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249 Matching Results
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An Empirical Investigation of the Lobbying Influence of Large Corporations on Selected FASB Standards
The Financial Accounting Standards Board is a private sector rule making body. Congressional inquiries have questioned whether the setting of accountin standards should remain in the private sector. Congressional critics have charged that the FASB has been captured by special interests and recommended that a governmental agency assume responsibility for standard setting. Specifically, critics charge that large corporations capture the Big Eight accounting firms who, in turn, have captured the FASB. Previous capture studies have concluded that the standard setting process is pluralistic and that the FASB has not been captured. The studies have focused on the influence of the Big Eight to determine if the FASB has been captured. They assume if standards do not reflect the expressed preferences of the Big Eight, then Congressional criticisms are invalid. The studies also assume a unidirectional influence between participants in the process and have ignored the intensity of preferences of the respondents.The purpose of this study is to provide a theoretical framework to specify selection of standards that would be expected to be subject to capture. This framework also recognizes the duo-directional nature of influence. The allegations of capture were tested using the standards selected in accordance with the theoretical framework. …
Date:
May 1988
Creator:
Beckman, Ronald J. (Ronald James)
System:
The UNT Digital Library
An Empirical Investigation of the Structural Form and Measurement Validity of the Hill Inventory
This research began with the Hill Inventory. Cognitive style preference variables were classified as one of following four types: Theoretical Codes, Qualitative Codes, Social-Cultural Codes or Reasoning Modalities. A consumer behavior perspective was then used to form an alternative structure for the Hill Inventory variables. The following three constructs were proposed: Evaluation Codes, Perceptual Codes, and Reasoning Modalities. The purpose of this research was to assess the structural form and measurement validity of the Hill Inventory. Specific steps taken to accomplish this objective included: developing confirmatory factor and structural equation models; using the LISREL software package to analyze the model specifications; and assessing the validity of the questions used to measure the variables. A descriptive research design was used to compare the model specifications. The research instrument consisted of eight statements for each of twenty-eight variables for a total of 224 questions. Five-point response choices were described by the words: often, sometimes, unsure, rarely, or never. The sample consisted of 285 student subjects in marketing classes at a large university. Data analysis began by comparing the distributions of the data to a normal case. Parameter estimates, root mean square residuals and squared multiple correlations then were obtained using the LISREL …
Date:
August 1988
Creator:
Blake, Faye W.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Empirical Research of Decision-making Effectiveness When Using Differing Presentation Formats Under Varying Decision Tasks
The purpose of this research was to determine if presentation format, given a particular task to be performed, would affect the decision-making process of financial decision makers. The problem motivating this study is the potential for managers to make inefficient decisions when they use reports which are presented inappropriately for a given task.
Date:
December 1988
Creator:
Hard, Nancy J. (Nancy Jean)
System:
The UNT Digital Library
An Empirical Study of the Causes of Military Coups and the Consequences of Military Rule in the Third World: 1960-1985
This study analyzed the causes of military coups and the consequences of military rule in the Third World during the 1960-1985 period. Using a coup d" etat score, including both successful and unsuccessful coups, as a dependent variable and collecting data for 109 developing nations from the World Handbook of Political and Social Indicators, The New York Times Index, and public documents, sixteen hypotheses derived from the literature on the causes of military coups were tested by both simple and multiple regression models for the Third World as a whole, as well as for four regions (Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa) and in two time periods (1960-1970 and 1971-1985). Similarly, three models of military rule (progressive, Huntington's, and revisionist models) were analyzed to assess the consequences of military rule. The results of the study concerning the causes of military coups suggest four conclusions. First, three independent variables (social mobilization, cultural homogeneity, and dominant ethnic groups in the society) have stabilizing consequences. Second, six independent variables (previous coup experience, social mobilization divided by political institutionalization, length of national independence, economic deterioration, internal war, and military dominance) have destabilizing consequences. Third, multiple regression models for …
Date:
May 1988
Creator:
Kanchanasuwon, Wichai, 1955-
System:
The UNT Digital Library
An Empirical Study on the Use of Promotion in Hospitals
The role of marketing and marketing communication in hospitals has grown in the last decade. The need for hospitals to make careful decisions about their marketing communication efforts is mandated, given the changes taking place in the hospital industry. The purpose of this dissertation was to conduct empirical research to determine whether for-profit and non-profit hospitals perceive and utilize promotion as a marketing strategy element. The two steps taken included: identifying important factors considered by hospital administrators and marketing staff in the development of communication messages designed for patients, hospital staff and medical staff; and testing the factors developed and studying the attitudes of hospital personnel toward promotion using a national sample of hospitals. In phase 1, focus group interviews were conducted in a surrogate for-profit hospital and a surrogate non-profit hospital. In phase 2, an original mail questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 80 hospitals. A total of 38 hospitals participated, providing 114 usable responses. Test statistics included content analysis, Chi-Square, Pearson correlation coefficient and Analysis of Variance. The results of the focus group study indicated the practice of marketing in hospitals is in its early growth stages and marketing is viewed as nothing more …
Date:
December 1988
Creator:
Gopalakrishna, Pradeep
System:
The UNT Digital Library
English Methods Courses in Texas Preparation for the Essential Elements
This study analyzes the congruence between the objectives of secondary-level English methods courses in Texas universities and the objectives of the state-mandated high school curriculum (the essential elements) in language arts. A questionnaire was used to obtain information from 26 English methods instructors at 22 universities in Texas. The data obtained from these questionnaires reveal that these instructors strongly emphasize preparing prospective English teachers to teach the essential elements of composition. Other significant findings include: (1) the lack of emphasis in the English methods course on strategies for teaching the essential elements of language, when those elements are unrelated to composition, and (2) the lack of uniformity which characterizes the organization of the English methods course at major Texas universities.
