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Adolescent Pregnancy: Voices Heard in the Everyday Lives of Pregnant Teenagers (open access)

Adolescent Pregnancy: Voices Heard in the Everyday Lives of Pregnant Teenagers

The purpose of this study is to examine the problems that pregnant teenagers encounter at school and at home while they are trying to complete their high school education. Data were collected by in-depth interviews. Twenty pregnant adolescents, who were between the ages of 15 through 18, and were participants in a special teen pregnancy program were interviewed. The major findings in this study included the respondents': 1) unstable family life histories, 2) denial that they were pregnant, 3) need for self-identity as an adult, 4) conflict with parents and 5) motivation to complete their high school education. This study points to the need for more research on the problems that pregnant adolescents encounter in their everyday lives.
Date: December 1995
Creator: Oviedo, Sonia
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Relationships of Cross-Cultural Differences to the Values of Information Systems Professionals within the Context of Systems Development (open access)

The Relationships of Cross-Cultural Differences to the Values of Information Systems Professionals within the Context of Systems Development

Several studies have suggested that the effect of cultural differences among Information Systems (IS) professionals from different nations on the development and implementation of IS could be important. However, IS research has generally not considered culture when investigating the process of systems development. This study examined the relationship between the cultural backgrounds of IS designers and their process-related values with a field survey in Singapore, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Hofstede's (1980) value survey module (i.e., Power Distance (PDI), Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI), InDiVidualism (IDV) and MASculininity/femininity) and Kumar's (1984) process-related values (i.e., technical, economic, and socio-political) were utilized in the data collection. The hypotheses tested were: whether the IS professionals differed on (H.,) their cultural dimensions based on country of origin, (Hg) their process-related values based on country of origin, and (H3) whether a relationship between their cultural dimensions and their process-related values existed. The countries were significantly different on their PDI, UAI and MAS, but not on their IDV. They significantly differed on their technical and sociopolitical values but not on their economic values. IDV and MAS significantly correlated with the process-related values in Singapore, Taiwan and the United States. In the United Kingdom, UAI significantly …
Date: December 1995
Creator: Holmes, Monica C. (Monica Cynthia)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Harpsichord Concertos of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, a Lecture Recital, Together with Three Recitals of Selected Works of J.S. Bach, W.F. Bach, D. Scarlatti, F. Couperin, J.J. Froberger, G. Ligeti, W. Byrd, and Others (open access)

The Harpsichord Concertos of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, a Lecture Recital, Together with Three Recitals of Selected Works of J.S. Bach, W.F. Bach, D. Scarlatti, F. Couperin, J.J. Froberger, G. Ligeti, W. Byrd, and Others

The harpsichord concertos of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710-1784) have suffered undeserved neglect. The four authenticated solo concertos remain in manuscript, with the result that his contribution to the history of the keyboard concerto has been largely overlooked. This study begins to correct this situation by examining these four concertos--F41 in D Major, F43 in E Minor, F44 in F Major, and F45 in A Minor--as well as the published two-harpsichord Concerto in E-Flat Major, F46, and the incomplete Concerto in E-Flat Major, F42 in order to assess W. F. Bach's contribution to the keyboard concerto following its origins in the early 1700s. The results of this investigation show that W. F. Bach took the early keyboard concerto of his father's generation and added many of the characteristics which became associated with the mid-eighteenth century concerto. Friedemann retained the polyphonic interplay between tutti and solo, harmonic language, and tonal plan of his father's compositions and added a wealth of rhythmic ideas and a more modern melodic style. He worked within an established four ritornello/three solo plan for the outer movements, but employed a variety of formal plans for the middle movements. Friedemann heightened the contrast between the solo and the orchestra …
Date: May 1995
Creator: Hunt, Janet Evelyn
System: The UNT Digital Library
Chronically Ill Children: Maternal Stress and Psychological Symptomatology (open access)

