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D. A. Kolb’s Theory of Experiential Learning: Implications for the Development of Music Theory Instructional Material (open access)

D. A. Kolb’s Theory of Experiential Learning: Implications for the Development of Music Theory Instructional Material

This research project evaluates the effectiveness of specific music theory instructional strategies in terms of D. A. Kolb’s theory of experiential learning and Kolb’s typology of individual learning style. The project provides an original methodology for the adaptation of music theory instructional material to the individual learning style types described in Kolb’s typology. The study compares the relative effectiveness of two music theory instructional sequences, one of which is adapted for all of the learning style modalities described in Kolb’s typology, and the other adapted for only a limited number of Kolb’s learning style types. In order to compare the potential “learning outcomes” produced by these instructional sequences, a detailed study is proposed, in which computer based instruction (CBI) will deliver the instructional sequences to research participants and electronically record the participants’ responses. The current study demonstrates the effective aspects of the original methodology and suggests methods for the successful adaptation of music theory instructional material to individual student learning styles.
Date: August 2001
Creator: Lively, Michael
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Accent and Grouping Structures in the String Quartets of Béla Bartók (open access)

Accent and Grouping Structures in the String Quartets of Béla Bartók

The music of Béla Bartók is defined in part by its unique blend of rhythmic vitality and inventiveness, and his string quartets offer a glimpse into a consistency of technique evident throughout his compositional career. Bartók's rhythmic environments are primarily metrical, but many of his rhythmic configurations are placed in such a way as to potentially override established meter. It is necessary, therefore, to institute an analytical means by which the delineation and comparison of rhythmic structures both within and without the metrical context may be accomplished. An analytical method using Timepoint Accent Structures (TAS) allows for the comparison of rhythms resulting from patterns of accent produced by pitch onset, dynamic stress, articulation or any other accentual factors. Timepoint Grouping Structures (TGS) delineate the number of timepoints present in alternating groups/blocks in a texture, thereby allowing for the recognition of patterning created by these larger groups. By applying TAS and TGS analysis, relationships of rhythmic equivalency, rotation, retrograde, complementation, augmentation, diminution, subset, superset, exchange, compression and expansion are clearly confirmed in the string quartets. In addition, symmetrical structures and arithmetic progressions are discovered. In many ways, Bartók's rhythmic organization mimics his procedures of pitch structuring.
Date: May 2001
Creator: Bocanegra, Cheryl D.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Accounting for Human Resources: Implications for Theory and Practice. (open access)

Accounting for Human Resources: Implications for Theory and Practice.

Knowledge workers are an important resource for the typical modern business firm, yet financial reporting ignores such resources. Some researchers contend that the accounting profession has stressed reliability in order to make the accounting appear objective. Others concur, noting that accounting is an insecure profession and adopts strict rules when faced with uncertainty. Accountants have promulgated a strict rule to expense human resource costs, although many know that such resources have future benefits. Some researchers suggest that any discipline must modify its language in order to initiate change toward providing useful social ameliorations. If accounting theorists extend this idea to the accounting lexicon.s description of investments in human resources, investors and other accounting user groups might gain greater insight into how a firm fosters and nourishes human capital. I tested three hypotheses related to this issue by administering an experiment designed to assess financial analysts. perceptions about alternative financial statement treatments of human resources in an investment recommendation task. I predicted that (1) analysts' perceptions of the reliability (relevance) of the information they received would decrease (increase) as the treatment of human resources increasingly violated GAAP (became more current-oriented), (2) analysts exposed to alternative accounting treatments would report a lower …
Date: December 2001
Creator: Stovall, Olin Scott
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Activating Space within the Object and the Site (open access)

