States

Language

The Adoption and Use of Electronic Information Resources by a Non-Traditional User Group: Automotive Service Technicians. (open access)

The Adoption and Use of Electronic Information Resources by a Non-Traditional User Group: Automotive Service Technicians.

The growing complexity of machines has led to a concomitant increase in the amount and complexity of the information needed by those charged with servicing them. This, in turn, has led to a need for more robust methods for storing and distributing information and for a workforce more sophisticated in its use of information resources. As a result, the service trades have "professionalized," adopting more rigorous academic standards and developing ongoing certification programs. The current paper deals with the acceptance of advanced electronic information technology by skilled service personnel, specifically, automotive service technicians. The theoretical basis of the study is Davis' technology acceptance model. The purpose of the study is to determine the effects of three external factors on the operation of the model: age, work experience, and education/certification level. The research design is in two parts, beginning with an onsite observation and interviews to establish the environment. During the second part of the research process a survey was administered to a sample of automotive service technicians. Results indicated significant inverse relationships between age and acceptance and between experience and acceptance. A significant positive relationship was shown between education, particularly certification, and acceptance.
Date: May 2006
Creator: Almquist, Arne J.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Bayesian Probabilistic Reasoning Applied to Mathematical Epidemiology for Predictive Spatiotemporal Analysis of Infectious Diseases (open access)

Bayesian Probabilistic Reasoning Applied to Mathematical Epidemiology for Predictive Spatiotemporal Analysis of Infectious Diseases

Abstract Probabilistic reasoning under uncertainty suits well to analysis of disease dynamics. The stochastic nature of disease progression is modeled by applying the principles of Bayesian learning. Bayesian learning predicts the disease progression, including prevalence and incidence, for a geographic region and demographic composition. Public health resources, prioritized by the order of risk levels of the population, will efficiently minimize the disease spread and curtail the epidemic at the earliest. A Bayesian network representing the outbreak of influenza and pneumonia in a geographic region is ported to a newer region with different demographic composition. Upon analysis for the newer region, the corresponding prevalence of influenza and pneumonia among the different demographic subgroups is inferred for the newer region. Bayesian reasoning coupled with disease timeline is used to reverse engineer an influenza outbreak for a given geographic and demographic setting. The temporal flow of the epidemic among the different sections of the population is analyzed to identify the corresponding risk levels. In comparison to spread vaccination, prioritizing the limited vaccination resources to the higher risk groups results in relatively lower influenza prevalence. HIV incidence in Texas from 1989-2002 is analyzed using demographic based epidemic curves. Dynamic Bayesian networks are integrated with …
Date: May 2006
Creator: Abbas, Kaja Moinudeen
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Integrated Architecture for Ad Hoc Grids (open access)

An Integrated Architecture for Ad Hoc Grids

Extensive research has been conducted by the grid community to enable large-scale collaborations in pre-configured environments. grid collaborations can vary in scale and motivation resulting in a coarse classification of grids: national grid, project grid, enterprise grid, and volunteer grid. Despite the differences in scope and scale, all the traditional grids in practice share some common assumptions. They support mutually collaborative communities, adopt a centralized control for membership, and assume a well-defined non-changing collaboration. To support grid applications that do not confirm to these assumptions, we propose the concept of ad hoc grids. In the context of this research, we propose a novel architecture for ad hoc grids that integrates a suite of component frameworks. Specifically, our architecture combines the community management framework, security framework, abstraction framework, quality of service framework, and reputation framework. The overarching objective of our integrated architecture is to support a variety of grid applications in a self-controlled fashion with the help of a self-organizing ad hoc community. We introduce mechanisms in our architecture that successfully isolates malicious elements from the community, inherently improving the quality of grid services and extracting deterministic quality assurances from the underlying infrastructure. We also emphasize on the technology-independence of our …
Date: May 2006
Creator: Amin, Kaizar Abdul Husain
System: The UNT Digital Library
Functional Ontology Construction: A Pragmatic Approach to Addressing Problems Concerning the Individual and the Informing Environment (open access)