Chronically Ill Children: Maternal Stress and Psychological Symptomatology

This study used a parenting stress and coping model to identify predictors of symptomatology for 13 8 mothers of medically compromised children. This model proposed that: child characteristics (severity of the chronic illness and child related parenting stressors); parent characteristics (self-esteem, sense of competence, and parents' perceived stress/distress); and environmental characteristics (social support, general life stressor events, and demographic variables) contribute to psychological symptomatology for these mothers. Multiple regression analysis found a relationship between general life stressor events, severity of the children's chronic conditions, lower satisfaction with social support, lower self-esteem, and younger mothers' ages and greater symptomatology. Trends toward significance were found for more parenting stress and lower parenting sense of competence predicting greater symptomatology. Predicted relationships between family socioeconomic status and parenting daily hassles and symptomatology were not supported.
Date: August 1995
Creator: Driskill, Gail
System: The UNT Digital Library
Perseveration Errors in the Performance of Dichotic Listening Tasks by Schizophrenics: The Role of Stimulus Fusion (open access)

Perseveration Errors in the Performance of Dichotic Listening Tasks by Schizophrenics: The Role of Stimulus Fusion

The purpose of the present study was to compare the number of perseverations on fused (no delay) versus unfused (0.5 msec delay) CV-DL tasks with measures on a battery of executive functions across three groups: Schizophrenics (SCZ), Manic-Depressives (MD), and normal controls (NC).
Date: December 1995
Creator: Gard, Diane M.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Designing a Social Marketing Plan to Promote Hispanic Participation at Prostate Cancer Screenings (open access)

Designing a Social Marketing Plan to Promote Hispanic Participation at Prostate Cancer Screenings

Prostate cancer is the most commonly occurring cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death for men in the United States. Because early prostate cancer is frequently without symptoms and data on how to prevent prostate cancer is lacking, early detection has the greatest potential for decreasing mortality. Studies have shown Hispanics/Latinos to be less likely than whites or African-Americans to utilize prostate cancer screening exams. The purpose of this descriptive study was to design a social marketing plan which could be used as a model to promote Hispanic/Latino participation at prostate cancer screenings. Information obtained through medical and marketing literature review, the author's experiences serving on the promotion committee of a community-sponsored prostate cancer screening project, and interviews with 51 Hispanic/Latino prostate cancer screening participants is described and incorporated into a guide with recommendations for future program planners.
Date: December 1995
Creator: Zimmerman, Suzanne M. (Suzanne Marie)
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Algorithm for the PLA Equivalence Problem (open access)

An Algorithm for the PLA Equivalence Problem

The Programmable Logic Array (PLA) has been widely used in the design of VLSI circuits and systems because of its regularity, flexibility, and simplicity. The equivalence problem is typically to verify that the final description of a circuit is functionally equivalent to its initial description. Verifying the functional equivalence of two descriptions is equivalent to proving their logical equivalence. This problem of pure logic is essential to circuit design. The most widely used technique to solve the problem is based on Binary Decision Diagram or BDD, proposed by Bryant in 1986. Unfortunately, BDD requires too much time and space to represent moderately large circuits for equivalence testing. We design and implement a new algorithm called the Cover-Merge Algorithm for the equivalence problem based on a divide-and-conquer strategy using the concept of cover and a derivational method. We prove that the algorithm is sound and complete. Because of the NP-completeness of the problem, we emphasize simplifications to reduce the search space or to avoid redundant computations. Simplification techniques are incorporated into the algorithm as an essential part to speed up the the derivation process. Two different sets of heuristics are developed for two opposite goals: one for the proof of equivalence …
Date: December 1995
Creator: Moon, Gyo Sik
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Analysis of Factors That Influence the Involvement of Faculty in Learning Communities (open access)

An Analysis of Factors That Influence the Involvement of Faculty in Learning Communities