Date:
August 1988
Creator:
Erwin, Martha L. (Martha Lea)
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Environmental Correlates to Genetic Variation in the Coral Reef Fish, Thalassoma bifasciatum
Genetic variation was examined in bluehead wrasse, Thalassoma bifasciatum, populations along the Florida Keys. Interpretion of mean heterozygosity (H), percent polymorphic loci per population (P), genetic similarity, and F and G statistics demonstrated a clear division of wrasse populations into "northern" and "southern" groups. Correlation and cluster analyses indicated the six reefs can be grouped in a similar fashion based on genetic and environmental data. The conclusion from this analysis of wrasse populations in the Florida Keys is that substantial population subdivision occurs in response to differing selective pressures created by heterogeneous environments.
Date:
December 1988
Creator:
Pirkle, Michelle S. (Michelle Serpas)
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Environmental Scanning Behavior in Physical Therapy Private Practice Firms: its Relationship to the Level of Entrepreneurship and Legal Regulatory Environment
This study examined the effects of entrepreneurship level and legal regulatory environment on environmental scanning in one component of the health services industry, private practice physical therapy. Two aspects of scanning served as dependent variables: (1) extent to which firms scrutinized six environmental sectors (competitor, customer, technological, regulatory, economic, social-political) and (2) frequency of information source use (human vs. written). Availability of information was a covariate for frequency of source use. Three levels of entrepreneurship were determined by scores on the Covin and Slevin (1986) entrepreneurship scale. Firms were placed in one of three legal regulatory categories according to the state in which the firm delivered services. A structured questionnaire was sent to 450 randomly selected members of the American Physical Therapy Association's Private Practice Section. Respondents were major decision makers, e.g., owners, chief executive officers. The sample was stratified according to three types of regulatory environment. A response rate of 75% was achieved (n = 318) with equal representation from each stratum. All questionnaire subscales exhibited high internal reliability and validity. The study used a 3x3 factorial design to analyze the data. Two multivariate analyses were conducted, one for each dependent variable set. Results indicated that "high" entrepreneurial level …
Date:
August 1988
Creator:
Schafer, D. Sue
System:
The UNT Digital Library
An Evaluation of a Computerized Coping Skills Training Program Developed for Use in a Correctional Setting
This thesis is an evaluation of two coping skills programs and their effects on inmates' mental health status. The original computer coping skills program designed for the general population was modified to address the specific needs of an incarcerated population.This thesis evaluated the differences in the mental health status of the two treatment groups compared with the control group and with each other to assess the effectiveness of the two programs. The results of this study showed substantial improvement in the mental health status for the two treatment groups. There are indications from this study that specialty software designed specifically for inmates may result in lower levels of depression than non-tailored software.
Date:
August 1988
Creator:
Salerno, Lillian E. (Lillian Elizabeth)
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Existence of a Solution for a Wave Equation and an Elliptic Dirichlet Problem
In this paper we consider an existence of a solution for a nonlinear nonmonotone wave equation in [0,π]xR and an existence of a positive solution for a non-positone Dirichlet problem in a bounded subset of R^n.