Functional Ontology Construction: A Pragmatic Approach to Addressing Problems Concerning the Individual and the Informing Environment

Functional ontology construction (FOC) is an approach for modeling the relationships between a user and the informing environment by means of analysis of the user's behavior and the elements of the environment that have behavioral function. The FOC approach is an application of behavior analytic techniques and concepts to problems within information science. The FOC approach is both an alternative and a compliment to the cognitive viewpoint commonly found in models of behavior in information science. The basis for the synthesis of behavior analysis and information science is a shared tradition of pragmatism between the fields. The application of behavior analytic concepts brings with it the notion of selection by consequence. Selection is examined on the biological, behavioral, and cultural levels. Two perspicuous examples of the application of the FOC modeling approach are included. The first example looks at the document functioning as a reinforcer in a human operant experimental setting. The second example is an examination of the verbal behavior of expert film analyst, Raymond Bellour, the structure of a film he analyzed, and the elements of the film's structure that had behavioral function for Bellour. The FOC approach is examined within the ontological space of information science.
Date: May 2006
Creator: Anderson, Richard L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Influence of Fredrik Melius Christiansen on Six Minnesota Conductor-Composers (open access)

The Influence of Fredrik Melius Christiansen on Six Minnesota Conductor-Composers

F. Melius Christiansen was very influential in the a cappella choral tradition. He started his career in Norway and brought his expertise to the American Midwest. Christiansen established a name for himself while working at St. Olaf Lutheran College as the head of the music department. It was the blended choral sound and precision he was able to achieve and display with his new choir in 1912 that caught everyone's ear. He continued to succeed with national and international tours, allowing him to spread his new "St. Olaf" choral sound through his music, compositions, and conducting school. This study explores the influence of F. Melius Christiansen (1871-1955) and the Minnesota choral tradition on six subsequent conductor-composers' compositions and conducting styles, including: Olaf Christiansen (1901-1984), Paul J. Christiansen (1914-1997), Kenneth Jennings (b. 1925), Robert Scholz (b. 1940), René Clausen (b. 1953), and Kenneth Hodgson (b. 1939) using Schenkerian analysis.
Date: May 2006
Creator: Armendarez, Christina Marie
System: The UNT Digital Library
Regulation of pyrimidine biosynthesis and virulence factor production in wild type, Pyr- and Crc- mutants in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. (open access)

Regulation of pyrimidine biosynthesis and virulence factor production in wild type, Pyr- and Crc- mutants in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Previous research in our laboratory established that pyrB, pyrC or pyrD knock-out mutants in Pseudomonas aeruginosa required pyrimidines for growth. Each mutant was also discovered to be defective in the production of virulence factors. Moreover, the addition of exogenous uracil did not restore the mutant to wild type virulence levels. In an earlier study using non-pathogenic P. putida, mutants blocked in one of the first three enzymes of the pyrimidine pathway produced no pyoverdine pigment while mutants blocked in the fourth, fifth or sixth steps produced copious quantities of pigment, just like wild type P. putida. The present study explored the correlation between pyrimidine auxotrophy and pigment production in P. aeruginosa. Since the pigment pyoverdine is a siderophore it may also be considered a virulence factor. Other virulence factors tested included casein protease, elastase, hemolysin, swimming, swarming and twitching motilities, and iron binding capacity. In all cases, these virulence factors were significantly decreased in the pyrB, pyrC or pyrD mutants and even in the presence of uracil did not attain wild type levels. In order to complete this comprehensive study, pyrimidine mutants blocked in the fifth (pyrE) and sixth (pyrF) steps of the biosynthetic pathway were examined in P. aeruginosa. …
Date: May 2006
Creator: Asfour, Hani
System: The UNT Digital Library
Exploring the relationship between continuing professional education and job satisfaction for information technology professionals in higher education. (open access)

Exploring the relationship between continuing professional education and job satisfaction for information technology professionals in higher education.

