The Anglo-American Council on Productivity: 1948-1952 British Productivity and the Marshall Plan (open access)

The Anglo-American Council on Productivity: 1948-1952 British Productivity and the Marshall Plan

The United Kingdom's postwar economic recovery and the usefulness of Marshall Plan aid depended heavily on a rapid increase in exports by the country's manufacturing industries. American aid administrators, however, shocked to discover the British industry's inability to respond to the country's urgent need, insisted on aggressive action to improve productivity. In partial response, a joint venture, called the Anglo-American Council on Productivity (AACP), arranged for sixty-six teams involving nearly one thousand people to visit U.S. factories and bring back productivity improvement ideas. Analyses of team recommendations, and a brief review of the country's industrial history, offer compelling insights into the problems of relative industrial decline. This dissertation attempts to assess the reasons for British industry's inability to respond to the country's economic emergency or to maintain its competitive position faced with the challenge of newer industrializing countries.
Date: May 1999
Creator: Gottwald, Carl H.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Assessment and Analysis of Per Pupil Expenditures: a Study Testing a Micro-Financial Model in Equity and Student Outcome Determination (open access)

Assessment and Analysis of Per Pupil Expenditures: a Study Testing a Micro-Financial Model in Equity and Student Outcome Determination

The purpose of this study was to examine district level financial data to assess equity across districts, to compare equity benchmarks established in the literature using selected functions from the state's financial database, and to determine the predictive value of those functions to the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) tests of 1997.
Date: May 1999
Creator: Holsomback, James Richard
System: The UNT Digital Library
Biodiversity of Dragonflies and Damselflies (Odonata) of the South-Central Nearctic and Adjacent Neotropical Biotic Provinces (open access)

Biodiversity of Dragonflies and Damselflies (Odonata) of the South-Central Nearctic and Adjacent Neotropical Biotic Provinces

The south-central United States serves as an important biogeographical link and dispersal corridor between Nearctic and Neotropical elements of western hemisphere odonate faunas. Its species are reasonably well known because of substantial collections, but there has been no concerted effort to document the extent of biodiversity and possible geographic affinities of dragonflies and damselflies of this region. The recent discoveries of Argia leonorae Garrison, Gomphus gonzalezi Dunkle and Erpetogomphus heterodon Garrison from southern and western Texas and northern Mexico suggest that Odonata species remain to be discovered in this area, particularly from far south Texas and northern Mexico. I have documented a total of 12,515 records of Odonata found in 408 counties within the south-central U.S. A total of 73 species of damselflies and 160 species of dragonflies was revealed in the region. The 233 (197 in Texas) Odonata species are distributed among 10 families and 66 genera. Illustrated family, generic, and species-level keys are provided. Since the beginning of this work in the Fall of 1993, one species has been added each to the Louisiana and Oklahoma faunas, and 12 species have been added, previously unreported from Texas, including four new to the U.S. The area of highest Odonata …
Date: May 1999
Creator: Abbott, John C.
System: The UNT Digital Library
"But a Mournful Remedy": Divorce in Two Texas Counties, 1841-1880 (open access)

"But a Mournful Remedy": Divorce in Two Texas Counties, 1841-1880

Little scholarship has been dedicated to nineteenth-century Texas family life and no published scholarship to date has addressed the more specific topic of divorce. This study attempts to fill that gap in the historiography through a quantitative analysis of 373 divorce actions filed in Washington and Harrison Counties. The findings show a high degree of equity between men and women in court decisions granting divorces, and in property division and custody rulings. Texas women enjoyed a relatively high degree of legal and personal autonomy, which can be attributed, in part, to a property-rights heritage from Spanish civil law.
Date: May 1999
Creator: Pruitt, Francelle LeNaee
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Comparison of Predicted and Actual Trophic Status of Lake Ray Roberts, Texas Based on Chlorophyll A (open access)

A Comparison of Predicted and Actual Trophic Status of Lake Ray Roberts, Texas Based on Chlorophyll A

