Light, Bright, and Out of Sight: Hollywood’s Representation of the Tragic Mulatto (open access)

Light, Bright, and Out of Sight: Hollywood’s Representation of the Tragic Mulatto

The purpose of this research is to examine the longevity of the stereotype of the tragic mulatto in American film history. Specifically, my research focuses on the portrayals and perceptions of biracial actresses. Media informs, entertains, and influences how we, and especially youth, self-identify and interact with others. This research focuses on the portrayal of biracial actresses throughout film history. It is also important in its investigation of the perpetuation of the one-drop rule. In this research, I will examine if historical stereotypes of tragic mulatto are apparent in contemporary Hollywood film. The methodologies used in this research include a content analysis of films with biracial actresses and an online survey of respondents’ perceptions of four actresses. Statistical techniques used for analysis include ordinary least square regression and multinomial logistic regression. Findings suggest that the tragic mulatto stereotype is not blatant in contemporary Hollywood film, but issues of colorism may be apparent.
Date: December 2013
Creator: Brunson, Alicia
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Assessment of the United States Food and Agricultural Research System (open access)

An Assessment of the United States Food and Agricultural Research System

A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that addresses issues of "the roles of the research participants, long-range research priority planning, funding for research, and the organizational structure of the food and agricultural research organizations" as they relate to increasing demands on agricultural resources (p. iii).
Date: December 1981
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Human Rights and the Strategic Use of US Foreign Food Aid (open access)

Human Rights and the Strategic Use of US Foreign Food Aid

How does respect for human rights affect the disbursement of food aid by US foreign policymakers? Scholars analyzing foreign aid generally look at only total economic aid, military aid or a combination of both. However, for a more nuanced understanding of human rights as a determinant of foreign aid, the discrete foreign aid programs must be examined. By disentangling component-programs from total aid, this analysis demonstrates how human rights influence policymakers by allowing them to distribute food aid to human rights abusing countries. Consequently, policymakers can promote strategic objectives with food aid, while legally restricted from distributing other aid. The primary theoretical argument, which links increasing human rights abuse with increasing food aid, is supported by results from a Heckman model. This procedure models the two-stage decision-making process where foreign policymakers first, select countries for aid and then, distribute aid to those selected.
Date: December 2007
Creator: Fariss, Christopher J.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Determinants of Mental Health Problems Among College Students (open access)

Determinants of Mental Health Problems Among College Students

Many college students have reported struggling with mental health problems while dealing with challenging demands of college. The initial theoretical framework for this research was Pearlin's stress process model (SPM). Building on the SPM, the three additional mediating variables of perceived control, meaninglessness, and financial worries were added to create a composite model for the research. Mental health outcomes in the model were measured by a comprehensive range of factors, which included: psychological distress, suicide, substance abuse, and anger. Data were collected from a non-probability convenience sample of 463 undergraduate students attending a large state supported university in the southwestern region of the United States. Among the social status variables measured, being married, female, and white were significant predictors of poor mental health in the sampled college students. Poor self-image, feeling of meaninglessness, and worrying about current and future finances were significant mediating variables. Poor mental health could make individuals overwhelmed and discouraged. This is a formula for failure in college. The results of this study contribute to a better understanding of the correlates of mental health problems among college students. A greater understanding means that families and college administrations will have better ideas about how to intervene to reduce …
Date: December 2010
Creator: Mirbaha-Hashemi, Fariba
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Perceptions of parents of students with autism towards the IEP meeting. (open access)

Perceptions of parents of students with autism towards the IEP meeting.

The purpose of the study was to investigate how parents of students with autism perceived individualized education program (IEP) meetings. I determined factors that contributed to the belief held by parents that their children were or were not being properly served by IEP meetings. Parental relationships with educators, IEP meeting experiences, IEP outcomes, and treatment by educators were revealed through participant input. Parents were asked to share their experiences of previous IEP meetings. Additionally, parents provided input regarding practices that school districts could take to improve IEP meetings, and actions that parents could take to serve as better advocates for their children. Research findings indicated that parents did not perceive themselves as being treated as equals during IEP meetings. Parents believed that their input was not valued or welcomed by educators. Not having an equal voice toward their child's education prevented parents from positively influencing outcomes in their child's IEP meetings in terms of obtaining quality services and building positive relations with educators. Parents further revealed that educators failed to implement proper IEP protocol. According to parents, student objectives agreed upon in IEP meetings were often not always fully implemented for students receiving special education services. Research findings concluded that …
Date: December 2004
Creator: Fish, Wade W.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Food Safety in the 111th Congress: H.R. 2749 and S. 510 (open access)