The study had four main hypotheses that examined the relationships between job satisfaction and the reasons for attending continuing professional education (CPE). The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between training and job satisfaction with the objective of adding to the body of knowledge related to both job satisfaction and training and development. Participation Reasons Scale was used to measure the reasons for attending CPE activities, and the Job in General Scale and Job Descriptive Index was used to measure job satisfaction. The surveys were administered over the Internet to information technology professionals working in higher education. The participants were contacted by email with a message explaining the purpose of the research and a Web link that took the participants directly to the survey. After collecting the data, it was exported into SPSS and analyzed using Spearman Rho and Mann Whitney U statistics and a simple structure exploratory factor to determine any underlying structures between the job satisfaction and CPE.
Date: May 2006
Creator: Bennett, Sandra M.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Leaf elemental analysis and growth characteristics of mycorrhizal treated post oak seedlings via particle induced X-ray emission spectroscopy. (open access)

Leaf elemental analysis and growth characteristics of mycorrhizal treated post oak seedlings via particle induced X-ray emission spectroscopy.

Growth and element assimilation was investigated in post oak seedlings exposed to four different treatment combinations of fertilization and ectomycorrhizal inoculation. Element concentration in excised leaves was analyzed via particle induced X-ray emission spectrometry with a 1.8 MeV proton macrobeam. Mean growth was significantly different across the treatment groups as well as mean concentration of Mg, Al, S, K, Ca, Fe, Cu, and Zn. The data suggest that fertilization rather than mycorrhizal inoculation had a stronger influence on plant growth and nutrient uptake. A follow up study was conducted with a 3 MeV microbeam. A 850 μm2 scanned area of a post oak leaf produced topographical maps of 11 elements.
Date: May 2006
Creator: Boling, Blake C.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Relationships among Perception of Stigma, Ethnic Identity, and Acculturation in People Living with HIV/AIDS (open access)

The Relationships among Perception of Stigma, Ethnic Identity, and Acculturation in People Living with HIV/AIDS

The HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to grow and minorities have been affected at a disproportionate rate. Two factors that are hypothesized to be associated with HIV/AIDS stigma include ethnic identity and acculturation. The current study uses a diverse, gender-balanced sample (n= 201, aged 23-68) of African-Americans (54.2%), European Americans (31.8%), and Latinos/Hispanics (10%) to evaluate the relationship among the proposed variables. The study found that higher levels of ethnic identity and other group orientation were associated with lower levels of perceived HIV/AIDS stigma. A stepwise linear regression analysis (adjusted R2 = .13, F(11, 189) = 3.74, p < .001) revealed that as the level of inclusiveness of other ethnic groups (t = -4.263, p < .001) increases, the level of perceived HIV/AIDS stigma decreases. The results from this study suggest that the development of interventions that address stigma and inclusiveness of other ethnic groups may benefit people living with HIV/AIDS.
Date: May 2006
Creator: Chiapa, Ana Luz
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Opening Section of Isang Yun's My Land My People: A Cross-Section of Korean and Western Musical Features (open access)

The Opening Section of Isang Yun's My Land My People: A Cross-Section of Korean and Western Musical Features

Isang Yun's oratorio My Land My People is organized in four movements, and is scored for orchestra, solo voice and choir. Movements are titled as follows: Rjoksa (History), Hyon-Shil I (Presence I), Hyon-shil II (Presence II), and Mi-rae (Future). This document only covers from measures 1-38 of the first section of the first movement of this work. Even though this work is atonal, the composer emphasizes a harmonically moving, tonal sonority: interval class five includes perfect 4th and 5th, quintal-quartal harmony and authentic cadence moving dominant to tonic. Also, in this document, a comparison with Korean traditional music elements is included to support Isang Yun's musical features.
Date: May 2006
Creator: Choi, Woohyuk
System: The UNT Digital Library
Jobs for America's Graduates: A school-to-career program. (open access)

Jobs for America's Graduates: A school-to-career program.

