Degree Level

The Decline of the Country-House Poem in England: A Study in the History of Ideas (open access)

The Decline of the Country-House Poem in England: A Study in the History of Ideas

This study discusses the evolution of the English country-house poem from its inception by Ben Jonson in "To Penshurst" to the present. It shows that in addition to stylistic and thematic borrowings primarily from Horace and Martial, traditional English values associated with the great hall and comitatus ideal helped define features of the English country-house poem, to which Jonson added the metonymical use of architecture. In the Jonsonian country-house poem, the country estate, exemplified by Penshurst, is a microcosm of the ideal English social organization characterized by interdependence, simplicity, service, hospitality, and balance between the active and contemplative life. Those poems which depart from the Jonsonian ideal are characterized by disequilibrium between the active and contemplative life, resulting in the predominance of artifice, subordination of nature, and isolation of art from the community, as exemplified by Thomas Carew's "To Saxham" and Richard Lovelace's "Amyntor's Grove." Architectural features of the English country house are examined to explain the absence of the Jonsonian country-house poem in the eighteenth century. The building tradition praised by Jonson gradually gave way to aesthetic considerations fostered by the professional architect and Palladian architecture, architectural patronage by the middle class, and change in identity of the country …
Date: August 1988
Creator: Harris, Candice R. (Candice Rae)
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Analysis of Factors in the Adoption or Non-Adoption of Videodisc Technology in North American Academic and Special Libraries (open access)

An Analysis of Factors in the Adoption or Non-Adoption of Videodisc Technology in North American Academic and Special Libraries

The researcher identified 37 independent variables to study their effect on the two dependent variables, the acquisition of videodiscs and the functions for which videodisc programs were acquired. The literature of the applications of videodisc technology in libraries, museums, education and industry, as well as related issues concerning interactive video, were presented in Chapter 2. Using the diffusion of innovation theory of Everett Rogers as a guide, the researcher constructed a questionnaire. Valid responses totaled 462 from management of all types of academic libraries and from special libraries other than non-academic law, military, veterans' hospital, and church libraries. The following conclusions were made from the results: there were significant correlations between having videodiscs and perceptions of greater benefits than costs, appropriateness of videodisc programs for libraries' objectives or curricula, seeing videodiscs as an enhancement of an existing library technology, collection of videocassettes, and ability to raise funds from slack resources. The size of the libraries' materials and equipment budgets had some significance, but it was not consistently significant, as it was for the above-mentioned factors, at the p < .01 level. Lack of in-house recording ability did not impose a barrier on adoption of discs among respondents. Full--motion, full-screen video …
Date: December 1992
Creator: Kelley, Robert E. (Robert Emmett)
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Exploring Naming Behavior in Personal Digital Image Collections: the Iconology and Language Games of Pinterest (open access)

Exploring Naming Behavior in Personal Digital Image Collections: the Iconology and Language Games of Pinterest

As non-institutional digital image collections expand into social media, independent non-professional image curators are emerging, actively constructing alternative naming conventions to suit their needs in a social collecting environment. This project considers how independent user-curators are developing particular sense-making behaviors as they actively contribute names to large, unstructured social image collections. In order to capture and explore this evolving language adaptation, Pinterest names are analyzed using a matrix composed of Panofsky’s three strata of subject matter, Rosch’s levels of categorical abstraction, Shatford Layne’s image attributes and Wittgenstein’s language game constructions. Analyzing Pinterest image names illuminates previously unnoticed behaviors by independent user-curators as they create shared collections. Exploring the various language choices which user-curators select as they apply this new curating vocabulary helps identify underlying user needs not apparent in traditionally curated collections restricted to traditional naming conventions.
Date: December 2014
Creator: Sutcliffe, Tami
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Analysis of Basic Design Education in Turkey and Implications for Changes in Postsecondary Art Curriculum (open access)

An Analysis of Basic Design Education in Turkey and Implications for Changes in Postsecondary Art Curriculum

This study explored the current status of Turkish basic art education and the objectives of the first year art program at the university level in Turkey. Also, the researcher attempted to explore the objectives and expectations of Turkish art professors and to examine the applicability of certain concepts of American basic design education in the teaching of studio foundation courses in Turkish art schools. The study included the literature review concerning changes in educational philosophy related to the history of design education in the West and in Turkey.
Date: August 1998
Creator: Oztuna, Haci Yakup
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Textbook Suitability for the Industrial Arts Program in Texas (open access)

