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The Acceptance and Use of Cloud Computing Services by Small and Medium Enterprises in Lagos, Nigeria (open access)

The Acceptance and Use of Cloud Computing Services by Small and Medium Enterprises in Lagos, Nigeria

This study explored the acceptance of cloud computing (CC) services by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Lagos, Nigeria, which has been missing from CC services literature. It aimed to understand the motivations for adoption, the uses of the services, and the benefits they derive from it. The uses and gratification theory was applied as the theoretic framework for this endeavor. An online survey with close-ended and open-ended questions was distributed to 1200 randomly selected participants through email. In total, 392 valid responses were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics and categories. The results found that SMEs in Lagos, Nigeria had a low level of awareness and appreciation of CC services. The adoption rate was also low. Unlike their counterparts in other regions, SMEs primary concerns were service downtime, stable power supply, and better internet access. The study found that SMEs were not taking full advantage of the capabilities of CC services. Some sections, however, were doing better than others, such as the information and communications sub-sector. This study suggested that targeted interventions should be conducted to raise the awareness of CC services in SMEs, and to improve their efficient and effective use of CC services. The uses and gratification …
Date: May 2017
Creator: Azogu, Olajumoke Oluwaseye
System: The UNT Digital Library
Acceptance and use of corporal punishment among parents of biologic and non-biologic children. (open access)

Acceptance and use of corporal punishment among parents of biologic and non-biologic children.

Objective: Differences between biologic and non-biologic parents' acceptance and use of ordinary corporal punishment and use of explaining/reasoning as a disciplinary tool are examined from a sociobiological theoretical perspective. Method: Cross tabulations are used on data from a national survey conducted by the Gallup Organization in 1995. Results: Contrary to predictions, differences between biologic and non-biologic parents' acceptance of ordinary corporal punishment and the use of explaining/reasoning are not statistically significant. In addition, biologic parents are found to use ordinary corporal punishment significantly more often than non-biologic parents. Conclusions: The sociobiological theoretical perspective likely underestimates the influence of culture and social structure on parent-child interactions.
Date: May 2006
Creator: Hall, Ellie Tiedeman
System: The UNT Digital Library
The acceptance of an inventory of program objectives for a community college mental health technology program within the social and behavioral science structure (open access)

The acceptance of an inventory of program objectives for a community college mental health technology program within the social and behavioral science structure

The study sought acceptance of an inventory of program objectives for a community college mental health technology program within the social and behavioral science structure. It adapted a set of program objectives, using an inventory from the Southern Regional Education Board, and provided composite list stated in competency or performance levels and a list of academic requirements showing what fundamental areas of competency or performance would be most germane for a mental health technology candidate.
Date: May 1976
Creator: Weber, Marvin Glenn
System: The UNT Digital Library
Acceptance Theories for Behavior in Conducting Research: Instructors in the Rajabhat University System, Thailand (open access)

Acceptance Theories for Behavior in Conducting Research: Instructors in the Rajabhat University System, Thailand

Responding to globalization and its effects on education and research development, the Thai government decided to push all public universities to become autonomous and establish a system of quality assurances. The establishment of quality assurances has had a large impact on many Thai instructors, especially in new public universities. Thai instructors are now forced to more focus on conducting research because the number of research publications is regarded as one of the main criteria for quality universities. The purpose of this study is to investigate the key factors, at the individual and university levels, which impact on the instructors' behavior in conducting research of the full-time instructors in the faculty of Management Science from the Rajabhat Universities in Thailand. The current study will help explain how and why the instructors accept or refuse to conduct research and provide insight into the salient factors motivating the instructors to produce more research by conducting HLM. Data were collected from 694 participants at 37 institutions via a questionnaire survey. The findings revealed that there was no difference among these 37 universities on behavior in conducting research. The key factors statistically influencing behavior in conducting research of the instructors were facilitating conditions, academic degree, …
Date: December 2015
Creator: Laksaniyanon, Benchamat
System: The UNT Digital Library
Acceptor-sensitizers for Nanostructured Oxide Semiconductor in Excitonic Solar Cells (open access)

Acceptor-sensitizers for Nanostructured Oxide Semiconductor in Excitonic Solar Cells