Date:
May 1988
Creator:
Sumalee Unsurangsie
System:
The UNT Digital Library
An Exploratory Empirical Investigation of Information Processing among Incubator-Housed Manufacturers during Channel Member Selection
The purpose of this research was to conduct an exploratory study of the information processing utilized by incubator-housed manufacturers during channel member selection. The study included the evaluation of the decision models used by the manufacturers as well as criteria used in the selection process. The study was specifically designed to achieve the following objectives. First, the research was to identify the evaluation modes used by the manufacturers as either compensatory or noncompensatory. Second, the study was to evaluate the effect of the task on the selection of the evaluation model(s) used during the channel member selection process. Third, the study was to evaluate the effect of the selected decision strategy on the amount of information used during the decision process. Finally, the study was to identify and examine the importance of the criteria used by the manufacturers in the selection process. The methodology in this study consisted of primary research using protocol analysis as the main data gathering technique. A ranking instrument was also mailed to the respondents prior to the protocol session. The population for the study was identified as all manufacturers located in publicly-sponsored business incubators. A total of 235 incubators were in existence with approximately 47 …
Date:
December 1988
Creator:
Fontenot, Gwen F.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
An Exploratory Study of the Relationship Between Curiosity and Print Awareness of Four-Year-Old Children
This study has five chapters, organized in the following manner: (1) Chapter I contains the introduction, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, questions, significance of the study, and definition of terms; (2) Chapter II is a review of the literature; (3) Chapter III is a description of subjects and tests and procedures for treating the data; (4) Chapter IV contains the statistical technique of the analysis and the findings related to the questions, and (5) Chapter V consists of the summary, findings, conclusions, and recommendations. The problem of the study was to explore the relationship between curiosity and print awareness among four-year-old children. Subjects participating in the study were 71 four-year-old children from six licensed child care and preschool settings located in different geographical sections of a north central Texas city. The study included thirty-four girls and thirty-seven boys. Instruments used to collect the data were Kreitler, Zigler, and Kreitler's battery of curiosity tasks and Goodman's Signs of the Environment and Book Handling Knowledge tasks. Canonical I correlation analyses do not yield a significant relationship between variables of curiosity and print awareness. An alternate Pearson Product Moment correlation yielded some specific pairwise correlations between certain curiosity variables and …
Date:
December 1988
Creator:
Estrada, Anita
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Facial Expression Decoding Deficits Among Psychiatric Patients: Attention, Encoding, and Processing
Psychiatric patients, particularly schizophrenics, tend to be less accurate decoders of facial expressions than normals. The involvement of three basic information processing stages in this deficit was investigated: attention; encoding; and processing. Psychiatric inpatients, classified by diagnosis and severity of pathology, and nonpatient controls were administered seven facial cue decoding tasks. Orientation of attention was assessed through rate of diversion of gaze from the stimuli. Encoding was assessed using simple tasks, requiring one contrast of two facial stimuli and selection from two response alternatives. Processing was assessed using a more complex task, requiring several contrasts between stimulus faces and selection from numerous response alternatives. Residualized error scores were used to statistically control for effects of attention on task performance. Processing task performance was evaluated using ANCOVA to control for effects of encoding. Schizophrenics were characterized by generalized information processing deficit while affective disorder subjects evidenced impairment only in attending. Attention impairments in both groups were related to severity of psychopathology. Problems in encoding and processing were related only to a schizophrenic diagnosis. Their decoding deficits appeared attributable to general visuospatial discrimination impairment rather than repression-sensitization defenses or the affective connotation of cues. Adequacy of interpersonal functioning was associated with measures …
Date:
May 1988
Creator:
Hoag, David Nelson
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Factors Affecting the Efficient Performance of the Thai State Railway Authority: a Time-Series Data Analysis
The Thai State Railway Authority (RSR) is a public enterprise in Thailand. As an organization its performance is subject to the argument of contingency theorists that operating efficiency is dependent upon various factors both in the internal and external environments of the enterprise. Most of the internal factors are those that organization theorists in the developed world have identified such as goals and objectives, resources, and organization structures. Meanwhile, external factors such as political, economic and social conditions of the society are regarded as indirect factors that have less importance than do the internal factors. Scholars of the developing world have argued that political, social and economic conditions in the society are as important as internal factors. These factors may have a very significant influence on the enterprises and on the society as a whole. Consequently, public enterprises in developing countries always encounter the same problem of operating inefficiency. The RSR is selected as a case study because of its advantages over the other public enterprises in Thailand in terms of size of operation, length of service, and data availability. For the purpose of this project, data are collected from 1960 to 1984 for longitudinal analysis. The methods of analysis …
