraisal Process and Its Relationship to Teacher Self-efficacy (open access)

In-service Teacher Perception of Feedback From Formative Evaluation Within the Teacher Appraisal Process and Its Relationship to Teacher Self-efficacy

The purpose of the study is to describe the current status of and the relationships between teacher self-efficacy and in-service teachers’ perceptions and/or attitudes of (a) the quantity and quality of feedback from formative evaluation, (b) toward feedback from formative evaluation, and (c) the impact of feedback from formative evaluation on teacher self-efficacy. In addition to calculating correlation coefficients, 6 teachers were interviewed – 2 each from high, medium, and low efficacy schools. The quantitative data reported low, positive correlations between all of the factors. Statistically significant correlations were found between 8 of the 12 factors including teacher attitudes toward feedback from formative evaluation and: overall Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (r = .302), student engagement (r = .309), instructional strategies (r = .237) and classroom management (r =.266). Other statistically significant correlations were found between teacher perceptions of the impact of feedback from formative evaluation and its relationship to self-efficacy and: overall Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (r = .295), Student Engagement (r = .300), Instructional Strategies (r = .209), and Classroom Management (r = .282). The face-to-face interviews and online focus group supported the quantitative findings as the participants reported that they value formative evaluation and feedback and …
Date: December 2014
Creator: Curran, Chaney L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Parent Adaptive Doll Play with Children Experiencing Parental Separation/Divorce (open access)

Parent Adaptive Doll Play with Children Experiencing Parental Separation/Divorce

Parent Adaptive Doll Play, a technique in an early stage of development, is designed for use by parents in assisting their young children to cope with the stresses of parental separation/divorce. The effects of technique implementation by parents of three- through six-year-old children were investigated. Data was collected before and after parents received training and implemented the technique over an eight-week period. Parents completed the Child Behavior Rating Scale, Burks' Behavior Rating Scales, the Parenting Stress Index, and the Parental Attitude Scale. Twenty-two parents, reporting marital separation through separation and/or divorce, within 18 months prior to the beginning of the study, and reporting more than 50 percent physical custody of a three- through six-year-old child qualified for participation. Twelve children were experimental subjects and ten were control subjects. To determine differences between groups, a one-way analysis of covariance was performed on each post test variable. Positive differences were calculated in several areas of child behavior by parents of subjects in the experimental group. No significant differences between groups were found in any area of child behavior. The score which most closely approached significance, however, was found in the Burks' Behavior Rating Scale area of poor anger control.
Date: December 1990
Creator: Brennan, Carol A. (Carol Ann)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Teaching Concerns of Early Childhood Graduates in Their First Five Years of Teaching (open access)

Teaching Concerns of Early Childhood Graduates in Their First Five Years of Teaching

The purposes of this study were to identify the teaching concerns expressed in their early years of teaching by the graduates of the Early Childhood Education program in a church related teacher education institution, and to determine the relationship between teaching concerns and the variables of years of teaching experience and grade level taught.
Date: December 1981
Creator: Serck, Leah M. (Leah Mae)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Prevalence of Specific Learning Disabilities in School-Aged Hearing Impaired Children (open access)

The Prevalence of Specific Learning Disabilities in School-Aged Hearing Impaired Children

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the prevalence of specific learning disabilities in school-aged hearing impaired children based on the proposed theoretical definition of the National Joint Committee for Learning Disabilities (1981) and the theoretical definition constructed by the Canadian Association for Children and Adults with Learning Disabilities (1981). The operationalization of these theoretical definitions, coupled with the current operational definition issued by the Texas Education Agency (1983), formulated the investigative framework.
Date: December 1985
Creator: Boss, Marion Sutherland
System: The UNT Digital Library
Teacher Perceptions of Student Engagement as Related to Technology Implementation in the Classroom (open access)

Teacher Perceptions of Student Engagement as Related to Technology Implementation in the Classroom