This research study attempts to analyze variables that influence the extent of faculty involvement in learning communities. A theoretical framework identifies three primary variable sets—faculty background, structural, and organizational/environmental.
Date: December 1995
Creator: Lapoint, Patricia A. (Patricia Ann)
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Comparison of College Athletes and Nonathletes in the areas of Career Decision-Making. Salience, and Values (open access)

A Comparison of College Athletes and Nonathletes in the areas of Career Decision-Making. Salience, and Values

This study paralleled Smallman's (1993) analysis of college athletes at an NCAA Division I school, which found significant differences between athletes and nonathletes in readiness to make career decisions. The present study measured career decision-making skills using The Career Development Inventory. In addition, the present study examined the salience of roles (i.e., student, worker, citizen, family member, and leasurite) as measured by The Salience Inventory.
Date: August 1995
Creator: Patterson, Howard Y. (Howard Yates)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Quantitative Analysis of the Gabaergic System in Cat Primary Somatosensory Cortex and Its Relation to Receptive Field Properties (open access)

Quantitative Analysis of the Gabaergic System in Cat Primary Somatosensory Cortex and Its Relation to Receptive Field Properties

Sensory neocortex contains a significant number of inhibitory neurons that use gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) as their neurotransmitter. Functional roles for these neurons have been identified in physiological studies. For example, in primary somatosensory cortex (SI), blockade of GABAa receptors with bicuculline leads to expansion of receptive fields (RFs). The magnitude of RF enlargement varies between SIpopulations of GABAergic neurons were identified by labeling specific calcium binding proteins.
Date: May 1995
Creator: Li, Jianying
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Computer Adaptive Testing and Computer Administered Testing (open access)

A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Computer Adaptive Testing and Computer Administered Testing

The problem with which this study is concerned is determining the effectiveness of a computer adaptive test as compared to the effectiveness of using the entire test. The study has a twofold purpose. The first is to determine whether the two test versions generate equivalent scores, despite being of different lengths. The second is to determine whether the difference in time needed to take the computer adaptive test is significantly shorter than the computer administered full test.
Date: August 1995
Creator: Fielder, Patrick J. (Patrick Joseph)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Public School Choice : An Impact Assessment (open access)

Public School Choice : An Impact Assessment

The goal of this thesis is to understand the consequences of educational choice in the public school system. The research takes place in San Antonio, Texas. The research encompasses meaningful comparisons between three sets of low income students and their families: 1) those who chose to remain in their attendance-zone school, 2) those who enrolled in the multilingual program, and 3) those who applied to the multilingual program but were not admitted because of space limitations.
Date: December 1995
Creator: Davis, Casi G. (Casi Gail)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Four Types of Day Care and their Effects on the Well-Being of Children (open access)

Four Types of Day Care and their Effects on the Well-Being of Children

Data gathered from Tyler, Texas, the University of North Texas, and the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) were used to compare children from commercial, home, church, and university based day care with children not attending day care. The research group, comprised of children attending day care (N=142), were located using non-probability sampling; those not in day care (the control group) came from the NSFH (N=1775). Data from the research group were weighted to match the control group. The independent and control variables included the child's age, length of time in day care, intellectual functioning; the parent's marital status and social class; the day care's staff to child ratio and the staff's training. All data, except that pertaining to the facility itself, were gathered from the children's parents using a self-report questionnaire. The remaining data were gathered through personal interview by the researcher. The dependent variable was an index of emotional and behavioral problems reported for the child. Overall, children who attended day care had only slightly more problems reported than those who did had not attended day care. When each center was examined separately, the children in home centers had the greatest number of problems, followed by the …
Date: August 1995
Creator: Davis, David C. (David Carlton)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The State of Democracy in the Arab World (open access)