Two years before impoundment, the trophic status of Lake Ray Roberts was predicted by applying the total phosphorus input into the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) eutrophication model. Predicted mean summer epilimnetic (MSE) chlorophyll a of Elm Fork arm, Isle duBois arm and Main Body were in the eutrophic category of the OECD model. Observed MSE chlorophyll a two years after impoundment of Elm Fork arm, Isle duBois and Main Body had not reached their predicted means and were at the mesotrophic-eutrophic boundary of the OECD model. Six years after impoundment, observed MSE chlorophyll a for Main Body, was closer to its predicted mean and in the eutrophic category of the OECD model. Six years after impoundment, Elm Fork arm was the most productive area of Lake Ray Roberts. Observed means of chlorophyll a, total phosphates, suspended solids and turbidity were often highest in the Elm Fork arm. Wastewater effluent from Gainesville and Valley View, TX, had an impact on productivity in Elm Fork arm.
Date: May 1999
Creator: Lytle, Lili Lisa
System: The UNT Digital Library
Effects of Instructional Methods on Student Performance in Postsecondary Developmental Mathematics (open access)

Effects of Instructional Methods on Student Performance in Postsecondary Developmental Mathematics

This study examined success rates and end-of-semester grades for three instructional methods used in developmental algebra and college algebra. The methods investigated were traditional lecture, laboratory, and computer mediated learning. The population included the 10,095 students who had enrolled in developmental algebra and college algebra at Richland College in Dallas, Texas, for five semesters. Success was defined as earning a grade of A, B, C, or D in a course.
Date: May 1999
Creator: Hernandez, Celeste Peyton
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Effects of Organic Surface Amendments on Soil Nutrients and Initial Tree Establishment (open access)

The Effects of Organic Surface Amendments on Soil Nutrients and Initial Tree Establishment

This study examined the effects of replicating woodland soil surface horizonation on the nutrient status of underlying soils and the initial establishment and growth of trees. A total of 283 container grown trees were planted in a bufferzone around a future landfill site. Control amendments consisted of an 8 cm layer (0.5 m3) of wood chips applied in a circular area of 4.6 m2 around the trees' planting pit. For the treatment, a 2.5 cm layer of composted biosolids (0.15 m3 or 80 Mg/ha) was applied in a circular area of 4.6 m2 around the trees' planting pit followed by an 8 cm layer (0.5 m3) of wood chips. The results indicate that the replication of woodland soil surface attributes using composted biosolids can significantly improve the nutrient status of underlying soil. Some significant effects were seen under control conditions, too. However, the effects on tree establishment and growth parameters were, for the most part, not statistically significant.
Date: May 1999
Creator: Thuesen, Kevin (Kevin Andrew)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Electronic Ranch: the Information Environment of Cattle Breeders (open access)

The Electronic Ranch: the Information Environment of Cattle Breeders

The present study was a longitudinal analysis of the information needs of Red Angus cattle breeders and their use of networked information services. It was based on two surveys. The first, conducted in 1995--96, polled all 1067 ranches of the Red Angus Association of America. Responses from 192 Red Angus breeders were used to determine the value of different information types and to evaluate perceptions of the greatest barriers to the adoption of network information services. The second survey, mailed to 41 Red Angus breeders in 1998, focused on early adopters and likely users of network services. Responses from 15 breeders were used to evaluate perceptions of the greatest barriers to the effective use of Web-based information services.
Date: May 1999
Creator: Hicks, Georgia Jane
System: The UNT Digital Library
Faculty Identification: Effects on Culture in a Metropolitan Research University (open access)

Faculty Identification: Effects on Culture in a Metropolitan Research University

This utilized identification theory to determine if faculty identify with the university and recognize its mission. The study also explored how faculty differentiate between a traditional university and a metropolitan research university. Finally, the study explored whether the faculty consider the University of North Texas to be a Metropolitan Research University. UNT full-time faculty members (N=224) completed questionnaires to indicate their identification with the university and their recognition of the university mission. Analysis showed that faculty have not come to a consensus on the definition of a MRU and that they do not identify with UNT.
Date: May 1999
Creator: Gray, Marlene E.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Image and Identity at El Santuario de Chimayo in Chimayo, New Mexico (open access)