Date:
August 1988
Creator:
Chalermpol Waitayangkoon
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Factors Related to Mississippi School Library Media Centers in Multitype Cooperation
The main purpose of this study was to identify the major obstacles to cooperation as perceived by school library media specialists in the state of Mississippi and to determine if members of the Coastal Mississippi Library Cooperative (CMLC) believe that there are fewer obstacles to cooperation than do non-members. The secondary purpose was to evaluate the CMLC to some extent to determine if success was achieved through organization when defined by the variables, planning, governance, funding, communication, administration, and evaluation. The population of the study was all of the librarians (academic, public, school, and special) in the six-county area which comprises the CMLC, and a random sample of public school librarians throughout the remainder of the state. All of the school librarians were sent a questionnaire that requested their responses to statements of barriers to cooperation. All of the librarians in the CMLC region were sent a questionnaire to obtain their perceptions of participation in the CMLC. Pour librarians, members of the CMLC, were Interviewed to obtain information on the organizational factors of the CMLC. Data received from school library media specialists were submitted to various statistical tests. The Chi-Square statistic was used on the demographic portion of the questionnaire, …
Date:
May 1988
Creator:
Partridge, Margaret
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Factors Related to Travel Mode Choices in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Area
This study examined the factors related to travel mode choices in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Area. Changes in population, life style and economy of the Dallas-Fort Worth region over the last few decades demand a careful re-examination of travel demand tools and methods. The purpose of the study was to provide an understanding of transportation modal choice in the region. Those demographic variables best predicting the choices were identified. The Home Interview Survey, a set of disaggregate data from the 19 84 North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) Regional Travel Survey, was analyzed using logistic regression. The major findings of the research indicate that about 97 percent of the travelers in the study area used private cars and 3 percent used public transit. Household income and cars-vans were significant explanatory variables. The impact of household income and number of car-vans available upon an individual's decision for travel mode choice were very important. The number of car-vans available in the household, and age of respondents were significant predictors in travel mode. Household members with incomes of $30,000 to $39,000 and those with incomes of at least $50,000 tended to use more private cars than did other income groups. Also, household …
Date:
May 1988
Creator:
Karimpour, Abdolmehdi
System:
The UNT Digital Library
A Faculty Orientation and Design for Writing Across the Curriculum
A Faculty Orientation and Design for Writing Across the Curriculum is a case study of the work done to introduce the concept of writing across the curriculum at an urban community college. Emphasizing the related processes of learning, thinking, and writing, the researcher describes private interviews and analyzes transcriptions of small group meetings designed to discuss ways to encourage increased quantity and improved quality of writing in vocational and university-parallel courses on the campus. The focus of the study is the transcription of the faculty meetings where teachers reveal their methodologies and educational philosophies as they discuss ways to provide increased writing opportunities to large classes of open-door students. The culmination of the orientation project is a faculty booklet of ways to increase writing. The researcher concludes that although a writing "program" is not in place as a result of the year's work, essential groundwork for such a program is laid.
Date:
May 1988
Creator:
Fulkerson, Tahita N. (Tahita Niemeyer)
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Farming Someone Else's Land: Farm Tenancy in the Texas Brazos River Valley, 1850-1880
This dissertation develops and utilizes a methodology for combining data drawn from the manuscript census returns and the county tax rolls to study landless farmers during the period from 1850 until 1880 in three Texas Brazos River Valley counties: Fort Bend, Milam, and Palo Pinto. It focuses in particular on those landless farmers who appear to have had no option other than tenant farming. It concludes that there were such landless farmers throughout the period, although they were a relatively insignificant factor in the agricultural economy before the Civil War. During the Antebellum decade, poor tenant farmers were a higher proportion of the population on the frontier than in the interior, but throughout the period, they were found in higher numbers in the central portion of the river valley. White tenants generally avoided the coastal plantation areas, although by 1880, that pattern seemed to be changing. Emancipation had tremendous impact on both black and white landless farmers. Although both groups were now theoretically competing for the same resource, productive crop land, their reactions during the first fifteen years were so different that it suggests two systems of tenant farming divided by caste. As population expansion put increasing pressure on the …
Date:
December 1988
Creator:
Harper, Cecil
System:
The UNT Digital Library
First Impressions of Therapists: the Effect of Therapist Gender, Gaze, Smiling and Subject Gender