The State of Democracy in the Arab World

This comparative study assesses the state of democracy and examines the process of democratization in the Arab World between the years 1980-1993. It addresses shortcomings in the mainstream democracy literature that excluded the Arab World from the global democratic revolution on political cultural grounds. To fulfil the objectives of this study, I employ both the qualitative and quantitative research approaches to test a number of hypothesized relationships. I hypothesize that transition to democracy is negatively associated with economic development, militarism, U.S. foreign policy, the political economy of oil, and dependency. I contend that emerging civil society institutions so far have had no significant effect on democratization in the Arab World. Finally, I hypothesize that the level of democracy in the Arab World is influenced greatly by the issue of civil rights. In order to investigate the hypothesized relationships, the following data sets have been used: Gastil's Freedom House Data set, "Repression and Freedom in the 1980s" data set, and Vanhanen's 1990 data set. The findings of this study support the aforementioned hypothesized relationships. I find that Arab countries, in general have made modest progress toward democracy, making the Arab World part of the global revolution.
Date: December 1995
Creator: Al-Olimat, Muhamad S. (Muhamad Salim)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Using regression analysis to investigate relationships of ASVAB selector composites to end-of-course grades for students in aircraft maintenance training programs in the Air Force (open access)

Using regression analysis to investigate relationships of ASVAB selector composites to end-of-course grades for students in aircraft maintenance training programs in the Air Force

Aircraft maintenance training programs in the Air Force have evolved from an almost exclusively mechanical orientation to one that is largely electronic. The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) with its four selector composites (Mechanical, Administration, General, and Electronic) has been in use for over 20 years. The mechanical (M) composite score is used to identify those who will be trained in aircraft maintenance.
Date: December 1995
Creator: Byrd, John L. (John Luclon)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Autographs 1928 : Four Songs for Soprano and Chamber Ensemble (open access)

Autographs 1928 : Four Songs for Soprano and Chamber Ensemble

Autographs 1928: Four Songs for Soprano and Chamber Ensemble is a composition of approximately 16 minutes' duration and is scored for mezzo-soprano, flute, oboe, clarinet, horn in F, viola, violoncello, one keyboardist (piano and celesta), and two percussionists (marimba, xylophone, chimes, timpani, bass drum, temple blocks, triangle, and slapstick). The work consists of four songs and four readings with texts from Walls's maternal grandmother's autograph book. The composition opens with a reading and alternates between readings and songs. The music is intended to reflect the playful, tender and humorous nature of the lyrics.
Date: August 1995
Creator: Walls, Jay Alan
System: The UNT Digital Library
Standing in the Gap: Subposts, Minor Posts, and Picket Stations and the Pacification of the Texas Frontier, 1866-1886 (open access)

Standing in the Gap: Subposts, Minor Posts, and Picket Stations and the Pacification of the Texas Frontier, 1866-1886

This dissertation describes the various military outposts on the Texas frontier between 1866 and 1886. It is arranged geographically, with each chapter covering a major fort or geographical area and the smaller posts associated with it. Official military records and government reports serve as the primary sources of data. In 1866 when the United States Army returned to the defense of Texas after four years of civil war, the state's frontier lay open to depredations from several Indian tribes and from lawless elements in Mexico. The army responded to those attacks by establishing several lines of major forts to protect the various danger areas of the frontier. To extend its control and protection to remote, vulnerable, or strategically important points within its jurisdiction, each major fort established outposts. Two main categories of outposts existed in Texas, subposts and picket stations. Subposts served as permanent scouting camps or guarded strategic points or lines of communication. Picket stations protected outlying locations, such as stage stations, that were particularly vulnerable to attack. Because Indians raiding in Texas usually operated in fairly small groups, garrisons at outposts were similarly small. Company-sized detachments generally garrisoned subposts, and picket stations seldom held more than a dozen …
Date: May 1995
Creator: Uglow, Loyd M. (Loyd Michael)
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Descriptive Study of Student Assistance Programs in the State of Texas (open access)