Textbook Suitability for the Industrial Arts Program in Texas

The problem of this study was to determine the degree of suitability for instructional purposes of the state-adopted industrial arts textbooks in a sound industrial arts program in the public secondary schools of Texas.
Date: August 1959
Creator: McCain, Jerry Clay
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Research Information and Facilities Available to Graduate Art Students at Ninety European and North American Art Museums (open access)

Research Information and Facilities Available to Graduate Art Students at Ninety European and North American Art Museums

The purpose of the investigation was to collect information from ninety representative art museums in Europe and North America, with visits made to forty-five and a validated questionnaire sent to the others; to study their research-oriented publications as to contents; and to organize the data so that they would be of value to graduate art students. Although this information will be of value to scholars, undergraduate students, and museum personnel, the study was restricted to the graduate art student because some museum libraries restrict their facilities to this educational level.
Date: August 1972
Creator: Jones, Lois Swan
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Proposed Industrial Arts Program for Langston University (open access)

A Proposed Industrial Arts Program for Langston University

The problem of this study was the development of a proposal for an industrial arts program for Langston University. Particular emphasis was placed upon curriculum changes, faculty improvement, and modification of physical facilities.
Date: August 1971
Creator: Johnson, Raymond Carl
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Guide for the Identification and Research of Victorian Furniture in Six Historic House Museums in Texas (open access)

A Guide for the Identification and Research of Victorian Furniture in Six Historic House Museums in Texas

One hundred and seventy-eight pieces of Victorian furniture in six Texas historic house museums have been photographed and researched in order to fulfill the three-part problem. (1) to research and write descriptive essays of the four major Victorian substyles--Victorian Empire, Rococo Revival, Renaissance Revival, and Eastlake; (2) to identify and choose six Texas historic houses which are open to the public and which display these Victorian substyles in period room settings; and (3) to identify, photograph, measure, and catalogue each piece of authentic Victorian furniture, and to compile a research guide which includes each of these six houses and their Victorian furnishings. This six-part guide includes brief histories of each house and a catalogue of authentic pieces which represent the major substyles of Victorian furniture. To give the study a broad base, and to make it useful for all students, teachers, and professional interior designers in Texas, two houses which represented the best collections of furniture from each geographic location were chosen. These included: (1 ) from North Texas, the George House and Millermore, both in Dallas; (2) in Central Texas, East Terrace and Fort House, located in Waco; and (3) in South Texas, Fulton Mansion in Fulton Beach, and …
Date: August 1984
Creator: Rice, Ralph Albert
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Scope and Methods of Citizen Participation in Planning and Designing Public library Facilities (open access)

The Scope and Methods of Citizen Participation in Planning and Designing Public library Facilities

A questionnaire survey was conducted to ascertain the scope and methods used to involve citizens in public library facility planning and design. Because of the paucity of written material on this subject in the literatures of both library science and architecture, this descriptive study was undertaken.
Date: August 1992
Creator: Washington-Blair, Angela
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Collection-Level Subject Access in Aggregations of Digital Collections: Metadata Application and Use (open access)

Collection-Level Subject Access in Aggregations of Digital Collections: Metadata Application and Use

This doctoral dissertation is about collection-level subject access in aggregations of digital collections. The author discusses metadata richness and user interaction.
Date: 2010
Creator: Zavalina, Oksana
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Assessing the Feasibility of Developing a DBAE Curriculum in Qatar Utilizing Multimedia Technology (open access)

Assessing the Feasibility of Developing a DBAE Curriculum in Qatar Utilizing Multimedia Technology

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of developing an art curriculum in Qatar, using the principles of the DBAE curriculum in conjunction with technology. Many of the challenges facing art educators and the art curriculum in Qatar can be approached through the multimedia applications of DBAE, which will provide instructors and students with an opportunity to more readily interact with visual art and to discover its educational relevance. Additionally, this study attempted to discover whether teachers are engaged in implementing technology in the art classroom and whether they are given the opportunity to engage in art to their satisfaction.
Date: May 1998
Creator: Al-Hamad, Wafaa
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Art Education in the United States from 1883 to 1910 as a Reflection of Selected Philosophical and Psychological Thought of the Period (open access)

Art Education in the United States from 1883 to 1910 as a Reflection of Selected Philosophical and Psychological Thought of the Period