Conceptualization psychotherapy as an interpersonal influence process emphasizes how a therapist is perceived by a client. Factors affecting a client's early impressions of a therapist could influence therapeutic interactions since first impressions are relatively stable. The study investigated effects of nonverbal behavior and gender during a simulated initial meeting between a therapist and client. Undergraduates (N = 466) viewed a male or female therapist interviewing with a new female client. Therapist gaze .(100%, 80%, 40%) and smiling (high, low) were manipulated. After subjects viewed one of 12 videotapes, they completed questionnaires rating therapist expertness, trustworthiness, attractiveness, masculinity and femininity. A comparison of the therapist with subjects' expectations of a therapist in general was obtained by pre- and post-testing utilizing a measure of client expectations. MANOVAs were performed on all ratings except expectation scores, where an ANCOVA was utilized. Main effects for therapist gender indicated the female therapist was rated as significantly more expert, attractive, trustworthy and feminine than the male (ps < .81). For ratings of masculinity, subject gender interacted with therapist gender (p < .001). Wain effects showed that high smiling was rated as more attractive and more feminine (ps < .01). Smiling and level of gaze interacted on …
Date:
August 1988
Creator:
Ziegler Kratz, Nancy Ann
System:
The UNT Digital Library
A Follow-Up Study of Autistic and Autistic-Like Children
Autism is a lifelong handicapping disorder that occurs on a continuum of severity. Children who show mild autistic behaviors but do not meet the criteria for a diagnosis of autism are often called autistic-like, but it is not known if their development and functioning are similar to that of autistic children. A follow-up study was done on 35 autistic and autistic-like children who were an average of 3 years of age when initially seen. Initial test scores indicated that the children were similar on measures of intellectual/developmental functioning, receptive vocabulary, and adaptive functioning. Approximately 4 years later they were evaluated again. Using the Childhood Autism Rating Scale, the children were divided at follow-up into three groups: nonautistic, mildly/moderately autistic, and severely autistic. Most children made gains on intelligence tests and displayed a diminishing number of autistic symptoms. Changes in nonverbal intelligence, adaptive functioning and receptive vocabulary scores depended on group membership. The results are discussed in relation to the reported stability of cognitive functioning in young autistic children and the implications for clinical practice, early intervention, and research on attachment. The nature of the syndrome of autism is also discussed, particularly in its relation to the milder, atypical children. The …
Date:
August 1988
Creator:
McCallon, Denise
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Four Stories of Fantasy and Science Fiction
This thesis contains four stories of fantasy and science fiction. Four story lengths are represented: the short short ("Dragon Lovers"), the shorter short story ("Homecoming"), the longer short story ("Shadow Mistress"), and the novel ("Sword of Albruch," excerpted here).
Date:
May 1988
Creator:
Drolet, Cynthia L. (Cynthia Lea)
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Garrison Keillor and American Literary Traditions
Although Garrison Keillor is perhaps best known as the creator and host of Minnesota Public Radio's A Prairie Home Companion (1974-1987), the focus of this study is his literary career. Keillor's literary accomplishments include a successful career as a writer for The New Yorker and two best-selling books about the fictional town of Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, entitled Lake Wobegon Days (1985) and Leaving Home (1987). His literary style incorporates elements from several traditions in American literature--the precise, sophisticated "New Yorker style" practiced by writers such as E. B. White and James Thurber; the oral tradition prominent in the works of Mark Twain and the nineteenth-century literary comedians; and the satiric realism associated with the small-town literature of writers such as Sherwood Anderson and Sinclair Lewis.
Date:
August 1988
Creator:
Elston, Suzanne Poteet
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Genetic Differentiation of the Geomys Pocket Gopher Complex of Texas
Genetic variation was analyzed for populations of seven taxa comprising four cytotypes of the Geomys bursarius chromosome complex, including G. b. major, G. b. knoxjonesi, and the Edwards Plateau taxa, G. b. llanensis and G. b. texensis. Genetic relationships of the Edwards Plateau gophers with other taxa and between themselves were examined. Genetic similarity, number of fixed allelic differences, and ectoparasite distribution indicate the Edwards Plateau gophers are a distinct gene pool. Isolation of the Edwards Plateau taxa precludes contact zone analysis. However, genetic differentiation is typical of that between other species of Geomys, and the Edwards Plateau taxa should be recognized as G. texensis. Distributions of allelic frequencies indicate little justification in retaining the subspecific status of the Edwards Plateau forms.
Date:
August 1988
Creator:
Block, Scott B. (Scott Bishop)
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Genetic Variation in a Population of the Plains Woodrat Neotoma micropus
Neotoma micropus from Jack County, Texas, were studied over a 9-month period. Loci from blood and saliva were used to determine genetic variation within the population. Deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were found at one locus. The average temporal F over all seven loci was 0.040. Genetic structuring was subtle, fluctuated on a seasonal basis, and was due to differential migration or predation on genotypes. Heterozygotes tended to move more than homozygotes, and a greater proportion of heterozygotes were lost from the population during each season. Genetic variation was maintained in the population by immigrant individuals. This differential in dispersal of genotypes fits current models of reorganization within the genome of populations.
Date:
August 1988
Creator:
Stewart, John E. B. (John Edward Bakos)
System:
The UNT Digital Library