The purpose of this study was to examine a school-to-career program created and operated by a non-profit organization called Jobs for America's Graduates, Inc. (JAG). During the school year 2003-2004, they provided this service to 12,205 students in 426 schools and 21 states. Data was collected to measure the following: (a) were they successful in helping students graduate from high school, find a career, enter postsecondary education or the military; (b) how many of the youth were still employed 12 months after graduation; and (c) did school demographic and socioeconomic factors affect JAG's performance. JAG is a 25 year old organization that works with at-risk youth to help them graduate from high school and move into gainful employment, further education or the military. They provide students with nine months of in school instruction, mentoring, career connections and 12 months of follow-up service. Data was collected by job specialists through job placement reports and 12 month follow-up reports. School demographic and socioeconomic information was collected via the Internet. This study discovered that JAG students are graduating from high school at levels well above the national rates, attaining 90% graduation rather than the average of 68% (Swanson, 2004a). A year after graduation …
Date: May 2006
Creator: Calloway, J'Quita Payne
System: The UNT Digital Library
Social skills use of adolescents with learning disabilities: An application of Bandura's theory of reciprocal interaction. (open access)

Social skills use of adolescents with learning disabilities: An application of Bandura's theory of reciprocal interaction.

This was a mixed methods study designed to investigate the social skills use of adolescents with learning disabilities through an application of Albert Bandura's theory of reciprocal interaction. Data were collected through ranking surveys, observations, interviews, and school records. Three questions were investigated. The first question was to determine whether the language deficits of LD students contributed to their general decreased social competency. Through data from the Social Skills Rating System, the seventh grade participants were considered socially competent to some degree by self report, their teachers, and their parents. Factor analysis revealed students were the best predictors of their social skills use from all data sources. In ranking participants' social skills use, students and teachers were more strongly correlated than were students and parents, or teachers and parents. No relationship of any strength existed between the participants' cognitive ability and their social competence. A use of Bandura's determinants indicated that a relationship existed between some subtypes of learning disabilities and some types of social skills misuse. The participants diagnosed with reading disability, auditory processing disability, receptive/expressive language disability, or nonverbal learning disability all made the majority of their observed social skills errors in the environmental determinant of Bandura's triad …
Date: May 2006
Creator: Clore, Christine W.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Modeling the Impact and Intervention of a Sexually Transmitted Disease: Human Papilloma Virus (open access)

Modeling the Impact and Intervention of a Sexually Transmitted Disease: Human Papilloma Virus

Many human papilloma virus (HPV) types are sexually transmitted and HPV DNA types 16, 18, 31, and 45 account for more than 75% if all cervical dysplasia. Candidate vaccines are successfully completing US Federal Drug Agency (FDA) phase III testing and several drug companies are in licensing arbitration. Once this vaccine become available it is unlikely that 100% vaccination coverage will be probable; hence, the need for vaccination strategies that will have the greatest reduction on the endemic prevalence of HPV. This thesis introduces two discrete-time models for evaluating the effect of demographic-biased vaccination strategies: one model incorporates temporal demographics (i.e., age) in population compartments; the other non-temporal demographics (i.e., race, ethnicity). Also presented is an intuitive Web-based interface that was developed to allow the user to evaluate the effects on prevalence of a demographic-biased intervention by tailoring the model parameters to specific demographics and geographical region.
Date: May 2006
Creator: Corley, Courtney D.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Patterns of verbal communication in children with special needs. (open access)

Patterns of verbal communication in children with special needs.