A Descriptive Study of Student Assistance Programs in the State of Texas

The purpose of this study is to examine the four basic student assistance models and determine their distribution in Texas, describe the student assistance programs in place in public school districts in Texas including the program's goals, objectives and components, and explore the perceived effectiveness of student assistance programs as a viable means of drug and alcohol education for students enrolled in public school districts in Texas in kindergarten through twelfth grade.
Date: May 1995
Creator: Wright, Marilyn D. (Marilyn Diane)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Cultural Differences in Pain Experience and Behavior among Mexican, Mexican American and Anglo American Headache Pain Sufferers (open access)

Cultural Differences in Pain Experience and Behavior among Mexican, Mexican American and Anglo American Headache Pain Sufferers

Review of previous research on cultural differences in pain experience and/or pain behavior revealed that cultural affiliation affects pain perception and response. Unfortunately, the many inconsistent findings in the literature on cultural differences in pain experience and behavior have made interpretations and comparisons of results problematic. These inconsistent findings could be attributed to variations in acculturation level among cultural groups. The purpose of this study was to investigate cultural differences in pain experience (assessed by McGill Pain Questionnaire, the Box Scale, the Headache Pain Drawing, and the Headache Questionnaire) and pain behavior (measured by determining medication use and interference of daily functioning due to headaches) among Mexican (n = 43), Mexican American (n = 36), and Anglo American (n = 50) female chronic headache pain sufferers. The contribution of acculturation to differences in pain experience and behavior among cultural groups was measured by the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans. The three cultural groups of women significantly differed on pain experience and pain behavior. Specifically, Mexican women experienced their headache pain more intensely, severely, and emotionally than Mexican American and Anglo American women. Furthermore, Mexican women were more willing to verbally express their pain than the other two groups. As …
Date: December 1995
Creator: Sardas, Isabela
System: The UNT Digital Library
Development and Testing of a Resource-Based Theory of International Entry Mode Choice (open access)

Development and Testing of a Resource-Based Theory of International Entry Mode Choice

A firm can deploy a variety of arrangements (entry modes) like wholly owned subsidiaries, joint ventures, contracts, and export modes to implement its product market strategies in foreign countries. Each of these arrangements entails decisions about the location of production facilities and/or marketing operations, and the type of ownership of these operations. The choice of an entry mode is of strategic importance to a firm because it can involve investment of substantial amount of resources and has a strong bearing on the firm's marketing mix. Due to its strategic importance, the entry mode choice phenomenon has been extensively researched. In the past, seven major theories have been proposed but none is able to explain the choice from the complete set of entry modes. Thus, there exists a gap between the theory and practice of entry mode choice. This study provides breakthrough on two fronts. First, it develops a new theory of entry mode choice grounded in the resource-based perspective of the firm. The theory posits that the decision to locate its production and/or marketing operations in a country is related to the actualizability of the firm's competitive advantage in that country. However, the ownership decision is related to the sustainability …
Date: August 1995
Creator: Sharma, Varinder M. (Varinder Mohan)
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Examination of the Presence of Schön's Concept of "Reflective Conversation" as a Defining Component in the Applied Studio Music Lesson (open access)

An Examination of the Presence of Schön's Concept of "Reflective Conversation" as a Defining Component in the Applied Studio Music Lesson

The purpose of this study was to examine the presence of Schön's concept of reflective conversation as a defining component in the applied studio music lesson. The research problems were (1) to determine the presence of complete and incomplete reflective conversations; (2) to determine the verbally exhibited knowledge base within complete conversations in relationship to conversation length; and (3) to establish an instructional profile of stable behaviors based on reflective conversation as a distinguishing characteristic among selected teachers. Videotapes of twenty-six applied studio music lessons of thirteen university teachers were analyzed according to problem solving, on-the-spot experimentation, and evaluation. An observation form was developed and was a reliable tool to collect information concerning number and type of reflective conversations, conversation length, and the teachers' verbally demonstrated knowledge base. Knowledge base was obtained by using the procedural model of Flanagan's critical incident technique. Reflective conversations existed and were a distinguishing characteristic of the teachers. With the exception of two teachers, a stable use of both number and length of reflective conversations, and knowledge base areas, was found. A discernible difference in the teachers' knowledge base within conversation length existed, and thus established instructional profiles for the teachers. Complete reflective conversations ranged …
Date: December 1995
Creator: Murphy, Vanissa B. (Vanissa Braswell)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Testing the Construct Validity of the Sulliman Scale of Social Interest (open access)