Organic dyes are examined in photoelectrochemical systems wherein they engage in thermal (rather than photoexcited) electron donation into metal oxide semiconductors. These studies are intended to elucidate fundamental parameters of electron transfer in photoelectrochemical cells. Development of novel methods for the structure/property tuning of electroactive dyes and the preparation of nanostructured semiconductors have also been discovered in the course of the presented work. Acceptor sensitized polymer oxide solar cell devices were assembled and the impact of the acceptor dyes were studied. The optoelectronic tuning of boron-chelated azadipyrromethene dyes has been explored by the substitution of carbon substituents in place of fluoride atoms at boron. Stability of singlet exited state and level of reduction potential of these series of aza-BODIPY coumpounds were studied in order to employ them as electron-accepting sensitizers in solid state dye sensitized solar cells.
Date: August 2014
Creator: Berhe, Seare Ahferom
System: The UNT Digital Library
"Access Points" (open access)

"Access Points"

Access Points explores the different relationships that humans have to land, focusing on the various ways that the area known as the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge is used, appreciated, and preserved by disparate groups. The natural beauty of this Wildlife Refuge and its striking appearance amidst encircling plains makes it a popular destination for many groups of people, including the local rock-climbing community and generations of indigenous peoples whose connection with this land is as deep as it is longstanding. While climbing organizations have long had to negotiate access and rules regarding climbing within the park, members of the Kiowa community negotiate a much different relationship to a natural area that is now managed by the United States government. These disparate voices, identities, and ways of thinking about land all impact the modern-day Wildlife Refuge in terms of its appearance, individuals' access to the land, and the conservation efforts happening there.
Date: August 2022
Creator: Dye, Aaron Charles
System: The UNT Digital Library
Access to Film and Video Works: Surrogates for Moving Image Documents (open access)

Access to Film and Video Works: Surrogates for Moving Image Documents

This doctoral dissertation discusses access to film and video works. Physical and intellectual access to moving image documents is insufficient, often insignificant, at the level of the individual user. Existing access tools suffer from a lack of recognition of the differences between linguistic text communication and image communication. Browsing and relevance judgements are made difficult by the physical realities of film and video documents - one cannot flip through them - and by the habits of serial and passive viewing.
Date: 1984
Creator: O'Connor, Brian Clark
System: The UNT Digital Library
Access to Health Care and Rates of Mortality and Utilization for the Elderly in Rural America (open access)

Access to Health Care and Rates of Mortality and Utilization for the Elderly in Rural America

The aging experience of men and women in rural America is different than that of their urban counterparts. In this study, I identified key disparities in access to health care, mortality, and utilization of health care that result from geographic location. Foundational theories are discussed to illustrate that disparities can originate from historical societal behaviors. Secondary data and literary reviews create a combined qualitative and quantitative approach to explore the rural/urban divide, concluding that the potential for increased disparities as the aging population grows is very real and rural residents remain vulnerable to a poor(er) aging experience. Recommendations for policy and practice, as well as additional research, are made to address the conclusion.
Date: May 2018
Creator: Johnson, Barbara Ann
System: The UNT Digital Library
Accessibility and Authenticity in Julia Smith's Cynthia Parker (open access)

Accessibility and Authenticity in Julia Smith's Cynthia Parker

In 1939, composer Julia Smith's first opera Cynthia Parker dramatized the story of a Texas legend. Smith manipulated music, text, and visual images to make the opera accessible for the audience in accordance with compositional and institutional practices in American opera of the 1930s. Transparent musical themes and common Native Americans stereotypes are used to define characters. Folk music is presented as diegetic, creating a sense of authenticity that places the audience into the opera's Western setting. The opera is codified for the audience using popular idioms, resulting in initial but not lasting success.
Date: December 2007
Creator: Buehner, Katie R.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Accessibility and Pedagogical Value in Virtuosic American Trombone Solo Literature: A Performance Guide to "Divertimento for Trombone and Band" (2012) by Jack Stamp (open access)

Accessibility and Pedagogical Value in Virtuosic American Trombone Solo Literature: A Performance Guide to "Divertimento for Trombone and Band" (2012) by Jack Stamp

This dissertation is an examination of Divertimento for Solo Trombone and Wind Band by renowned wind band composer and conductor Jack Stamp. The result of this study is the illumination of a 21st-century composition for solo trombone and band that is made accessible for future performers, accomplished by constructing original musical exercises that are influenced by current trombone pedagogical materials that have either been edited, annotated or created by current performers and pedagogues such as Joseph Alessi, Brad Edwards and Michael Mulcahy. The piece also incorporates 20th -century American wind band influences. The careful selection of pedagogical materials serves the purpose of making this challenging solo accessible for the advanced academic trombonist and can serve as a template for surveying advanced literature of the present and future. Additionally, the pedagogical materials selected for use in this dissertation were considered based on their value in the present academic trombone repertory. Thus, this performance guide reflects on the validity of the modern trombone pedagogical literature to guide a performer's study, interpretation, and performance of a 21st-century work for solo trombone.
Date: July 2023
Creator: Umholtz, Jeremiah L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Accessing Information on the World Wide Web: Predicting Usage Based on Involvement (open access)

