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Active or Passive Voice: Does It Matter? (open access)

Active or Passive Voice: Does It Matter?

This thesis reports on the use of active and passive voice in the workplace and classroom through analysis of surveys completed by 37 employees and 66 students. The surveys offered six categories of business writing with ten sets of two sentences each, written in active and passive voice. Participants selected one sentence from each set and gave a reason for each selection. The participants preferred active over passive 47 to 46 percent of opportunities, but they preferred mixed voice over both, 49 percent. The participants preferred active only for memos to supervisors; in the other five categories they preferred passive or mixed voice. Both males and females preferred mixed voice, and age appeared to influence the choices. They cited context as the most common reason for using passive.
Date: December 1993
Creator: Watson, Rose E. (Rose Elliott)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Acts of Survival: the Plight and Prospects of Dallas Theatre (open access)

Acts of Survival: the Plight and Prospects of Dallas Theatre

A comprehensive investigation examines the decline and changes that have affected Dallas regional theatre development from the dream of Margo Jones in the 1940s to the proliferation of emerging theatres in 1993. Changing economic conditions, lack of audience support, and shortages of performance space have contributed to an exodus of Dallas actors and artists. Reviewed are measures to reverse this trend, including funding changes, awareness campaigns, improved inter-theatre cooperation, and guidelines for audience development. The study's conclusion notes that theatres do, indeed, have a natural life cycle, but with renewed emphasis on audience development and self-sufficiency, theatres in Dallas can endure and contribute to an enlarged sense of civic pride.
Date: December 1993
Creator: Leeman, Patricia Diane
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Angoff Method and Rater Analysis: Enhancing Cutoff Score Reliability and Accuracy (open access)

The Angoff Method and Rater Analysis: Enhancing Cutoff Score Reliability and Accuracy

At times called a philosophy and other times called a process, cutting score methodology is an issue routinely encountered by Industrial/Organizational (I/0) psychologists. Published literature on cutting score methodology appears much more frequently in academic settings than it does in personnel settings where the potential for lawsuits typically occurs more often. With the passage of the 1991 Civil Rights Act, it is no longer legal to use within-group scoring. It has now become necessary for personnel psychologists to develop more acceptable selection methods that fall within established guidelines. Designating cutoff scores with the Angoff method appears to suit many requirements of personnel departments. Several procedures have evolved that suggest enhancing the accuracy and reliability of the Angoff method is possible. The current experiment investigated several such procedures, and found that rater accuracy methods significantly enhance cutoff score reliability and accuracy.
Date: December 1993
Creator: Baker, Charles E., 1957-
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Bahá'í Principle of Religious Unity and the Challenge of Radical Pluralism (open access)

The Bahá'í Principle of Religious Unity and the Challenge of Radical Pluralism

The Bahá'í principle of religious unity is unique among the world's religious traditions in that its primary basis is found within its own sacred texts and not in commentaries of those texts. The Bahá'í principle affirms the existence of a common transcendent source from which the religions of the world originate and receive their inspiration. The Bahá'í writings also emphasize the process of personal transformation brought about through faith as a unifying factor in all religious traditions. The apparent differences between the world's religious traditions are explained by appealing to a perspectivist approach grounded in a process metaphysics. For this reason, I have characterized the Bahá'í view as "process perspectivism". Radical pluralism is the greatest philosophical challenge to the Bahá'í principle of religious unity. The main criticisms made by the radical pluralists are briefly examined.
Date: December 1993
Creator: May, Dann J. (Dann Joseph)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Charles Dickens and Idiolects of Alienation (open access)

Charles Dickens and Idiolects of Alienation

A part of Charles Dickens's genius with character is his deftness at creating an appropriate idiolect for each character. Through their discourse, characters reveal not only themselves, but also Dickens's comment on social features that shape their communication style. Three specific idiolects are discussed in this study. First, Dickens demonstrates the pressures that an occupation exerts on Alfred Jingle from Pickwick Papers. Second, Mr. Gradgrind from Hard Times is robbed of his ability to communicate as Dickens highlights the errors of Utilitarianism. Finally, four characters from three novels demonstrate together the principle that social institutions can silence their defenseless constituents. Linguistic evaluation of speech habits illuminates Dickens's message that social structures can injure individuals. In addition, this study reveals the consistent and intuitive narrative art of Dickens.
Date: December 1993
Creator: Coats, Jerry B. (Jerry Brian)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Children's Inferences Based on Brand Personality (open access)