This study is an historical-philosophical analysis of art education in elementary, secondary, and normal schools in the United States from 1883 to 1910 as revealed through the Journal of Proceedings and Addresses of the National Education Association. Its purposes are to define and describe the role, practices, and status of art education as related to or influenced by selected philosophies, psychologies, theories of learning, and research, along with other prevalent factors such as the scientific, industrial movements, and mores of the period. Art education was found in an admitted state of infancy as the period began. 1883 marked its initial separation from the Manual Training Department and first recognition as an entity. This study of its status traces growth and improvement to a point of tentative public acceptance, and re-attachment of the Art Department to the Manual Training Department as an equal partner. Evidence presented seemed to indicate that progress had been made by art education in several important ways. School administrators had recognized that art did have a legitimate role in education, and a national organization had been formed to act as a forum. A uniform course of study had been presented, and current research in mental development had …
Date: August 1974
Creator: Roberts, Mary Carolyn
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Into the Woods: Wilderness Imagery as Representation of Spiritual and Emotional Transition in Medieval Literature (open access)

Into the Woods: Wilderness Imagery as Representation of Spiritual and Emotional Transition in Medieval Literature

Wilderness landscape, a setting common in Romantic literature and painting, is generally overlooked in the art of the Middle Ages. While the medieval garden and the city are well mapped, the medieval wilderness remains relatively trackless. Yet the use of setting to represent interior experience may be traced back to the Neo-Platonic use of space and movement to define spiritual development. Separating themselves as far as possible from the material world, such writers as Origen and Plotinus avoided use of representational detail in their spatial models; however, both the visual artists and the authors who adopted the Neo-Platonic paradigm, elaborated their emotional spaces with the details of the classical locus amoenus and of the exegetical desert, while retaining the philosophical concern with spiritual transition. Analysis of wilderness as an image for spiritual and emotional transition in medieval literature and art relates the texts to an iconographic tradition which, along with motifs of city and garden, provides a spatial representation of interior progress, as the medieval dialectic process provides a paradigm for intellectual resolution. Such an analysis relates the motif to the core of medieval intellectual experience, and further suggests significant connections between medieval and modern narratives in regard to the …
Date: August 1997
Creator: Sholty, Janet Poindexter
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
A New Look at Retargetable Compilers (open access)

A New Look at Retargetable Compilers

Consumers demand new and innovative personal computing devices every 2 years when their cellular phone service contracts are renewed. Yet, a 2 year development cycle for the concurrent development of both hardware and software is nearly impossible. As more components and features are added to the devices, maintaining this 2 year cycle with current tools will become commensurately harder. This dissertation delves into the feasibility of simplifying the development of such systems by employing heterogeneous systems on a chip in conjunction with a retargetable compiler such as the hybrid computer retargetable compiler (Hy-C). An example of a simple architecture description of sufficient detail for use with a retargetable compiler like Hy-C is provided. As a software engineer with 30 years of experience, I have witnessed numerous system failures. A plethora of software development paradigms and tools have been employed to prevent software errors, but none have been completely successful. Much discussion centers on software development in the military contracting market, as that is my background. The dissertation reviews those tools, as well as some existing retargetable compilers, in an attempt to determine how those errors occurred and how a system like Hy-C could assist in reducing future software errors. In …
Date: December 2014
Creator: Burke, Patrick William
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
American Women Artists and the Female Nude Image (1969-1983) (open access)

American Women Artists and the Female Nude Image (1969-1983)

This research surveys ideology and iconology in the presentation of the autobiographical and biographical female nude as envisioned by American women artists in the painting, drawing and printmaking media from 1969 to 1983. Contemporary dialogue by critics, artists and feminists on the definition of feminine content led to the articulation of the undraped nude torso as the central icon of the study. This static icon was pushed through a variety of styles into multi subtleties of iconology. The female nude by women artists is autobiographical even in biography emphasizing self-identification and authenticity. General constraints were placed on the survey the definability or explicit articulation of the female torso as opposed to suggestive imagery, the time frame in which the nude was created, and the chosen media for study. Art historical methodology was employed to descriptively examine image and intent of the nude presentations in references through time as well as visual traditions of symbology. This survey began at the turn of the century for historical background to emphasize the greater proliferation of the nude from 1969 to 1983. There were limitations specifically associated with the earlier time frame (1900-1969)--the lack of art educational opportunities for the female student, the socio-political …
Date: August 1986
Creator: McEwin, Florence Rebecca
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Surrealism in the Piano Music of Representative Twentieth-Century American Composers: With Three Recitals of Selected Works of Ives, Cowell, Crumb, Cage, Antheil, and Others (open access)