Food Safety in the 111th Congress: H.R. 2749 and S. 510

This report discusses whether the current food safety system has the resources, authority, and structural organization to safeguard the health of American consumers, who spend more than $1 trillion on food each year. Also at issue is whether federal food safety laws, first enacted in the early 1900s, have kept pace with the significant changes that have occurred in the food production, processing, and marketing sectors since then.
Date: December 1, 2010
Creator: Johnson, Renée; Williams, Erin D.; Burrows, Vanessa K.; Upton, Harold F. & Monke, Jim
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Comparison of Personality Traits Between College Students Reared Within a Selected Polar Region by Non-Native Parents and College Students Reared Within Non-Polar Regions by Native Parents (open access)

A Comparison of Personality Traits Between College Students Reared Within a Selected Polar Region by Non-Native Parents and College Students Reared Within Non-Polar Regions by Native Parents

The problem with which this study was concerned was that of determining of climatic circumstances significantly affect personality development.
Date: December 1971
Creator: Pope, John Winfred
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Study of the Adjustment Problems Anticipated and Those Actually Experienced by International Students Enrolled at North Texas State University (open access)

A Study of the Adjustment Problems Anticipated and Those Actually Experienced by International Students Enrolled at North Texas State University

This study primarily attempts to (1) identify the specific adjustment problems anticipated by international students prior to departure from their home countries and those actually experienced while studying in America, (2) compare any significant, differences that may exist between problems as anticipated and as experienced in terms of levels of difficulty, and (3) investigate the discrepancy means between problems as anticipated and as experienced in relation to selected personal variables. The instrument used to gather the needed data is a questionnaire developed by the researcher. The initial questionnaire of 182 problem items was validated by a panel of experts and pretested on a small sample of international students. The revised questionnaire consists of two main sections; Section A contains fourteen items of demographic and personal data on the subjects, and Section B contains seventy-two items on problems that are purposely categorized into the eight related areas of student personnel services of (1) communication and language, (2) academic, (3) social-cultural, (4) psychological-personal, (5) financial, (6) health, (7) housing and food, and (8) international student advising.
Date: December 1980
Creator: Yeung, Andrew Yue-yan
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Developmental Analysis of Sentence Production Errors in the Writing of Secondary School Students (open access)

A Developmental Analysis of Sentence Production Errors in the Writing of Secondary School Students

This study measured the effect of mode of discourse and developmental factors on composition length, syntactic complexity, and sentence-production error rate in the writing of secondary school students. The study also included a descriptive analysis of syntactic and logical patterns found in the sentence production errors. The 297 students whose writing samples provided the data for this study were enrolled in grades 7, 9, and 11. The students were divided into low and high within-grade developmental groups. Each student wrote two compositions, one in the descriptive mode and one in the persuasive mode.
Date: December 1981
Creator: Stromberg, Linda J. (Linda Jones)
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Improving self-efficacy in college students: A modified adventure therapy program. (open access)

Improving self-efficacy in college students: A modified adventure therapy program.

Adventure therapy employs a technique in which therapists use controlled amounts of stress to bring about change in the behavior of clients. One of the domains in which adventure therapy reports improvement is that of self-efficacy. Perceived self-efficacy is the belief that individuals have in their ability to overcome and change their situation in life. This study examines the effect of a modified adventure therapy program on the perceived self-efficacy of college students who were enrolled in an Outdoor Pursuits course at a major metropolitan university. Students received 16 weeks of outdoor adventure therapy programming that culminated in a voluntary weekend camping trip. The students were administered the General Self-Efficacy (GSE) scale on the second day of class to determine a baseline level of self-efficacy to be compared to the posttest completed on the last day of class. The study examined 3 consecutive semesters of archival data collected by the researcher while instructing the course. Fifty-six participants across the 3 semesters were usable for data analysis. The results show there is a significant difference between students' level of perceived self-efficacy from pre- to posttest, and no difference in the effect on gender, classification of students, or the participation of the …
Date: December 2006
Creator: Peebles, Larry Mason
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
College Readiness and Dual Credit Participation of Alternative High School Students (open access)

College Readiness and Dual Credit Participation of Alternative High School Students

The purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which alternative schools add value to the college readiness of their students, as well as to measure the capacity of alternative school students to successfully complete dual credit courses while enrolled at the alternative school. This mixed methods study utilized an exploratory approach with a descriptive research design to explore the extent to which alternative schools produce college-ready students. The Texas Success Initiative Assessment was used to measure participants' academic readiness levels in mathematics, reading, and writing. Additionally, participants had the opportunity to provide their own perspectives on their college readiness levels through a student survey and semi-structured face-to-face interview. The results of this study reveal that the college readiness levels of alternative high school students varied across academic areas. Of the tested participants, 41.1% were college ready in reading, 52.1% in writing, and 16.7% in mathematics. Additionally, the findings reveal that dual credit course participation was not a viable option because of course prerequisites and the amount of time needed to complete dual credit courses. Results of this study expand on the literature to provide a better understanding of the effectiveness of alternative school programs, the college readiness …
Date: December 2017
Creator: Bradley, Jeffrey James
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Stories about Culture, Education, and Literacy of Immigrant Graduate Students and Their Familes (open access)

Stories about Culture, Education, and Literacy of Immigrant Graduate Students and Their Familes

Every year many immigrant families become members of United States communities. Among these are international graduate students whose lives and identities, as well as those of their families, are changed as they negotiate between cultures and experiences. In this study, three Saudi graduate students share their stories about culture, education and literacy. This research employs narrative inquiry to answer the following question: What stories do Saudi immigrant students tell regarding their educational beliefs and experiences, as well as the experiences of their children in the U.S. and in Saudi Arabia? The participants' interview texts are the main data source. The three-dimensional narrative inquiry spaces of temporality, sociality, and place help identify the funds of knowledge in place throughout these narratives. Data analysis uses funds of knowledge as a theoretical lens to make visible the critical events in each narrative. These events point to themes that support the creation of a third space in which the participants negotiate being in two cultures as well as their storying across time to understand their own experiences. Themes of facing challenges, problem solving, adaptation, and decision-making connect these stories and support the discussion of findings within the personal, practical, and social justifications for this …
Date: December 2017
Creator: Mirza, Hala
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Bilingual Educators' Practices for Supporting Hispanic Bilingual Students' Success in School (open access)

Bilingual Educators' Practices for Supporting Hispanic Bilingual Students' Success in School

This narrative inquiry study sought the voices of bilingual teachers through their lived experiences in relation to the success of Hispanic emergent bilinguals in schools. Two research questions guided the study: (1) What practices do bilingual educators consider important in helping Hispanic emergent bilingual students succeed in schools? and (2) How do bilingual teachers negotiate the curriculum and school structures to support Hispanic bilingual students' success in their classrooms? Two theoretical frameworks were used. Constructivism provided the structure for honoring the lived experiences of these teachers and culturally relevant pedagogy provided the lenses of culture, funds of knowledge, and deep sociolinguistic awareness. The use of narrative inquiry as a methodology affirmed the bilingual teachers' voices as important and authoritative sources of knowledge. Semi-structured interviews and classroom observations allowed the participants to engage as storytellers about their history and experiences that contributed to answering the questions. Three resonant reverberations emerged from the analysis: (a) the emerging rhythms of the classroom; (b) the realms of instructional and learning design; and (c) the orientation towards a culturally relevant pedagogy. These major findings revealed that teachers were student-oriented while also being content-oriented. They designed a positive learning environment by tapping into their students' funds …
Date: December 2022
Creator: Marcum Lerwick, Ana Patricia
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Attention and Information Processing Variables in Hypothetically Psychosis-Prone College Students (open access)

Attention and Information Processing Variables in Hypothetically Psychosis-Prone College Students

Considering the explanations of schizophrenia that presume schizophrenia spectrum disorders (e.g., schizotypal personality disorder, schizoaffective disorder, etc.) to be genetically related to schizophrenia, the purpose of this study was to investigate the attention and information processing abilities of individuals who have been identified as schizotypal or psychosis-prone (i.e., schizophrenia spectrum functioning in individuals who do not have schizophrenia). Research indicates that persons identified as psychosis-prone may show attention and information processing deficits similar to individuals with schizophrenia. The identification and description of individuals who later decompensate into schizophrenia would advance the understanding of schizophrenia and its causes. The Chapman's PER-MAG scale (Perceptual Aberration-Magical Ideation) was used to identify 35 hypothetically psychosis-prone college students (schizotypy group) and 42 normal college students (nonschizotypy group) out of the 806 volunteer subjects. Their attention and information processing abilities were measured by COGLAB (a multiparadigmatic cognitive test battery that represents a continuum of cognitive functions, from preattentional to attentional, to conceptual). Their social adjustment was measured by the Premorbid Adjustment Scale (PAS). The hypotheses of the study were that the hypothetically psychosis-prone subjects would perform poorer than controls on COGLAB measures and that COGLAB measures of a more molar nature would better predict social adjustment …
Date: December 1995
Creator: Ottesen, James McBride
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Study of the Cultural Interaction Between Thai Students and North Texas State University (open access)