Children's Inferences Based on Brand Personality

This study explored the inferences male children held about the brand personality. The sample included 46 male fifth graders. Personal interviews were conducted and the results were compiled and interpreted using descriptive statistics. Four subject areas were addressed: identification and inferences about brand personality, sources of inferences, children's ability to make inferences about other children based on brand personality, and application of brand personality to self. Results indicated children make inferences about brand personality, make inferences about other children based on brand personality, and apply brand personality to themselves. An attempt to identify sources of inferences was inconclusive.
Date: December 1993
Creator: Overstreet, Kay L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Commemoration of Womanhood Through Small Sculpture/Jewelry (open access)

The Commemoration of Womanhood Through Small Sculpture/Jewelry

The triumphs over daily conflicts correspond to monuments that commemorate specific events of my life as a woman. The monuments commemorating these events necessitated an intimate format because the events depicted deserve close personal attention. The intimate scale offers the option of being presented as a sculpture with a base that has a detachable, wearable part.
Date: December 1993
Creator: Scott, Michelle Milner
System: The UNT Digital Library
Comparison of Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance Tests in Adults (open access)

Comparison of Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance Tests in Adults

Two continuous performance tests were administered to normal adult subjects. The mode of presentation (visual or auditory) and the type of task (vigilance or distractibility) were varied, and their effects on performance measured. Data were collected on eighty-two subjects, and results indicated that auditory presentation of stimuli increased the difficulty of both tasks. Results also suggest that the distractibility task administered in either mode was more difficult than the vigilance task. Intercorrelations among the four continuous performance tasks are provided. Normative data are presented on all four tasks administered. A measure of symptoms of attention-deficit disorder in adults, the Adult Behavior Checklist, was found to correlate significantly with another measure of pathology, the SCL-90-R.
Date: December 1993
Creator: Taylor, Cindy J.
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Continuous, Nowhere-Differentiable Function with a Dense Set of Proper Local Extrema (open access)

A Continuous, Nowhere-Differentiable Function with a Dense Set of Proper Local Extrema

In this paper, we use the following scheme to construct a continuous, nowhere-differentiable function 𝑓 which is the uniform limit of a sequence of sawtooth functions 𝑓ₙ : [0, 1] → [0, 1] with increasingly sharp teeth. Let 𝑋 = [0, 1] x [0, 1] and 𝐹(𝑋) be the Hausdorff metric space determined by 𝑋. We define contraction maps 𝑤₁ , 𝑤₂ , 𝑤₃ on 𝑋. These maps define a contraction map 𝑤 on 𝐹(𝑋) via 𝑤(𝐴) = 𝑤₁(𝐴) ⋃ 𝑤₂(𝐴) ⋃ 𝑤₃(𝐴). The iteration under 𝑤 of the diagonal in 𝑋 defines a sequence of graphs of continuous functions 𝑓ₙ. Since 𝑤 is a contraction map in the compact metric space 𝐹(𝑋), 𝑤 has a unique fixed point. Hence, these iterations converge to the fixed point-which turns out to be the graph of our continuous, nowhere-differentiable function 𝑓. Chapter 2 contains the background we will need to engage our task. Chapter 3 includes two results from the Baire Category Theorem. The first is the well known fact that the set of continuous, nowhere-differentiable functions on [0,1] is a residual set in 𝐶[0,1]. The second fact is that the set of continuous functions on [0,1] which have a dense set …
Date: December 1993
Creator: Huggins, Mark C. (Mark Christopher)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Crucifixion (open access)

The Crucifixion

The Crucifixion, a composition for three vocal soloists, four-part mixed chorus, and instrumental ensemble, is a setting of passages taken from the four Gospels of the Holy Bible. It describes the mocking of Christ and includes the Seven Last Words of Christ on the cross. It uses serial technique in the structuring of pitches and rhythm. Special attention is paid in designing and combining pitch and rhythm to create monophonic, homophonic and polyphonic textures. Besides traditional performance techniques, the work employs some modern vocal and instrumental techniques.
Date: December 1993
Creator: Yang, Chuan-Tsing
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Descriptive Analysis of the Development and Decline of New Taiwan Cinema, 1982-1986 (open access)