The social interactions between children with special needs, learning disabilities and/or attention deficit disorder (ADHD), were investigated. The children were observed in groups of three/four while creating a cooperative art project. During this activity, their interactions were recorded and coded for patterns of verbal communication. Verbal communication was evaluated through statements reflecting requests for information and materials; helping/cooperation/giving; consideration/positive reinforcement; competitiveness; intrusiveness; rejection; self-image; neutral statements; and persuasiveness. Results indicated that children with special needs tended to engage in a greater frequency of helping/cooperative/giving statements as opposed to any other verbal statements. Specifically, positive statements as opposed to negative statements classified their verbal interactions. These children also appeared to demonstrate more internalizing behaviors than externalizing behaviors. The influence of children's behaviors on children's verbal statements was examined. Results indicated that children who evidenced a disability in reading or language appeared to engage in a greater frequency of cooperative or helping statements than their non-disabled peers. Intrusive tendencies may be associated with the following: presence of a reading disability, absence of ADHD, and absence of a disability in written expression. Additionally, the conversations of children with a disability in mixed receptive language tended to evidence a greater frequency of neutral statements …
Date: May 2006
Creator: Conde, Joann M.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Comparison and Contrast of Performance Practice for the Tuba in Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 in D major, Op. 47, and Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5 in B flat major, Op. 100 (open access)

Comparison and Contrast of Performance Practice for the Tuba in Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 in D major, Op. 47, and Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5 in B flat major, Op. 100

Performance practice is a term familiar to serious musicians. For the performer, this means assimilating and applying all the education and training that has been pursued in a course of study. Performance practice entails many aspects such as development of the craft of performing on the instrument, comprehensive knowledge of pertinent literature, score study and listening to recordings, study of instruments of the period, notation and articulation practices of the time, and issues of tempo and dynamics. The orchestral literature of Eastern Europe, especially Germany and Russia, from the mid-nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century provides some of the most significant and musically challenging parts for the tuba. The works of Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev, and Dmitri Shostakovich, along with their orchestral contemporaries, represents a significant portion of this literature. This study examines a seminal work in the orchestral genre from each of these three Russian composers. The role of the tuba in each work is discussed. Excerpts of the tuba part are examined in terms of performance issues such as range, rhythm, phrasing, and scoring. Comparisons and contrasts are drawn as to how each composer used the tuba and the effectiveness of the utilization.
Date: May 2006
Creator: Couch, Roy L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Impact of Child-Centered Play Therapy on Children of Different Developmental Stages (open access)

Impact of Child-Centered Play Therapy on Children of Different Developmental Stages

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of child-centered play therapy on children of Piaget's preoperational and concrete operations developmental stages. Piaget's assertions about the contributions of play to cognitive, affective, and social development have provided a basis for the theoretical rationale for the use of play as a therapeutic intervention. The impact of child-centered play therapy was measured by a decrease in parent-child relationship stress as measured by scores on the Child Domain, Parent Domain, and Total Stress Score of the Parenting Stress Index. This study utilized a three wave repeated measures ANOVA design to analyze the impact of child-centered play therapy on children between the ages of 3-8 who received 19-23 individual child-centered play therapy sessions. A pretest, approximate midpoint, and posttest administration was collected for use in the analysis. The population study comprised 24 children referred to the Child and Family Resource Clinic on the University of North Texas campus. Participating children were divided into two treatment groups based on their age at the time of treatment. The preoperational development treatment group consisted of 12 children aged of 3-6 years and the concrete operations development treatment group consisted of children aged 7-8 years. Nine …
Date: May 2006
Creator: Dougherty, Jennifer L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Art Museum Resources and Teacher Use. (open access)

Art Museum Resources and Teacher Use.

I proposed that both Bruner's (1963) idea of the spiral curriculum and Yenawine's (1992) theories of teaching for visual literacy in the museum set the stage for significant learning for students when used together. If school teachers lay a foundation of knowledge about a museum object, especially through museum resources, then the student may transform and apply this 'prior knowledge' (explicit memories from the classroom) while on the museum visit tour. When docents utilize Yenawine's (1992) methods toward the goal of visual literacy, the semantic knowledge of the classroom is then fused with museum learning, building stronger memories and facilitating deeper understanding as students learn about museum objects. This research explored the correlation of these two theories in a qualitative manner based on observations of actual museum visit preparation in classrooms in Casper, Wyoming, and how it related to a museum tour at the Nicolaysen Art Museum and Discovery Center. The research revealed that conditions do exist within the community that would facilitate Bruner's (1963) idea of a learning spiral, yet not in the manner envisioned. The observed conditions toward a spiral was accomplished through the participant teachers relating the museum exhibit to their operational curriculum in a variety of …
Date: May 2006
Creator: Eggemeyer, Valerie
System: The UNT Digital Library
Beating the High Stakes Testing Game: A Three-Year Study of Improvement Rates on the TAKS Social Studies Exit Exam. (open access)

Beating the High Stakes Testing Game: A Three-Year Study of Improvement Rates on the TAKS Social Studies Exit Exam.