Image and Identity at El Santuario de Chimayo in Chimayo, New Mexico

El Santuario de Chimayo is a small community shrine that combines both native Tewa Indian and Christian traditions. This study focuses on the interaction between traditions through analysis of the shrine's two major artworks: a crucifix devoted to El Senor de Esquipulas (Christ of Esquipulas) and a statue of the Santo Nino (Holy Child). The shrine and its two primary artworks are expressions of the dynamic interaction between native and European cultures in New Mexico at the beginning of the nineteenth century. They frame the discussion of native and Christian cultural exchange about the relationships between religious images, how they function, and how they are interpreted.
Date: May 1999
Creator: DeLoach, Dana Engstrom
System: The UNT Digital Library
Interspecific Competition Between Hygrophila polysperma and Ludwigia repens, Two Species of Importance in the Comal River, Texas (open access)

Interspecific Competition Between Hygrophila polysperma and Ludwigia repens, Two Species of Importance in the Comal River, Texas

Hygrophila polysperma is a plant native to Asia that has been introduced into the Comal River, TX and is thriving while Ludwigia repens, a species native to the river appears to be declining. Both plants have similar morphologies and occupy similar habitats in the river. Two plant competition experiments were conducted to examine the competitive interactions between the two species. First, an experimental design was developed in which established Ludwigia plants were 'invaded' by sprigs of Hygrophila to determine if established Ludwigia populations would be negatively impacted by invasion. The second experiment focused on establishment and growth of sprigs of each species under three competition scenarios. Results show that the continued growth of well-established Ludwigia plants was significantly depressed by the invasion of Hygrophila in comparison with those that had not been invaded. Furthermore, the growth of Hygrophila sprigs was uninhibited by the presence of Ludwigia, but the presence of Hygrophila negatively impacted the growth of Ludwigia sprigs. There was no difference in the growth of Hygrophila sprigs whether planted alone, with Ludwigia sprigs or even if planted into stands of established Ludwigia.
Date: May 1999
Creator: Francis, Matthew D.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Monitoring Watershed Health in the Upper Trinity River Basin, North Central Texas (open access)

Monitoring Watershed Health in the Upper Trinity River Basin, North Central Texas

This study conducts watershed analysis using biological and geo-spatial techniques. Incorporating landscape features with biological attributes has been shown to be an effective method of monitoring environmental quality within watersheds. In situ biomonitoring using the Asiatic Clam, Corbicula fluminea, habitat suitability, and water quality data were evaluated for their potential to describe ecological conditions in agricultural and urban areas within the Upper Trinity River watershed. These data were analyzed with GIS to identify effects of land use on ecological conditions. C. fluminea downstream of point source effluents was effective detecting in-stream toxicity. Ambient toxicity appears to have improved in the Trinity, although urban influences limit aspects of aquatic life. No association between habitat quality and land use was identified.
Date: May 1999
Creator: Csekitz, Jill Diane
System: The UNT Digital Library
Online Student Services in American Higher Education: Contemporary Issues and Future Implications (open access)

Online Student Services in American Higher Education: Contemporary Issues and Future Implications

This study examined the way in which the top 100 "most wired" colleges and universities provide online student services. Named by a national publication in May 1998, these colleges and universities were chosen because of their technological infrastructure, courses offered online, public computers on campus, and online student services, among other aspects.
Date: May 1999
Creator: McRae, Mary Suzanne
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Religious Dimensions of William Faulkner: An Inquiry into the Dichotomy of Puritanism (open access)

The Religious Dimensions of William Faulkner: An Inquiry into the Dichotomy of Puritanism

"The Religious Dimensions of William Faulkner: An Inquiry into the Dichotomy of Puritanism" traces a secular mode of thinking of American moral superiority and the gospel of success to its religious origins. The study shows that while the basis for American moral superiority derives from the typological correspondence between sacred history and American experience, the gospel of success results from the Puritan preoccupation with work as a virtue instead of a necessity because labor improves one's lot in this world while securing salvation in the next. By explaining how Puritanism begins as a rejection of worldliness but ends as an orgy of materialism, my study raises and addresses the paradoxical nature of the Puritan legacy: Why should the Puritan work ethic, when subverted by its logical conclusion---the gospel of success, result in the undoing of Puritan spirituality in its mission of redeeming the Old World? Furthermore, this inquiry examines the role Puritanism plays in creating the mythologies of America as the New World Garden, the white man as the American Adam, the black man as the American Ham, and the white woman as the American Eve. In the Puritan use of biblical typology, blacks and women function as the white …
Date: May 1999
Creator: Wu, John Guo Qiang
System: The UNT Digital Library
Teacher Implementation of a Pretreatment Assessment Procedure in a Public Middle School (open access)