A Descriptive Analysis of the Development and Decline of New Taiwan Cinema, 1982-1986

The emphasis of this research is on the social, economic, and cultural factors generating the New Taiwan Cinema between 1982 to 1986. The study consists of four chapters. Chapter I introduces the background and parameters of the topic. Chapter II discusses the factors which nurtured the rise of New Taiwan Cinema. It also provides historical background information on Taiwanese films. Chapter III discusses the definition and characteristics of New Taiwan Cinema and its major filmmakers and films. Chapter IV focuses on the issue of the end of New Taiwan Cinema. This chapter also covers the general situation of the Taiwanese film industry after 1986.
Date: December 1993
Creator: Lin, Ying-chia, 1969-
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Effects of Interresponse Intervals on Behavioral Variability in Humans (open access)

The Effects of Interresponse Intervals on Behavioral Variability in Humans

The present experiment studied the relationship between interresponse intervals and behavioral variability. Subjects emitted sequences of 4 keypresses on two keys on a variability schedule that delivered points when the current 4-response sequence differed from the previous 5 sequences. Three experimental conditions were studied; no interresponse interval, 4-s interresponse interval and 8-s interresponse interval. Interresponse intervals followed each of the first three responses in each sequence. Two groups were used to study initial training histories. Group 1 was first exposed to the no-interresponse interval condition. Group 2 was first exposed to the 4-s interresponse interval condition. Subjects were then exposed to the different interresponse interval conditions. There was little change in variability across conditions. However, the variability observed in the subjects first exposed to the 4-s interresponse interval was greater than the variability observed in subjects first exposed to no-interresponse interval. There was higher-order response patterning in both groups, but it was more pronounced in the no-interresponse interval group.
Date: December 1993
Creator: Reilly, Mark P. (Mark Peter)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Effects of Mental Imagery Training on a Baseball Throwing Task (open access)

The Effects of Mental Imagery Training on a Baseball Throwing Task

This study was designed to determine if long term training of mental imagery skills is more beneficial to an athlete than immediate imagery rehearsal practiced only prior to an event. Subjects were thirty male high school baseball athletes who were randomly assigned to one of three treatment conditions: (1) long term imagery training and practice; (2) immediate imagery practice only; and (3) control. An accuracy relay-throwing test was performed with pre-test, mid-test, and post-test performance trials. Results of the study revealed no statistically significant differences over the three test periods for any of the treatment conditions. Thus, long term imagery combined with immediate imagery practice, immediate imagery practice and control groups performed equally well on the baseball throwing task.
Date: December 1993
Creator: Freeman, James D. (James David Douglas)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Elements of Shamanic Mythology in E. T. A. Hoffman's Romantic Conception of Music (open access)

Elements of Shamanic Mythology in E. T. A. Hoffman's Romantic Conception of Music

The musicians in E. T. A. Hoffmann's tales and essays demonstrate traits remarkably similar to those of shamans. Hoffmann uses the same imagery to describe the journey of the composer into the "realm of dreams," where he receives inspiration, as the shaman uses to describe the spirit world to which he journeys via music. Hoffmann was a major force in changing the 18th-century view of music as an "innocent luxury" to the 19th-century idea of music as a higher art. As a German Romantic,author, he subscribed to the idea championed by the Schlegels that true poetry is based on myth. In this thesis, Hoffmann's writings are compared with shamanic mythology to demonstrate a similarity beyond mere coincidence, without drawing conclusions about influence.
Date: December 1993
Creator: Miller, Harry A. W. (Harry Alfred Werner)
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Experimental Analysis of Preference Problems in a Self-Control Choice Procedure by Adults with Mental Retardation (open access)

An Experimental Analysis of Preference Problems in a Self-Control Choice Procedure by Adults with Mental Retardation