Accessing Information on the World Wide Web: Predicting Usage Based on Involvement

Advice for Web designers often includes an admonition to use short, scannable, bullet-pointed text, reflecting the common belief that browsing the Web most often involves scanning rather than reading. Literature from several disciplines focuses on the myriad combinations of factors related to online reading but studies of the users' interests and motivations appear to offer a more promising avenue for understanding how users utilize information on Web pages. This study utilized the modified Personal Involvement Inventory (PII), a ten-item instrument used primarily in the marketing and advertising fields, to measure interest and motivation toward a topic presented on the Web. Two sites were constructed from Reader's Digest Association, Inc. online articles and a program written to track students' use of the site. Behavior was measured by the initial choice of short versus longer versions of the main page, the number of pages visited and the amount of time spent on the site. Data were gathered from students at a small, private university in the southwest part of the United States to answer six hypotheses which posited that subjects with higher involvement in a topic presented on the Web and a more positive attitude toward the Web would tend to select …
Date: May 2003
Creator: Langford, James David
System: The UNT Digital Library
Accessing the Power of Aesthetics in Human-computer Interaction (open access)

Accessing the Power of Aesthetics in Human-computer Interaction

In information systems design there are two schools of thought about what factors are necessary to create a successful information system. The first, conventional view holds that system performance is a key, so that efficiency characteristics such as system usability and task completion time are primary concerns of system designers. The second, emerging view holds that the visual design is also the key, so that visual interface characteristics such as visual appeal, in addition to efficiency characteristics, are critical concerns of designers. This view contends that visual design enhances system use. Thus, this work examines the effects of visual design on computer systems. Visual design exerts its influence on systems through two mechanisms: it evokes affective responses from IT users, such as arousal and pleasure and it influences individuals’ cognitive assessments of systems. Given that both affective and cognitive reactions are significant antecedents of user behaviors in the IT realm, it is no surprise that visual design plays a critical role in information system success. Human-computer-interaction literature indicates that visual aesthetics positively influences such information success factors as usability, online trust, user satisfaction, flow experience, and so on. Although academic research has introduced visual design into the Information Systems (IS) …
Date: August 2013
Creator: Chenyan, Xu
System: The UNT Digital Library
Accident versus Essence:  Investigating the Relationship Among Information Systems Development and Requirements Capabilities and Perceptions of Enterprise Architecture (open access)

Accident versus Essence: Investigating the Relationship Among Information Systems Development and Requirements Capabilities and Perceptions of Enterprise Architecture

Information systems (IS) are indelibly linked to the global economy and are indispensable to society and organizations. Despite the decisive function of IS in organizations today, IS development problems continue to plague organizations. The failure to get the system requirements right is considered to be one of the primary, if not the most significant, reasons for this high IS failure rate. Getting requirements right is most notably identified with Frederick Brooks' contention that requirements are the essence of what IT professionals do, all the rest being accidents or risk management. However, enterprise architecture (EA) may also provide the discipline to bridge the gap between effective requirements, organizational objectives, and the actual IS implementations. The intent of this research is to examine the relationship between IS development capabilities and requirements analysis and design capabilities within the context of enterprise architecture. To accomplish this, a survey of IT professionals within the Society for Information Management (SIM) was conducted. Results indicate support for the hypothesized relationship between IS development and requirements capabilities. The hypothesized relationships with the organizational demographics were not supported nor was the hypothesized positive relationship between requirements capabilities and EA perceptions. However, the nature of the relationship of requirements and …
Date: August 2009
Creator: Salmans, Brian R.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Accommodating People Safety Curriculum for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students

Children with disabilities are three to four times more likely to be abused than their non-disabled peers due to the impact of challenges related to behavior, cognition, language, social skills, and communication skills. In September of 2018, the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) specifically noted the need to establish maltreatment prevention and response curricula and promote research and advocacy surrounding maltreatment of children with disabilities. One common curriculum recommended is Kidpower®. While Kidpower® shows promise in increasing people safety skills and offers some basic accommodations for use with disabled populations, a complete accommodation plan for deaf or hard of hearing students has not been developed. The purpose of this study was to explore how Kidpower® curriculum could be accommodated to meet the unique needs of deaf and hard of hearing students from the perspective of the deaf education community, including deaf adults, deaf education teachers, deaf education teacher preparation faculty, and parents with deaf or hard of hearing children. A combination of focus groups and interviews were utilized to review lessons and homework from the Kidpower® curriculum. Participants gave feedback on obstacles and ideas for accommodations and modifications that would mediate the challenges. Data were inductively coded and analyzed for …
Date: May 2021
Creator: Johnson, Jennifer A. L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Accompanied Solo Song of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries (open access)