The challenges of at-risk students are not new. Newspaper articles from the 1860s presented information about communities seeking to help students to complete school and find employment to provide a livable wage. Today's solutions focus on legislation intended to affect societal change and provide equitable opportunities for at-risk students. Much research regarding how to improve academic outcomes for at-risk students addresses high school level, identifying those factors that encourage secondary learners to remain in school. However, less work has been done investigating whether earlier intervention can obviate later retention efforts by improving students' learning outcomes in the elementary grades. In this vein, engagement is a factor found to positively influence learning, particularly when students are actively engaged with instructional content. Technology can facilitate such interactions between students and content; however, research is needed to better understand the relationship between student engagement and technology, particularly with at-risk students in elementary settings. Seeking to address the gap, this qualitative study examined the occasion of a fifth-grade school that recently implemented 1:1 technology. Using a case study approach, researchers explored the effects of the 1:1 Chromebook implementation on teacher-perceived student engagement at the elementary level. This study sought to better understand how this …
Date: December 2018
Creator: Mata, Jodi Lane
System: The UNT Digital Library
Developmentally Appropriate Beliefs and Practices of Public and Private Kindergarten Teachers in the United States and Taiwan (open access)

Developmentally Appropriate Beliefs and Practices of Public and Private Kindergarten Teachers in the United States and Taiwan

The purposes of the present study are to: (a) describe the beliefs and practices of the US and Taiwan (TW) public and private kindergarten teachers regarding developmentally appropriate practice (DAP), (b) examine the group differences between the four groups of teachers, and (c) identify the salient factors related to the variability of developmentally appropriate beliefs and practice in these teachers. Three hundred and fifty-seven kindergarten teachers participated in the study. The group sizes were 123, 123, 57, and 54 for Taiwan private, Taiwan public, US private, and US public kindergarten teachers, respectively. A survey was used to collect data. Findings from this study showed: (a) Both the US and Taiwan kindergarten teachers highly endorsed beliefs about DAP; (b) US and Taiwan kindergarten teachers also held strong beliefs about developmentally inappropriate practices (DIP); (c) DAP activities occurred regularly in the classrooms; (d) developmentally inappropriate practice (DIP) activities also took place a lot although they were lower than the DAP activities; (e) the Taiwan teachers had higher beliefs about DAP and lower beliefs about DIP than the US teachers; (f) the US teachers reported both higher DAP and DIP activities than the Taiwan teachers; (g) there were no differences between public and …
Date: December 2007
Creator: Liu, Huei-Chun
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Exploratory Empirical Investigation of Information Processing among Incubator-Housed Manufacturers during Channel Member Selection (open access)

An Exploratory Empirical Investigation of Information Processing among Incubator-Housed Manufacturers during Channel Member Selection

The purpose of this research was to conduct an exploratory study of the information processing utilized by incubator-housed manufacturers during channel member selection. The study included the evaluation of the decision models used by the manufacturers as well as criteria used in the selection process. The study was specifically designed to achieve the following objectives. First, the research was to identify the evaluation modes used by the manufacturers as either compensatory or noncompensatory. Second, the study was to evaluate the effect of the task on the selection of the evaluation model(s) used during the channel member selection process. Third, the study was to evaluate the effect of the selected decision strategy on the amount of information used during the decision process. Finally, the study was to identify and examine the importance of the criteria used by the manufacturers in the selection process. The methodology in this study consisted of primary research using protocol analysis as the main data gathering technique. A ranking instrument was also mailed to the respondents prior to the protocol session. The population for the study was identified as all manufacturers located in publicly-sponsored business incubators. A total of 235 incubators were in existence with approximately 47 …
Date: December 1988
Creator: Fontenot, Gwen F.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Quest for the Father (open access)

Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Quest for the Father

This dissertation explores Elizabeth Barrett's dependency on the archetypal Victorian patriarch. Chapter I focuses on the psychological effects of this father-daughter relationship on Elizabeth Barrett. Chapter II addresses Barrett's acceptance of the conventional female role, which is suggested by the nature and the situation of the women she chooses to depict. These women are placed in situations where they can reveal their devotion to family, their capacity for passive endurance, and their wish to resist. Almost always, they choose death as an alternative to life where a powerful father figure is present. Chapter III concentrates on the highly sentimental images of women and children whom Barrett places in a divine order, where they exist untouched by the concerns of the social order of which they are a part. Chapter IV shows that the conventional ideologies of the time, society's commitment to the "angel in the house," and the small number of female role models before her increase her difficulty to find herself a place within this order. Chapter V discusses Aurora Leigh's mission to find herself an identity and to maintain the connection with her father or father substitute. Despite Elizabeth Barrett's desire to break away from her paternal ties …
Date: December 1996
Creator: Yegenoglu, Dilara
System: The UNT Digital Library
Filial Therapy with Children with Spectrum Pervasive Developmental Disorders (open access)