The original purpose of this study was to determine if Tegretol has an effect on the impulsive behavior exhibited by people with mental retardation. This was to be accomplished through a replication of the self-control choice procedures used by Ragotzy, Blakely, and Poling (1988). The procedure involved three stages. First, subjects chose between stimuli that provided either one or three edibles. Then the stimuli associated with the smaller and larger edibles were reversed. Following this, the procedure required the implementation of successively longer delays to the larger reinforcer. However, none of the subjects who participated was able to make the discriminations necessary to proceed, i.e., the subjects did not systematically select the stimulus associated with the larger magnitude edible choice. The identification and rectification of these errors in discrimination became the focus of this study. Various procedures were used to enhance discrimination, including fading, adjusting the magnitude of the edibles, and stimulus changes. None of these changes was successful in teaching the subjects the necessary discriminations.
Date: December 1993
Creator: Koppekin, Amy L. (Amy Lynn)
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Exploration of Organic and Geometric Form Combined in Stone Sculpture (open access)

An Exploration of Organic and Geometric Form Combined in Stone Sculpture

Dualities of all kinds exist in the world today. Being a visual artist and sculptor I recognize these dualities every day of my life in the natural and man-made forms I see. These forms can be broken down into two categories: the geometric and the organic. The purpose of this problem in lieu of thesis was to explore how organic and geometric form could be combined to create a unified sculpture in stone and how the finished sculpture affected me as a viewer. The figure was the main organic form represented and addressed in this problem.
Date: December 1993
Creator: Rippeon, Wesley P. D.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Female Sexual Victimization: Psychosocial Consequences (open access)

Female Sexual Victimization: Psychosocial Consequences

This archival and qualitative research adds insight into the psychosocial consequences females of sexual victimization incur. Sexual abuse is a pervasive, complex societal problem experienced by 30%-46% of American females. The psychosocial consequences are numerous, often severe, and can result in death. They include: anxiety, BPD, denial, dependence, despair, eating disorders, destructive relationships, fear, guilt, hallucinations, helplessness, hopelessness, hysteria, insecurity, isolation, MPD, nightmares, numbness, passivity, pessimism, phobias, PTSD, rage, self-loathing, sexual dysfunctions, shame, shock, sleeping disorders, stigmatization, stress-related disorders, substance abuse, and suicide. The severity of psychosocial consequences to female victims varies greatly depending upon the degree, duration, and emotion surrounding the abuse, the victim's health, and the health of the victim's social network. In conclusion, strategies suggested in the literature to combat female sexual victimization are outlined.
Date: December 1993
Creator: O'Shea, Sharon
System: The UNT Digital Library
First Encounter (open access)

First Encounter

The film is about a newly arrived Japanese student's initial period of adjustment at the University of North Texas. This observational documentary film follows the student and witnesses the student's first reactions to various social environments. The purpose of this creative thesis project was to depict the difficulties that international students encounter at the beginning of their stay in America. The initial goal of the video was to provide useful visual research material to people who are interested in the acculturation of foreign students. Because of its realistic character, the video can give its audiences a more immediate and vivid picture of foreign students than existing written literature. By giving an authentic portrait of the students' hardship and adjustments, the ultimate goal of this video was to increase the American people's appreciation of the difficulties encountered by foreign students who come to this country equipped with limited social assistance and resources. An accompanying production report describes the research process, the pre-production, production, and post-production stages.
Date: December 1993
Creator: Teng, Eric Ju-chung
System: The UNT Digital Library
From Boyd City to the Big City and Beyond: Six Stories with a Critical Introduction (open access)

From Boyd City to the Big City and Beyond: Six Stories with a Critical Introduction

The critical introduction to this collection of short fiction argues that writing is reading and that reading is writing. The argument draws descriptions of writing as reading from such diverse sources as Sherwood Anderson, Roland Barthes, Neil Simon, J. Hillis Miller and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, as well as from the author's own experience. Descriptions of reading from phenomenological and subjective criticism, including the theories of Georges Poulet, Wolfgang Iser, Stanley Fish and David Bleich, affirm the creative role of the reader, show that the reader, in fact, writes the text in the process of reading. The introduction concludes that reader, writer and text are all constructs of language, that both reading and writing are, ultimately and primarily, thought.
Date: December 1993
Creator: Barringer, Bobby D. (Bobby Dewayne)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Habitat Evaluation Procedures at Ray Roberts Lake: an Analysis of the Relationship with Ecological Indicators and a Study of Observer and Temporal Variability (open access)