The Accompanied Solo Song of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries

The purpose of this thesis is to discuss the changes and developments of the accompanied solo song throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, including instrument usage and song types.
Date: August 1953
Creator: McCarty, Hurshelene Journey
System: The UNT Digital Library
Accomplished Teachers' Instructional Decisions About Shakespeare (open access)

Accomplished Teachers' Instructional Decisions About Shakespeare

Teachers' decisions are a powerful influence on student learning and it is important to fully document accomplished teachers' instructional decisions, as well as to investigate possible influences on those decisions. Shakespearean dramas are central to high school curricula across the U.S. and pose particular instructional challenges, therefore teachers' decisions about teaching these texts are of particular interest. There is limited empirical research, however, about these instructional decisions. Thus, the purpose of this study was to describe how four accomplished high school English teachers working on a single campus make instructional decisions about teaching a Shakespearean play. Specifically, research questions addressed teachers' decisions regarding the teaching of a Shakespearean play and various influences on those decisions (self-reports and inferences from the data). Case study methodology was used, including an inductive analysis of individual teacher interviews, classroom observations, focus group, instructional artifacts, and researcher's journal. The findings revealed that instructional activities described by these teachers addressed support for meaning-making during four stages of reading instruction: (a) before, during, and after; (b) before; (c) during; and (d) after. Comparison of these cases suggests that, although each teacher brings personal preferences and unique background knowledge to her instructional decisions, all make decisions to promote …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Parris, Sheri Rene’
System: The UNT Digital Library
According to the Goal: How Eliyahu Goldratt Helps Organizations Examine Their Processes to Achieve Maximum Results (open access)

According to the Goal: How Eliyahu Goldratt Helps Organizations Examine Their Processes to Achieve Maximum Results

Thesis written by a student in the UNT Honors College discussing Eliyahu Goldratt's "Theory of Constraints," summarizes the book "The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement," and examines a company applying this theory.
Date: Autumn 2005
Creator: Winter, Christian
System: The UNT Digital Library
"According to Their Wills and Pleasures": The Sexual Stereotyping of Mormon Men in American Film and Television (open access)

"According to Their Wills and Pleasures": The Sexual Stereotyping of Mormon Men in American Film and Television

This thesis examines the representation of Mormon men in American film and television, with particular regard for sexual identity and the cultural association of Mormonism with sexuality. The history of Mormonism's unique marital practices and doctrinal approaches to gender and sexuality have developed three common stereotypes for Mormon male characters: the purposeful heterosexual, the monstrous polygamist, and the self-destructive homosexual. Depending upon the sexual stereotype in the narrative, the Mormon Church can function as a proponent for nineteenth-century views of sexuality, a symbol for society's repressed sexuality, or a metaphor for the oppressive effects of performing gender and sexuality according to ideological constraints. These ideas are presented in Mormon films such as Saturday's Warrior (1989) as well as mainstream films such as A Mormon Maid (1917) and Advise and Consent (1962).
Date: May 2009
Creator: Sutton, Travis
System: The UNT Digital Library
Accountability in Schools:  a Study of High School Accountability Ratings and College Success (open access)

Accountability in Schools: a Study of High School Accountability Ratings and College Success

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between high school campus accountability ratings, college readiness indicators, and the percent of students who achieved first year college success. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the relationship between the variables. Data was analyzed for two-year and four-year postsecondary educational institutions which were divided by eight school district types. Regression analysis of the relationship between high school campus accountability ratings and the percent of students who achieved first year college success for four- year post secondary educational institutions revealed statistically significant results ranging from R2 =.179 to R2 = .220. Similar results were found for two-year post secondary educational institutions with statistically significant results ranging from R2 = .049 to R2 = .218. The results indicated negligible to small relationships between the variables. Regression results of the analysis for the relationship between college readiness indicators and the percent of students who achieved first year college success revealed statistically significant results for 2 - year post secondary educational institutions ranging from R2 = .077 to R2 = .596 and for 4 -year post secondary educational institutions ranging from R2 = .048 to R2 = .304. These results indicated …
Date: August 2013
Creator: Orsborn, Shannon
System: The UNT Digital Library
Accounting for Human Resources: Implications for Theory and Practice. (open access)

Accounting for Human Resources: Implications for Theory and Practice.