Filial Therapy with Children with Spectrum Pervasive Developmental Disorders

This investigation was concerned with determining the effectiveness of filial therapy as a method of intervention for families of children with pervasive developmental disorders.
Date: December 1997
Creator: Beckloff, Dean R. (Dean Ray)
System: The UNT Digital Library

Construction Applications, Practices, and Techniques of Natural Trumpets: A Comparative Analysis of Baroque and Modern Era Natural Trumpet Construction Methods

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
This work discusses in detail the history of, and processes associated with the construction of baroque era trumpets then and now. The work addresses metallurgy, tools, construction methods, and playing characteristics of instruments built with old techniques and modern techniques.
Date: December 2006
Creator: Wells, Lawrence E.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Psychophysiological Effects of a Running Program on Depression, Self-Esteem and Anxiety (open access)

The Psychophysiological Effects of a Running Program on Depression, Self-Esteem and Anxiety

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the psychophysiological effects of exercise on measures of cardiovascular fitness, depression, self-esteem, and anxiety. The 1.5 mile run (Cooper, 1972) was used to determine changes in cardiovascular fitness. The Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale was used to measure varying levels of depression. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale was used to measure self-esteem. The Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was used to measure state anxiety. An Electromyographic Assay and Digital Skin Temperature were performed on the Experimental and Corrective Therapy Groups in order to measure physiological concomitants of anxiety. A Body Composition Assay was performed in order to measure changes in body composition.
Date: December 1983
Creator: Hannaford, Charles P. (Charles Page), 1951-
System: The UNT Digital Library
Effects of a Water Conservation Education Program on Water Use in Single-family Homes in Dallas, Texas (open access)

Effects of a Water Conservation Education Program on Water Use in Single-family Homes in Dallas, Texas

The City of Dallas Environmental Education Initiative (EEI) is a hands-on, inquiry-based, K-12 water conservation education program that teaches students concepts about water and specific water conservation behaviors. Few descriptions and evaluations, especially quantitative in nature, of water conservation education programs have previously been conducted in the literature. This research measured the quantitative effects and impacts of the education program on water use in single-family homes in Dallas, Texas. A total of 2,122 students in 104 classrooms at three schools in the Dallas Independent School District received hands-on, inquiry-based water conservation education lessons and the average monthly water use (in gallons) in single-family homes was analyzed to measure whether or not there was a change in water use. The results showed that over a period of one calendar year the water use in the single-family homes within each school zone and throughout the entire research area in this study experienced a statistically significant decrease in water use of approximately 501 gallons per home per month (independent, t-test, p>0.001). Data from this research suggests that EEI is playing a role in decreasing the amount of water used for residential purposes. Additionally, this research demonstrates the use of a quantitative tool by …
Date: December 2014
Creator: Serna, Victoria Faubion
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Attitudes of Faculty Members and Academic Administrators Towards the Improvement of Instruction and the Role of Department or Division Chairpersons (open access)

The Attitudes of Faculty Members and Academic Administrators Towards the Improvement of Instruction and the Role of Department or Division Chairpersons

The problem with which this study is concerned was to analyze the reactions of faculty members and academic administrators toward the practices related to the improvement of instruction as they pertain to the role of department or division chairpersons. The hypotheses designed to serve the purposes of this study were related to supervision of instruction, methods and materials used for instruction, evaluation of the teaching performance of faculty members, participation of faculty members in administrative decisions, faculty members' professional development, and evaluation of the outcomes of instruction.
Date: December 1983
Creator: Dalili, Akbar
System: The UNT Digital Library
Thresholds in avian communities at multiple scales: Relationships between birds, forests, habitats, and landscapes in the Ray Roberts greenbelt, Denton (open access)

Thresholds in avian communities at multiple scales: Relationships between birds, forests, habitats, and landscapes in the Ray Roberts greenbelt, Denton