Testing the Construct Validity of the Sulliman Scale of Social Interest

The purpose of the present study was to further explore evidence for the construct-related validity of the Sulliman Scale of Social Interest (SSSI) through the implementation of both convergent and discriminant procedures. This was done through (a) replicating St. John's 1992 study, (b) extending the findings of that study by incorporating additional psychological measures, and (c) examining SSI itself by means of principal axis factor analytic procedures. First, all nine of the relationships demonstrated between the SSSI and other variables in the St. John (1992) study were replicated in the present study. Second, in extending the findings of that study, 22 of 26 hypothesized relationships between the SSSI and other psychological measures were in the predicted direction. Third, the results of the factor analysis produced three factors labeled "contextual harmony," "positive treatment/response," and "confidence and trust." Taken together, the outcomes of both studies appear to offer some support for the SSI's construct validity and to provide possible directions for future research.
Date: August 1995
Creator: St. John, Chris (Christopher Lynn)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Marital and Social Changes in the Lives of Women who Complete the Ph.D. Degree at Midlife (open access)

Marital and Social Changes in the Lives of Women who Complete the Ph.D. Degree at Midlife

The percentage of women who receive doctorates has increased by over 300 percent during the past three decades. The consequences of pursuing the Ph.D. degree have always been far reaching and profound, serving as an impetus and springboard for the reconfiguration of one's beliefs, values, and professional life. The purposes of this national study were to ascertain and describe marital and social changes that occurred in the lives of women who were awarded the Ph.D. degree at midlife. A questionnaire was distributed to a sample of three-hundred women who hold the Ph.D. degree and were employed in institutions of higher education in the United States. The study sought to identify the effects of the Ph.D. experience upon the marital relationships, friendships, and social activities of women who completed the degree between the ages of thirty-five and forty-five. Demographic data were collected which were related to their marital status before, during, and after the Ph.D. experience. Both closed and open-ended questions were posed which solicited information pertaining to their post Ph.D. experience. This research reports both quantitative and qualitative findings. The majority of women who complete the Ph.D. experience at midlife undergo and initiate changes in their lives which impact their …
Date: August 1995
Creator: Sikes, Debra
System: The UNT Digital Library
Small Business Owner-Managers and Corporate Managers: a Comparative Study of Achievement Motivation, Risk Taking Propensity and Preference for Innovation (open access)

Small Business Owner-Managers and Corporate Managers: a Comparative Study of Achievement Motivation, Risk Taking Propensity and Preference for Innovation

Despite the economic significance of entrepreneurship, relatively little is known about the entrepreneur, particularly how the entrepreneur differs from the corporate manager. This problem is both cause and symptom of the discord regarding definitions of the entrepreneur, rendering sampling, research replication and generalizations about entrepreneurs problematic. As a result, inquiry has failed to adequately establish how entrepreneurs differ from managers, a problem partially stemming from a dearth of methodologically rigorous comparisons of entrepreneurs with managers. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the potential of psychological constructs to predict a proclivity for entrepreneurship. Moreover, differences in types of small business owner-managers were also investigated. Included in the research model were three common themes in the entrepreneurship literature: achievement motivation, risk taking propensity and preference for innovation. Also incorporated were the interactions of the psychological constructs, as well as individual and firm demographic variables.
Date: May 1995
Creator: Stewart, Wayne H. (Wayne Howard)
System: The UNT Digital Library