Surrealism in the Piano Music of Representative Twentieth-Century American Composers: With Three Recitals of Selected Works of Ives, Cowell, Crumb, Cage, Antheil, and Others

This study is an examination of the Surrealist movement and its influence on the piano music of twentieth century American composers. The first chapter explores the philosophies of the Surrealists as well as the characteristics found in Surrealist art and literature. The characteristics discussed include: 1) the practice of automatism; 2) the juxtaposition of unrelated themes or images; and 3) the creation of dream-like atmospheres.
Date: May 1992
Creator: Fouse, Kathryn
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Always Painting the Future: Utopian Desire and the Women's Movement in Selected Works by United States Female Writers at the Turn of the Twentieth Century (open access)

Always Painting the Future: Utopian Desire and the Women's Movement in Selected Works by United States Female Writers at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

This study explores six utopias by female authors written at the turn of the twentieth century: Mary Bradley Lane's Mizora (1881), Alice Ilgenfritz Jones and Ella Merchant's Unveiling Parallel (1893), Eloise O. Richberg's Reinstern (1900), Lena J. Fry's Other Worlds (1905), Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland (1915), and Martha Bensley Bruère's Mildred Carver, USA (1919). While the right to vote had become the central, most important point of the movement, women were concerned with many other issues affecting their lives. Positioned within the context of the late nineteenth century women's rights movement, this study examines these "sideline" concerns of the movement such as home and gender-determined spheres, motherhood, work, marriage, independence, and self-sufficiency and relates them to the transforming character of female identity at the time. The study focuses primarily on analyzing the expression of female historical desire through utopian genre and on explicating the contradictory nature of utopian production.
Date: August 2009
Creator: Balic, Iva
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Interrelated Histories, Practices, and Forms of Communication: Using Arabic Calligraphy to Learn Arabic Typography (open access)

Interrelated Histories, Practices, and Forms of Communication: Using Arabic Calligraphy to Learn Arabic Typography

In this self-study inquiry, I studied my graphic design practice in a professional setting, focusing on my Arabic typographic skills and knowledge. My roles as researcher and design educator indivisibly intertwined throughout this research. I worked to understand the value of calligraphy in art and design education, highlighting its power as an art form while also emphasizing its pedagogical potentials. I utilized two theoretical approaches suited to investigating and understanding the Arabic letters as text and image, Ibn Arabi’s science of letters, or 'ilm al-hurûf, and semiotics. I applied my theoretical framework to three distinctive artworks to investigate their uses of the Arabic letters, contemplating their roles in modern and contemporary Arab art. Essential to my research was learning Arabic calligraphy through two approaches: 1) I attended a calligraphy workshop, and 2) I conducted three self-study experimentations. I analyzed my experience through visual representations, commentary, and narrative inquiry to assess Arabic calligraphy’s significance for graphic design education. As such, my experimentations confirmed Arabic calligraphy’s aesthetic and educational value. I employed my findings to create a contemporary Arabic typography curriculum suitable for university-level students. This curriculum is built on learning theories such as visual culture analysis, semiotics, constructivist theory, play principles, …
Date: August 2015
Creator: Al-Ansari, Banan Ahmed
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Analyzing Learning Acquisition and Retention in a WebVR Environment (open access)

Analyzing Learning Acquisition and Retention in a WebVR Environment

The primary purpose of this study was to determine if WebVR enhances the knowledge retention regarding mechanical components of high-risk moving machinery, specifically elevators. There were 23 participants divided into a treatment group and comparison group. The treatment group used WebVR to take a virtual elevator machine room tour while the comparison group studied printed images of the same elevator machine room. These alternative activities were conducted prior to a field trip to a real elevator machine room. Gains in knowledge pre to post were measured and compared between the treatment and comparison groups. The research findings showed an overall gain in knowledge for the participants in the elevator bootcamp. More in depth analysis showed the treatment group exhibited significant gains for six of the ten knowledge areas while the comparison group exhibited significant gains in three of the ten targeted knowledge areas. The treatment group gained more knowledge on components higher than eye-level while the comparison group scored better on components that were below eye-level or on the floor. Both groups were seen actively engaged in the field trips. The treatment group members exposed to the virtual reality elevator machine room frequently referred to what they saw in the …
Date: December 2019
Creator: Lepcha, Samson Den
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Study of Public Law 815 and its Operation in Texas (open access)