Teacher Implementation of a Pretreatment Assessment Procedure in a Public Middle School

In an attempt to determine the effectiveness of a pretreatment assessment procedure known as the scatter plot (Touchette, MacDonald, & Langer, 1985), direct observational data was collected by 13 middle school teachers on four "problem" students. After four weeks of data collection, interobserver agreement probes were calculated and a visual analysis of the plotted data was performed to ascertain a possible pattern of problem behavior. Additionally, in an attempt to assess the teachers' perceptions of the scatter plot, the 13 teachers were asked to complete a questionnaire. Although a visual analysis of the plotted data suggested a possible pattern of problem behavior, interobserver agreement probes failed to achieve a desired overall reliability of 90% or higher. Despite a low IOA, results of the questionnaire administered to the 13 teachers generally supported the use of the scatter plot as a means of assessing student behavior. Possible reasons for failing to attain an IOA of 90% or higher include the total number of students in a class, the number of subjects observed per period, the teacher's location in the classroom, and the subjects ability to recognize if the teacher was "looking." Recommendations are provided regarding future research concerning the scatter plot and …
Date: May 1999
Creator: Alcala, Angelo L. (Angelo Lee)
System: The UNT Digital Library
American Indian Music in Elementary School Music Programs of Oklahoma : Repertoire, Authenticity and Instruction (open access)

American Indian Music in Elementary School Music Programs of Oklahoma : Repertoire, Authenticity and Instruction

The purpose of this study was to determine the instructional methods of Oklahoma's elementary school music educators with respect to the inclusion of an authentic repertoire of American Indian music in the curriculum. The research was conducted through two methods. First, an analysis and review of adopted textbook series and pertinent supplemental resources on American Indian music was made. Second, a survey of K-6 grade elementary music specialists in Oklahoma during the 1997-1998 school year was conducted.
Date: December 1998
Creator: Damm, Robert J., 1964-
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Analysis of How Interest Groups Influence the Policy-making Process for the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act of 1997 (open access)

An Analysis of How Interest Groups Influence the Policy-making Process for the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act of 1997

This study examined the policy letters and verbal testimony transcripts submitted by interest groups to the United States Department of Education (USDE) in response to the proposed regulations pertaining to the implementation of the 1997 reauthorization of P. L. 105-17, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Specifically, this study analyzed the emerging themes in the area of discipline. Responses were received from the following interest groups: (a) school administrators, (b) parents, (c) teachers, (d) state educational agencies (SEAs), (e) national educational organizations, and (f) members of the United States Congress. In addition to analyzing the emerging themes, the study compared these themes to ones found in the current literature and court cases.
Date: December 1998
Creator: Price, Laura Black
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Assessment of College Students' Attitudes and Empathy toward Rape (open access)

An Assessment of College Students' Attitudes and Empathy toward Rape

The purpose of this study was to assess rape attitudes and empathy levels of students at a university in North Texas. The Attitudes Toward Rape questionnaire and the Rape Empathy Scale were administered to 387 undergraduate students. Dependent variables were attitudes and empathy and independent variables were prior knowledge or experience as a rape victim, having female siblings, gender, marital status, and age. Significance was found between rape-intolerant attitudes and both prior experience as a victim (p < .001), and gender (p < .001). Significance was also found between empathy and experience as a rape victim (p < .035) and gender (p < .032).
Date: December 1998
Creator: Burke, Sloane C. (Sloane Christine)
System: The UNT Digital Library
"The Best Stuff Which the State Affords": a Portrait of the Fourteenth Texas Infantry in the Civil War (open access)

"The Best Stuff Which the State Affords": a Portrait of the Fourteenth Texas Infantry in the Civil War