Environmental management agencies make efforts to reduce pollution loading in streams and rivers by promoting vegetated buffer zones between human activity and water. Most of these efforts do not mesh water quality-based buffer zone width requirements with conservation and wildlife values, specifically, the use of these riparian forest corridors for wildlife dispersal between habitats in highly fragmented landscapes. Forest interior birds are of the most concern to management in riparian forests due to their population declines across much of their breeding range. This dissertation investigates the role that landscape-level and habitat-level factors play on the presence of breeding birds in riparian forests, particularly the landscape and habitat factors that are influenced by human-caused fragmentation. This study describes research at the Ray Roberts Greenbelt, Denton, Texas, that explores the relationships between the landscape and forest habitats of the Greenbelt with its breeding bird community. The major findings of this study are that bird communities in the corridor forests are associated with a greater array of factors than are bird communities in patches, suggesting that the birds of patch forests are somewhat insulated from landscape-scale effects. Also, habitat values can be maintained in corridors, but there does not seem to be a …
Date: December 2000
Creator: Barry, Dwight
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Contributions of George S. Benson to Christian Education (open access)

The Contributions of George S. Benson to Christian Education

The problem is to examine the contributions of George S. Benson to Christian education. The study presents data obtained by personal interviews with George Benson and people who have been close to him, excerpts from letters written by former students, teachers, and board members, minutes of the Board of Trustees of Harding College, books, articles, speeches and newspapers.
Date: December 1971
Creator: Altman, Ted M.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Synthesis and Characterization of Copper(II) Complexes (open access)

Synthesis and Characterization of Copper(II) Complexes

A series of dihydroxy bridged copper(II) complexes of the type [(L)Cu(OH)₂Cu(L)]x₂ * nH₂0, where L is 2,2'-bipyridine, 4,4'-dimethyl-2,2'-bipyridine or 1,10-phenanthroline, x is a counter ion, and n is the number of water molecules, was synthesized. In the case of monohydroxy bridged copper(II) complexes, we have found a new method of synthesis for [ (L)₂Cu(OH)Cu(L)₂ ] (ClO₄)₃, where L is 2,2'-bipyridine or 1,10-phenanthroline. We have synthesized five new monohydroxy bridged copper(II) complexes, thus increasing the number of monohydroxy bridged copper(II) complexes to nine. All complexes have been characterized by infrared spectroscopy, UV-visible spectroscopy, magnetic moments, and elemental analysis. The electron spin resonance results establish that the fulvic acids contain organic free radicals as an internal part of their molecular structure. The concentration of unpaired electrons will increase by increasing the pH. The unpaired electron in fulvic acid interacts with the unpaired electron on copper(II) through the Π system, and this will decrease the spin concentration of fulvic acid complexed with copper(II). The displacement of titration curve from a free ligand (fructose-1,6-diphosphate, ribulose-1,5-diphosphate, phospherine, phosphothreonine, and 3-phosphoglyceric acid, to a ligand plus copper(II) (1:1 ratio) shows there is a strong interaction between copper(II) and the corresponding ligand. All complexes absorb UV-visible at …
Date: December 1984
Creator: Amani, Saeid
System: The UNT Digital Library
Facilitative Effectiveness of Elderly and Adolescent Volunteer Counselors in a Nursing Home Setting (open access)

Facilitative Effectiveness of Elderly and Adolescent Volunteer Counselors in a Nursing Home Setting

This study examined the effects of volunteer counselor training (empathy training versus information only) and age of volunteer (senior citizens versus adolescents) upon depression level of nursing home residents. Results showed that residents who received a volunteer counselor significantly improved (p < .01) in level of depression compared to the no volunteer control group. The empathy trained counselors were not significantly more effective than the information only group. The age of the. volunteer counselor was found not to be a significant variable.
Date: December 1984
Creator: Nagel, Joseph
System: The UNT Digital Library
First-Time Parenthood: Attachment, Family Variables, Emotional Reactions, and Task Responsibilities as Predictors Of Stress (open access)

First-Time Parenthood: Attachment, Family Variables, Emotional Reactions, and Task Responsibilities as Predictors Of Stress

The purpose of this study was to explore factors which are predictive of parenting stress for first-time parents. Based on attachment theory and empirical research, the factors investigated were the responsibility for child care and housework, the current and retrospective relationship with the family of origin, the change in emotions related to parenthood, the marital relationship, and attachment and individuation.
Date: December 1990
Creator: Abbott, Donna Christine
System: The UNT Digital Library