A Study of Public Law 815 and its Operation in Texas

The problem of this study is to review the background, the development, the present status, and the significance of Public Law 815 with special reference to its operation in Texas.
Date: May 1971
Creator: Taylor, Orace C.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Teaching Design in the Year 2000: A Modified Delphi Study of the Perceptions of Design Educators (open access)

Teaching Design in the Year 2000: A Modified Delphi Study of the Perceptions of Design Educators

The problem of this study is to predict how basic design will be taught in the year 2000 in the United States of America according to the perceptions of design educators who were polled using a Delphi exercise. Basic design is an introductory course in design disciplines covering fundamental principles, components, and applications of design. This study has a twofold purpose. The first is to predict how basic design will be taught in the year 2000 to allow design educators to better prepare for the future. The second is to provide a basis for further research that might address specific areas in the future of teaching design.
Date: May 1987
Creator: Watson, James Robert, 1950-
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library

Wayfinding tools in public library buildings: A multiple case study.

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
Wayfinding is the process of using one or more tools to move from one location to another in order to accomplish a task or to achieve a goal. This qualitative study explores the process of wayfinding as it applies to locating information in a public library. A group of volunteers were asked to find a selection of items in three types of libraries-traditional, contemporary, and modern. The retrieval process was timed and the reactions of the volunteers were recorded, documented, and analyzed. The impact of various wayfinding tools-architecture, layout, color, signage, computer support, collection organization-on the retrieval process was also identified. The study revealed that many of the wayfinding tools currently available in libraries do not facilitate item retrieval. Inconsistencies, ambiguities, obstructions, disparities, and operational deficiencies all contributed to end-user frustration and retrieval failure. The study suggests that failing to address these issues may prompt library patrons-end users who are increasingly interested in finding information with minimal expenditures of time and effort-may turn to other information-retrieval strategies and abandon a system that they find confusing and frustrating.
Date: May 2004
Creator: Beecher, Ann B.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Image Representation and Interactivity: An Exploration of Utility Values, Information-Needs and Image Interactivity (open access)

Image Representation and Interactivity: An Exploration of Utility Values, Information-Needs and Image Interactivity

This study was designed to explore the relationships between users and interactive images. Three factors were identified and provided different perspectives on how users interact with images: image utility, information-need, and images with varying levels of interactivity. The study used a mixed methodology to gain a more comprehensive understanding about the selected factors. An image survey was used to introduce the participants to the images and recorded utility values when given a specific task. The interviews allowed participants to provide details about their experiences with the interactive images and how it affected their utility values. Findings from the study showed that images offering the highest level of interactivity do not always generate the highest utility. Factors such as personal preference, specifically speed and control of the image, affect the usefulness of the image. Participant also provided a variety of uses where access to interactive images would be beneficial. Educational settings and research tools are a few examples of uses provided by participants.
Date: August 2011
Creator: Lewis, Elise C.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Sexual Orientation and the Advanced Placement Art History Survey (open access)

Sexual Orientation and the Advanced Placement Art History Survey

This two-part study included a content analysis of an AP art history text and a survey together with interviews with AP art history teachers that embraced both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. The first phase of the study examined one of the more popular art history survey texts in the AP art history program, Gardner’s Art through the Ages, in terms of how inclusive it is in addressing issues of sexual orientation and, particularly, same-sex perspectives. In addition, the text was examined for evidence of sexual orientation ignored – particularly same-sex perspectives ignored and for heteronormative hegemonies. The second phase investigated the understandings and opinions of AP art history teachers toward the inclusion of sexual orientation and same-sex perspectives in their curriculums and classrooms. Recent recognition of gay, lesbian, and same-sex perspectives in the study of art history has challenged art educators and art historians to begin to consider opening up their curriculums and writings to include these perspectives. These ignored perspectives produce important understandings that enrich and deepen the discourse of art history. The inclusion of gay and lesbian content and same-sex perspectives to the study of AP art history, not only effectively serves the needs of AP art …
Date: December 2014
Creator: Bond, Richard P.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library