The Texas high school class of 2005 faced a defining test that had no precedent in Texas and little nationally. Social studies testing is a relatively new addition to the world of high stakes testing currently impacting United States high schools. Although other diploma dependent areas of mandated testing have some testing history and, therefore, related paradigms for curriculum and instructional assistance, the area of social studies largely lacks that perspective. Texas Education agency provided specific school grant monies and training for the purpose of preparation for the social studies exams. This quasi-experimental study examines the scores to learn whether or not any statistically significant differences in social studies scores would exist between the schools that participated in the TEKS/Tools Training Program and the schools that did not participate in the TEKS/Tools Training Program. The two primary at-risk groups in Texas, Hispanic and low SES, were analyzed for statistically significant differences in scores. Independent t tests and ANCOVA were used to analyze the score differences between program schools and non-program schools. Results relate to individual school staffing and implementation. The at-risk groups remained flat in score gains whether they were part of the program schools or not. Results relate to …
Date: May 2006
Creator: Evans, Barbara Anne
System: The UNT Digital Library
Differential Scoring Patterns on the Clock Drawing Test: a Comparison of Vascular Dementia and Alzheimer's Dementia. (open access)

Differential Scoring Patterns on the Clock Drawing Test: a Comparison of Vascular Dementia and Alzheimer's Dementia.

This study examined differences in scoring patterns among those diagnosed with Alzheimer's dementia and vascular dementia on the clock-drawing test. Archival clock drawing data was retrieved on 279 patients presenting at a county hospital-based memory clinic. Analysis of drawings was based on frequency of qualitative errors, as well as an overall quantitative score. Mean comparisons found those patients with Alzheimer's dementia to perform worse on both quantitative and qualitative scoring measures. However, Pearson's chi-squared test revealed a significantly higher rate of spacing errors among subjects with vascular dementia. Such lends support to my hypothesis that impaired executive functioning in vascular dementia patients would lead to poor qualitative performance. Logistic regression found significant predictive ability for the qualitative criteria in diagnosis (χ2 = 25.49, p < .001), particularly the rate of omission (z = 8.96, p = .003) and addition errors (z = 7.58, p = .006). Such findings hold important implications for the use of qualitative criteria in cognitive screening assessments.
Date: May 2006
Creator: Everitt, Alaina
System: The UNT Digital Library
Gene Flow among Populations of the Mayfly Epeorus pleuralis (Banks 1910) (Ephemeroptera: Heptageniidae) in Three Adjacent Appalachian Headwater Streams (open access)

Gene Flow among Populations of the Mayfly Epeorus pleuralis (Banks 1910) (Ephemeroptera: Heptageniidae) in Three Adjacent Appalachian Headwater Streams

Dispersal of aquatic insects is difficult to measure with traditional direct trapping methodologies. However, genetic markers are an ideal surrogate to indirectly infer dispersal and gene flow. For this research, a portion of the cytochrome oxidase I gene was used to evaluate gene flow and dispersal of Epeorus pleuralis located in the northern Appalachian headwater streams of the Allegheny, Genesee, and Susquehanna watersheds. A total of 536 basepairs from 16 individual insects were used for analysis. Thirteen haplotypes were discovered, two of which were shared between the Allegheny and Genesee streams. Although no shared haplotypes were found in the Susquehanna, analysis of molecular variance results suggest that there is not a significant genetic difference between the three populations and attributes the majority of variation to within population differences.
Date: May 2006
Creator: Dunlap, Rebecca
System: The UNT Digital Library
Clarence R. Huebner: An American Military Story of Achievement (open access)