A Study of the Cultural Interaction Between Thai Students and North Texas State University

Because international students are an increasingly significant aspect in American colleges and universities and on the North Texas State University campus in particular, this study was undertaken to explore the intercultural clash which Thai students at North Texas State University experience. Twenty-two Thai students were interviewed in depth using the oral history method. Ten faculty and administrators who work with international students were interviewed concerning their observations of Thai students. The information gleaned from these thirty-two interviews and from an examination of the basic socio-cultural differences between Thailand and the United States resulted in the isolation of the following basic difficulties. 1. Thais do not have command of written and oral English. 2. Americans do not have an appreciation of foreigners and lack tolerance in everyday exchanges with them. 3. Thais avoid becoming involved in American society. 4. Thais are not efficiently prepared for the American classroom. 5. American instructors do not appear prepared to handle the problems of Thai students. The study also developed a number of suggested solutions: 1. Raise the consciousness of Americans concerning Thai students; 2. Provide more effective ways of improving oral and listening skills in the English proficiency of Thai students beginning with American-directed …
Date: December 1986
Creator: Bohlcke, Diane
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
The effects of commitment, commitment with rational justification, and an educational technique on smoking behavior with college students (open access)

The effects of commitment, commitment with rational justification, and an educational technique on smoking behavior with college students

Eight groups of approximately ten college students each who smoked at least one package of cigarettes a day were observed for two 30 -minute sessions a week for a 5-week period. During the treatment session, students either made commitments not to smoke during post-treatment sessions, made commitments along with reasons, only gave reasons why they should not smoke, or made no statements.
Date: December 1975
Creator: O'Banion, Dan R.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Information Seeking in a Balkan Country: A Case Study of College Students Seeking and Use of Information (open access)

Information Seeking in a Balkan Country: A Case Study of College Students Seeking and Use of Information

Using a case study approach this study investigated how college students in Vlore, Albania seek and use information resources for academic and personal needs and whether they follow a pattern similar to Brenda Dervin's sense-making, or Marcia Bates' berry-picking information seeking models. Influencing factors studied were economic factors, information communication technologies and information culture/policy. A literature review showed that no previous published research has studied information seeking behavior of college age students and faculty in Albania. Thirty-four college students and two full time faculty completed a survey and a smaller group were interviewed. The results of the study indicate that Google is the main source for seeking information for both academic and personal purposes. College students are not introduced or taught on how to evaluate information sources. The information communication technology needs improvement to support information needs. The library as a major information resource was not apparent to most students. College students utilize berry-picking as the information seeking model and faculty use sense-making, as a model of information seeking. This study adds to the knowledge of the information seeking behavior of college students in a developing country, the need for information literacy courses at the university level, and the identification …
Date: December 2018
Creator: Kabashi, Artemida
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): A Primer on Eligibility and Benefits (open access)

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): A Primer on Eligibility and Benefits

This report focuses on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligibility and the form and function of benefits. SNAP, formerly called the Food Stamp Program, is designed primarily to increase the food purchasing power of eligible low-income households to help them buy a nutritionally adequate low-cost diet.
Date: December 29, 2014
Creator: Aussenberg, Randy A.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Students' and Teachers' Perceptions of Culturally Responsive Teaching: A Case Study of an Urban Middle School (open access)

Students' and Teachers' Perceptions of Culturally Responsive Teaching: A Case Study of an Urban Middle School

This was a qualitative study that used the procedures of case study design while incorporating ethnographic techniques of interviewing and non-participant observation in classrooms with six selected students, six teachers, and eight interviews of selected administrators and staff members in one middle school in a large Texas urban school district. The purpose of this study was to understand the educational experiences and perceptions of selected immigrant students and their mainstream teachers. Following the method of case study design, the educational experiences of English Language Learner (ELL) students were examined in the naturally occurring context of the school and the classroom. Because the goal of case studies is to understand a given phenomenon from the perceptions of the participants (referred to as “emic” perspective) all participants were interviewed in-depth in order to understand their unique perceptions. The study took place during a five-month period in the spring of 2002. Data were analyzed concurrently during data collection and were framed by Geneva Gay's (2000) characteristics of culturally responsive teaching. The findings and interpretation of data are divided into three parts that encompass the results of the five research questions that guided this study. Part one presents the teachers' perceptions and addresses the …
Date: December 2002
Creator: Curtin, Ellen Mary
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Behavior Management Techniques Used by Teachers of Emotionally/behaviorally Disordered Students in Various Educational Settings (open access)