Knowledge workers are an important resource for the typical modern business firm, yet financial reporting ignores such resources. Some researchers contend that the accounting profession has stressed reliability in order to make the accounting appear objective. Others concur, noting that accounting is an insecure profession and adopts strict rules when faced with uncertainty. Accountants have promulgated a strict rule to expense human resource costs, although many know that such resources have future benefits. Some researchers suggest that any discipline must modify its language in order to initiate change toward providing useful social ameliorations. If accounting theorists extend this idea to the accounting lexicon.s description of investments in human resources, investors and other accounting user groups might gain greater insight into how a firm fosters and nourishes human capital. I tested three hypotheses related to this issue by administering an experiment designed to assess financial analysts. perceptions about alternative financial statement treatments of human resources in an investment recommendation task. I predicted that (1) analysts' perceptions of the reliability (relevance) of the information they received would decrease (increase) as the treatment of human resources increasingly violated GAAP (became more current-oriented), (2) analysts exposed to alternative accounting treatments would report a lower …
Date: December 2001
Creator: Stovall, Olin Scott
System: The UNT Digital Library
Accounting for Self-Insurance--Theory and Practice (open access)

Accounting for Self-Insurance--Theory and Practice

This study is an investigation of the theoretical accounting viewpoints and the accounting procedures used in business practice for the origination and administration of a self-insurance program. The purpose of this study is to compare the correct theoretical accounting procedures for self-insurance planning with those used in practice today.
Date: August 1957
Creator: Saleh, John Thomas
System: The UNT Digital Library
Accounting Instruction in Public Junior (Community) Colleges in the United States (open access)

Accounting Instruction in Public Junior (Community) Colleges in the United States

The focus of this study was the status of accounting instruction in public junior (community) colleges in the United States. The purposes were: (1) to make a survey and comparison of the accounting instruction which was being offered by the four types of post-secondary public institutions as listed in the Directory of Junior Colleges, (2) to determine the extent to which specially prepared materials were being utilized, (3) to determine the methods of instruction which were being utilized, and (4) to determine the work experience and educational level of the average full-time instructor who taught accounting in these institutions. The following conclusions have been drawn from an analysis of the findings: 1. The post-secondary institutions in the United States have accepted the challenge to provide technical accounting instructional programs provided this acceptance is indicated by the number of courses in accounting offered. 2. Although the institutions reported extensive offerings of different accounting courses, the instructional materials and methods were found to be the same as those in traditional accounting classes at four-year institutions which offer only degree programs in accounting. 3. Use of the cooperative method of instruction for technical accounting students was minimal. 4. The accounting instructors employed by …
Date: December 1974
Creator: Young, Ralph LeRoy
System: The UNT Digital Library
Accounting Measurement Bias and Executive Compensation Systems (open access)

Accounting Measurement Bias and Executive Compensation Systems

This dissertation presents empirical evidence intended to help answer two research questions. The first question asks whether executive compensation systems appear to exploit the bias in accounting-based performance measures in order to reduce the volatility in executive compensation and to allocate incentives more effectively across the range of activities performed by the executive. The second question asks whether compensation systems systematically differ between firms that use alternative accounting methods and whether any such systematic difference helps explain accounting choice. Parameters estimated in fixed-effects endogenous switching regression models were used to test the risk-shielding and incentive-allocation hypotheses. The models were estimated across a dataset consisting of 1151 executive-year observations of annual compensation paid to 222 top-level executives in 40 oil and gas firms. The dataset was partitioned by accounting method and separate models estimated for the full cost and successful efforts partitions. The tests provided modest support for the risk-shielding and incentive-allocation hypotheses, revealing that accounting measurement bias is used to focus incentives for effort in the exploration activity and to reduce executives' exposure to production risk. The design also allowed an estimate of the proportional change in compensation that was realized from the accounting choice actually made.
Date: December 1994
Creator: Boone, Jeffery Paul
System: The UNT Digital Library
Accounting Regulation and Information Asymmetry in the Capital Markets: An Empirical Study of Accounting Standard SFAS no 87 (open access)

Accounting Regulation and Information Asymmetry in the Capital Markets: An Empirical Study of Accounting Standard SFAS no 87

This study uses both basic and self-selection regression models to test three hypotheses about the effect of SFAS 87 disclosures on information asymmetry during 1985- 1987. Both types of models test the hypotheses after controlling for changes in the inventory holding and order processing costs of the spread, while the self-selection models also control for potential self-selection bias.
Date: August 1994
Creator: Lin, Wen-shan
System: The UNT Digital Library