This thesis will examine the iconography of late-thirteenth- through fifteenth-century images of St. Veronica's veil, also known as vernicles. In the late Middle Ages, vernicle iconography changed from iconic representations of Christ's face toward graphic imagery of Christ's suffering during his Passion. These passionate transformations, as I have called them, were affected by the Roman Sudarium relic, popular devotion to Christ's suffering and humanity during his Passion, and the Catholic ritual of Mass. This thesis will consider how the function of vernicle images during Mass was reflected in their iconography throughout Europe between 1250 and 1500.

This study examined college undergraduates' intercultural experiences and attitudes at the beginning and the end of a semester-long course on multicultural issues. Participants were 290 undergraduate college students at the University of North Texas , 202 of whom were enrolled in one of the university's core global studies, cross-cultural, or diversity courses for the fall 2001 semester, and 88 of whom were enrolled in courses outside the core. It was hypothesized that the multicultural group's Positive Inventory of the Consequences of Multicultural Experiences scores would increase and Social Dominance Orientation Scale scores would decrease more than they would for the control group. Findings did not support these hypotheses.

This study investigated differences in level of commitment between married and non-married individuals, effects of demographic variables by age, gender, parenting status, and ethnicity, and determines participant's awareness of and participation in the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative (OMI) were investigated. Students from a rural Oklahoma junior college completed the Perceptions of Commitment survey during spring 2004. Responses related to levels of commitment, social exchange theory, expectations, and communication were collected. T-test analysis revealed no differences in level of commitment for any of the variables investigated. Data revealed the majority of participants were unaware of OMI and had never attended a program and do not plan to in the future. Implications of this research may be useful to future investigators who are interested in the Perceptions of Commitment survey and those focusing on marriage education programs to meet the needs of targeted audiences.

Some String or Another: Fiction and Nonfiction Stories of Connection, a creative thesis, explores patterns of change in stories from the perspective of connection and disconnection. The preface examines the effects of temporal disconnection, the relationship of conflict and connection to narrative rhythm, and the webs of connection formed during the process of creation. Included in the body of the work are six fiction stories, one metafiction story, and two nonfiction essays.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a training package consisting of response restriction and the reinforcement of self-evaluation on letter reversal errors. Participants were 3 typically developing boys between the age of 5 and 7. The results indicated that the training package was successful in correcting reversals in the absence of a model during training and on application tests. These improvements maintained during subsequent follow-up sessions and generalized across trainers. Fading was not always necessary in correcting reversals, but was effective in correcting reversals that persisted during the overlay training procedures. The advantages to implementing a systematic intervention for reducing letter reversal errors in the classroom, as well as directions for future research, are discussed.

Nanoindentation has become a widely used technique to measure the mechanical properties of materials. Due to its capability to deform materials in micro- and nano-scale, nanoindentation has found more applications in characterizing the deformation behavior and determining the mechanical properties of thin films and coatings. This research deals with the characterization of samples received from Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices (CAMD) and Integran Technologies Inc., Toronto, Canada and the objective of this investigation was to utilize the experimental data obtained from nanoindentation to determine the deformation behavior, mechanical properties of thin films on substrates and bulk materials, and the effect of geometrically different indenters (Berkovich, cubecorner, and conical). X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis were performed on these materials to determine the crystal orientation, grain size of the material, and also to measure any substrate effects like pile-up or sin-in respectively. The results indicate that indentation size effect (ISE) strongly depends on shape of the indenter and less sensitive to penetration depth where as the hardness measurements depends on shape of indenter and depth of penetration. There is a negligible strain rate dependency of hardness at deeper depths …

This thesis examines whether the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks caused a significant, lasting change in the American public's social construction of reality. A framework of everyday reality was created which focused on beliefs, behaviors, and cultural institutions in the United States. Data regarding specific beliefs and behaviors was collected from numerous survey sources, and content analysis was performed on media literature from September 11, 2001 to September 11, 2003. Findings from this study show that beliefs examined did change, while behaviors on similar topics did not. These finding represents an interesting paradox to be evaluated in future studies. Cultural institutions, as related to the public's knowledge of and relationship with each, also appeared little changed. Therefore, while some aspects displayed adjustment, this study cannot conclusively state that American public's social construction of reality experienced a "new reality" paradigm shift as proclaimed by the media immediately following the attacks.