Habitat Evaluation Procedures at Ray Roberts Lake: an Analysis of the Relationship with Ecological Indicators and a Study of Observer and Temporal Variability

Habitat Evaluation Procedure data gathered at Ray Roberts Lake in 1989 and 1990 were analysed for temporal variability, observer variability and relationships between Habitat Units (HUs) and species density/diversity. observer variability within a group was analysed by cluster analysis and bootstrapping. Five out of 36 sites showed significant differences in Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) values within the group. A nonparametric Mann-Whitney test was used to analyze temporal variability. One of 6 sites showed a significant difference in HSI values between years. Using Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficient, a correlation was found between indicator species density and HUs. No significant correlation was indicated between species diversity and HUs.
Date: December 1993
Creator: Wattrus, Jane M. (Jane Marie)
System: The UNT Digital Library
House in Heaven (open access)

House in Heaven

House in Heaven is a theatrical piece for five solo voices (one soprano, two mezzo sopranos, one baritone, and one bass), two trumpets, four French horns, one trombone, two flutes, two clarinets, two bassoons, string orchestra, vibraphone, timpani and a synthesizer which produces pipe organ sound. The composition consists of an introduction followed by a single act in three Scenes. The piece employs the cyclical device in engaging themes associated with particular characters. The texture grows from simple alternating dialogues to arias and, finally, to tutti passages in which all voices are combined to form a quintet, at the climactic point of the entire composition, which occurs at the end of the piece. The scenes depict imaginary events in a Church and at a flower garden. Rear-stage slide projections are used to project the scenes of these locations, and lighting is used to emphasize actions, characters and changes of scene. The singers also serve as actors. The duration of this work is approximately 20 minutes.
Date: December 1993
Creator: Gan, On C. (On Cally)
System: The UNT Digital Library
In Search of Depth (open access)

In Search of Depth

In this proposed study, I hoped to discover compositional elements that once added to the work would convey my conceptual ideas. I was interested in exploring the addition of deep pictorial space and increasing the size disparity between the figures as possible solutions for injecting a level of irony and/or eluding to the subverted agenda of the content. I wanted to see if these two secondary compositional adjustments subtly conveyed not only a strategic contradiction of the art historical concept of expressionism but the numerous accepted truths in society.
Date: December 1993
Creator: Bhagwat, Tanya A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Intellectual Ability, Personality, and Vocational Interest as Predictors of Successful Job Performance in Restaurant Managers (open access)

Intellectual Ability, Personality, and Vocational Interest as Predictors of Successful Job Performance in Restaurant Managers

The history and use of tests of intellectual ability, personality, and vocational interest is briefly discussed as background for an exploratory study in the use of these instruments in predicting successful restaurant manager performance. Most previous research regarding managerial potential has focused on perceptions of managerial ability rather than on performance issues. Sixty-eight restaurant managers were tested in order to assess general intellectual ability, personality traits, and vocational interests as predictors of performance criteria. Based on previous research, it was hypothesized that general intellectual ability, vocational match, masculinity, ascendance, and sociability would be positively correlated with effective job performance ratings. Results of the study did not confirm these predictions.
Date: December 1993
Creator: Olds, F. Ray
System: The UNT Digital Library
Isomorphism as a Paradigm for Examining Self-Managed Work Teams and Work Spillover (open access)

Isomorphism as a Paradigm for Examining Self-Managed Work Teams and Work Spillover

This study investigates the effects of a participative-type management approach termed self-managed work teams (SMWTs) and work spillover into the family environment. The perspective of isomorphism by Aldous (1969), and Rapoport and Rapoport (1965), was used as a paradigm to examine both positive and negative effects of the work-family relationship. A total of 76 employees from the Department of Defense's Quality Division was used in the regression analysis, due to recent transitions into SMWTs. Results reported overwhelming support for the perspective of isomorphism: over 40% of the variation in positive work spillover was explained by SWMT characteristics. Communication with other teams was the single most important factor found to have a significant effect on positive work spillover.
Date: December 1993
Creator: Cyphers, Amy E. (Amy Elizabeth)
System: The UNT Digital Library