Clarence R. Huebner: An American Military Story of Achievement

In the eyes of the American public excellence is often overshadowed by brilliance of personality. This is particularly true in the portrayal of many of the country's military leaders in World War II. A prime example of this phenomenon is Douglas MacArthur, whose larger than life persona made him a newspaper fixture during the war despite a series of strategic and tactical blunders that would have led to the sacking of a less visible (and publicly popular) leader. At the level of divisional commanders, this triumph of brilliance over excellence is best exemplified by the two primary leaders of the country's 1st Infantry Division, Terry de la Mesa Allen and Clarence R. Huebner. One was a hard-drinking, swashbuckling leader who led by almost the sheer force of his personality; the other, a plain spoken, demanding officer who believed that organization, planning and attention to detail were the keys to superior battlefield performance. The leadership differences between Allen and Huebner have been documented in multiple publications. What has not been documented is the life of the truly overshadowed general - Huebner. Huebner's transition to the leadership of the 1st Infantry Division (1st ID) constitute only a small period in a military …
Date: May 2006
Creator: Flaig, Steven
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Effects of an Electronic Feedback Sign on Speeding (open access)

The Effects of an Electronic Feedback Sign on Speeding

Although a handful of experiments have utilized indirect feedback in attempts to reduce speeding on roadways, fewer experiments have utilized direct feedback as a means to reduce incidences of speeding. The current study evaluated the effects of direct and individualized feedback provided by a large electronic feedback sign that displayed the speed of oncoming vehicles as they approached the sign along the roadways of a college campus. The effects of the sign were evaluated using a non-simultaneous multiple baseline experimental design employing two control conditions and intervention phase. Each condition was implemented at three sites on the college campus. The results showed that intervention produced significant decreases in both measures of vehicle speeds at each site, relative to measures collected during both control conditions.
Date: May 2006
Creator: Flores, Jaime
System: The UNT Digital Library
An investigation of prior learning assessment processes in Texas public universities offering nontraditional baccalaureate degrees. (open access)

An investigation of prior learning assessment processes in Texas public universities offering nontraditional baccalaureate degrees.

Undergraduate enrollment in colleges and universities has grown and changed drastically over the past 2 decades, with a significant portion of this growth coming from the increased number of nontraditional students who have made the decision to make their way onto college and university campuses to pursue a college degree. Due to these changes, many institutions of higher education have had to rethink the way they have historically operated. In an attempt to better meet the needs and demands of adult nontraditional students, colleges and universities have reviewed their existing programs and instituted programs that allow for the awarding of academic credit for prior learning. For those institutions of higher education involved in the prior learning assessment (PLA) process and interested in providing a quality program, an increased emphasis and focus should be on the importance of determining what a learning activity is, and more importantly, what constitutes college-level learning. This study focused on the identification and profiling of prior learning assessment (PLA) processes in Texas public universities offering nontraditional baccalaureate degree programs, the identification of commonalties among such programs, and the determination of program quality based on established standards. The instrument utilized in this study was designed on Urban …
Date: May 2006
Creator: Freed, Rusty
System: The UNT Digital Library
The quality of the doctoral experience in education at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. (open access)

The quality of the doctoral experience in education at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

This study describes the experiences of doctoral students in education at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The study focused only on the 14 HBCUs that offer doctoral degrees in education. Twelve of the 14 eligible institutions agreed to participate in the study. A total of 47 doctoral students who were in their third year of study or close to completion participated in the study. These doctoral students completed a survey that was utilized in a national study of doctoral students at predominately white institutions and Ivy League institutions conducted by Golde and Dore in 2001. The purpose of this study was to determine if doctoral students in education at HBCUs are receiving a quality education and if they are being adequately prepared for their careers. This study offers 368 findings from which the doctoral experience in education at HBCUs can be comprehensively evaluated. It was determined that doctoral students in education at HBCUs do receive a quality education and are being effectively prepared for their careers.
Date: May 2006
Creator: Garrett, Rodney Ulysses
System: The UNT Digital Library