This study examines the social and economic characteristics of the men who joined the Confederate Fourteenth Texas Infantry Regiment during the Civil War and provides a narrative history of the regiment's wartime service. The men of the Fourteenth Infantry enlisted in 1862 and helped to turn back the Federal Red River Campaign in April 1864. In creating a portrait of these men, the author used traditional historical sources (letters, diaries, medical records, secondary narratives) as well as statistical data from the 1860 United States census, military service records, and state tax rolls. The thesis places the heretofore unknown story of the Fourteenth Texas Infantry within the overall body of Civil War historiography.
Date: December 1998
Creator: Parker, Scott Dennis
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Comparative Study of School District Expenditures in Texas Since the Enactment of Senate Bill 7 (open access)

A Comparative Study of School District Expenditures in Texas Since the Enactment of Senate Bill 7

The purposes of this study were to: (a) determine the effects of Senate Bill 7 on expenditures in Texas school districts, (b) compare similarities and differences in expenditures among property-poor, medium-wealth, and wealthy-districts, (c) analyze spending patterns in light of equalization efforts, and (d) provide useful data to researchers in the area of equalization and adequacy.
Date: December 1998
Creator: Odle, B. Neal (Barry Neal)
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Comparative Study of the Impact of the Total Quality Management Program on Exit Level Texas Assessment of Academic Skills Scores (open access)

A Comparative Study of the Impact of the Total Quality Management Program on Exit Level Texas Assessment of Academic Skills Scores

The management style being used by school personnel in Texas and across the nation today is predominately that of a bureaucracy. This model was organized around the industrial revolution that was exercising authority at the turn of the century. Writers and researchers have pointed out that such a model is not capable of providing students the knowledge and skills they will need to enter an increasingly demanding society. One management style relatively new to the educational arena today is that of Total Quality Management. This study reports the results of the impact of the training in those principles by measurement of student test scores.
Date: December 1998
Creator: Maulding, Wanda Smith
System: The UNT Digital Library
Culture and Anxiety: a Cross-Cultural Study (open access)

Culture and Anxiety: a Cross-Cultural Study

By measuring interactions among and between anxiety and the independent variables of country of origin, gender, level of education, and age, this study attempted to gain insight into how students from different countries experience anxiety on a U.S. college campus. Results of the Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and the univariate test(ANOVA) indicated that the gender and level of education of the subjects made no significant difference. However, when it came to country of origin, there were significant differences between two of the cultural groups and respective anxiety level. Findings also support a positive correlation between age and anxiety levels, with the youngest participants having the lowest anxiety levels.
Date: December 1998
Creator: Abbassi, Amir
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Determinants of Federal Spending for the Administration of Justice (open access)

The Determinants of Federal Spending for the Administration of Justice

This study develops and empirically tests a model of the determinants of federal spending for crime-fighting policies. An inter-disciplinary approach to building the model is utilized that merges ideas from budgeting, policy analysis and criminology. Four factors hypothesized to impact federal spending for the administration of justice are operationalized as eight variables and tested using ordinary least squares regression analysis on time series data. The factors hypothesized to impact federal spending in this area are economic constraints imposed on government spending, the ideological makeup of Congress and the president, the actual crime rate, and the public's attitude toward crime. Five of the eight variables demonstrated statistical significance at the.10 level or better.
Date: December 1998
Creator: Gabriano, Gina
System: The UNT Digital Library
Do American Adults Know How to Exercise for a Health Benefit? (open access)

Do American Adults Know How to Exercise for a Health Benefit?

Approximately 950,000 Americans die annually from cardiovascular disease. Physical activity is a major risk factor for the development of CVD and a risk factor for stroke. The purpose of this research was to determine whether American adults know how to exercise to achieve health benefits and whether this knowledge is a function of demographics. Items included knowledge of exercise guidelines and knowledge of traditional and non-traditional exercise activities. This information was obtained from 22 questions that were a part of a larger national survey of 2,002 American households. Statistical analyses of this sample, indicate American adults have knowledge which varies by demographic groups. Data revealed that overall the 61+, Less than High School, African-American, Hispanic-American, and Male groups have the least amount of knowledge about exercise. These data can provide health educators with important aspects of exercise knowledge for future health promotions/interventions.
Date: December 1998
Creator: Krzewinski-Malone, Jeanette A. (Jeanette Aileen)
System: The UNT Digital Library