Behavior Management Techniques Used by Teachers of Emotionally/behaviorally Disordered Students in Various Educational Settings

The purpose of this study was to delineate the differences between the types of behavioral management techniques used by teachers of students with emotional/behavioral disorders.
Date: December 1998
Creator: Elizondo, Leigh A.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Ninth-grade Students’ Negotiation Of Aesthetic, Efferent, And Critical Stances In Response To A Novel Set In Afghanistan (open access)

Ninth-grade Students’ Negotiation Of Aesthetic, Efferent, And Critical Stances In Response To A Novel Set In Afghanistan

This qualitative, action research study was guided by two primary research questions. First, how do students negotiate aesthetic, efferent, and critical stances when reading a novel set in Afghanistan? Second, how do aesthetic and efferent stances contribute to or hinder the adoption of a critical stance? A large body of research exists that examines student responses to literature, and much of that research is based on the transactional theory of reading. However, it remains unclear how critical literacy fits into this theory. This study describes how one group of high school students’ aesthetic and efferent responses to a novel set in Afghanistan supported their development of critical stances. Six students enrolled in a ninth-grade English course participated in this study. Data were collected for 13 weeks. Data included two individual interviews with each student, student writing assignments in the form of 6 assigned journal entries and 7 assigned essays, transcriptions of 12 class discussions, field notes, lesson plans, a teacher researcher journal, and research memos. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method. Three major findings emerged from this study. First, class discussions provided a context for students to adopt stances that were not evident in their individual written responses …
Date: December 2011
Creator: Taliaferro, Cheryl
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Sugar as food. (open access)

Sugar as food.

Discusses the sources of sugar, its uses, and its chemical composition.
Date: December 21, 1906
Creator: United States. Dept. of Agriculture.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Exploratory User Research for a Website that Provides Resources for Educators of American Indian Students in Higher Education (open access)

Exploratory User Research for a Website that Provides Resources for Educators of American Indian Students in Higher Education

Several studies have indicated that American Indian students in the United States higher education system confront unique challenges that derive from a legacy of colonialism and assimilationist policies (Huff 1997). Several scholars, American Indian and non-Native alike, have explored the effects of this history upon students in higher education (Brayboy 2004; Guillory and Wolverton 2008; Waterman and Lindley 2013). Very few, however, have explored the role of the educators of American Indian students, and most of the literature focuses on K-12 educational settings (McCarty and Lee 2014; Yong and Hoffman 2014). This thesis examines exploratory user research conducted to generate a foundational understanding of educators of American Indian students in higher education. Utilizing methods from design anthropology and user experience, semi-structured interviews and think-aloud sessions were conducted, almost exclusively virtually, for 17 participants. This research was conducted for a client, Fire & Associates, as part of the applied thesis process. Findings revealed a complex web of needs for educators of American Indian students in higher education related to teaching diverse students, the use of media and technology in the classroom, and the process of networking among other educators. The research culminated in content and design implications for the Fire & …
Date: December 2016
Creator: Roth, Heather S.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Changes in Social Distance Among American Undergraduate Students Participating in a Study Abroad Program in China (open access)

Changes in Social Distance Among American Undergraduate Students Participating in a Study Abroad Program in China

As the world becomes increasingly interdependent, mutual understanding becomes increasingly important. Therefore, it is essential that people strive for reductions in social distance on an international level. Study abroad is one of the ways to approach internationalization and promote understanding among different peoples and cultures. Prior research has been done on the degrees of social distance between people from different cultures; however, little research has been done regarding changes that cultural immersion produces among those who reside in different cultures. Studies about study abroad programs have focused on cultural sensitivity and adaptability, yet few have combined the study abroad experience with the perceptions of self and other cultural groups. This study presents a framework for understanding people through intercultural activities. It studied social distance and attitude changes brought about in social distance as an artifact of cultural immersion. The study took place both in China and in the United States. It focused on the social distance among American undergraduate students who participated in a China Study Abroad program sponsored by the University of North Texas. The study measured before and after social distance of a group of American students who studied abroad in China. The study abroad program itself was …
Date: December 2007
Creator: Chen, Danxia
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library