Activating Space within the Object and the Site

I look at the world as a sculptor, examining physical constructs and implied meanings. My current research developed from my earlier studies of “containment” or, more specifically, “encapsulation,” creating visual, often physical, boundaries around selected content. Encapsulation confers a more active role than “containment”, a process rather than a result. This idea speaks to the issues of form, and asks the viewer to question the outside “shape of the form” in relation to the inside shape and content. My work focuses on exposed interior spaces and forms, allowing the viewer to enter the space physically as well as mentally and psychologically. Built in a large enough scale, the viewer could actually become the content. The sculpture’s interpretation revolves around the seen as well as the unseen. I built this duality into my work by using transparent and opaque materials. I also implemented small diameter stainless steel rod along with the transparent and opaque vinyl to reduce forms to their respective shapes and volumes. This approach allowed me to clean the “slate” of an object’s collective meaning and context, adapting it to the intent of my work.
Date: May 2001
Creator: Provence, Dana Noel
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Afterlife Research and the Shamanic Turn (open access)

Afterlife Research and the Shamanic Turn

Abstract: In Western culture, approaches to the afterlife have mutated throughout history, from shamanism and mythology to philosophy, spiritualism, and psychical research. For conceptual reasons, however, survival research seems to many to be languishing, despite some remarkable recent advances. I urge a return to a more experience-based approach, modeled after features of the near-death experience, for its practical benefits; I intend that approach to complement other forms of research, not displace them. Finally, I underscore the unique status of survival research as a scientific pursuit.
Date: Autumn 2001
Creator: Grosso, Michael
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Age-Dependent Effects Of Chronic GABAA  Receptor Blockade In Barrel Cortex (open access)

Age-Dependent Effects Of Chronic GABAA Receptor Blockade In Barrel Cortex

GABAA receptor binding is transiently increased in rat whisker barrels during the second postnatal week, at a time when neurons in the developing rat cortex are vulnerable to excitotoxic effects. To test whether these GABAA receptors might serve to protect neurons from excessive excitatory input, polymer implants containing the GABAA receptor antagonist bicuculline were placed over barrel cortex for a 4-day period in young (postnatal days 8 - 12) and adult rats. In the cortex of young, but not adult rats, the chronic blockade of GABAA receptors resulted in substantial tissue loss and neuron loss. The greater loss of neurons in young rats supports the hypothesis that a high density of GABAA receptors protects neurons from excessive excitatory input during a sensitive period in development.
Date: May 2001
Creator: Gargan, Lynn
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Air Quality Forecasting: A Review of Federal Programs and Research Needs (open access)

Air Quality Forecasting: A Review of Federal Programs and Research Needs

This report provides a brief overview of the state of science of air quality forecasting. The report was composed to guide future federal research in air quality forecasting.
Date: June 2001
Creator: National Science and Technology Council (U.S.). Air Quality Research Subcommittee.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library

Alexander Johnson's Ni' Concerto (1994) - Concerto no. 1 for Piano and Orchestra: a Discussion of Influences from Africa, Eastern and Western Europe

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
In the new generation of artists emerging in South Africa, Alexander Johnson is considered the most prolific young composer of his day. In a recent review in the Pretoria News, Johnson has been praised by eminent critic Paul Boekkooi as a composer who has “an ear for the exotic and knows exactly how to bring it off....” He continued by noting that his music is “mentally engrossing, pleasurable to the senses and seems refreshingly free from dogmatic formulas." Johnson writes for musicians and the general public to equal satisfaction. His accessible compositions and catching use of melodic materials have made his writings very popular both in South Africa and abroad. During his residency in Belgrade in 1993-94, Johnson met Croatian pianist Dorian Leljak. Impressed with Johnson's compositional ideas and output, Leljak commissioned a work from Johnson for piano and orchestra. The result was the Niš Concerto, which Johnson completed in April 1994. The world premiere took place on June 23, 1994 with the Niš Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Anatoli Nowiestski with Dorian Leljak as soloist. The Niš Concerto received its South African premiere in 1995 during a simultaneous celebration for “Europe Day” and the new democracy of the Republic of …
Date: August 2001
Creator: Malan, Petronel
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
American Choral Music in Late 19th  Century New Haven:  The Gounod and New Haven Oratorio Societies (open access)

American Choral Music in Late 19th Century New Haven: The Gounod and New Haven Oratorio Societies

This study examines two of the smaller American choral societies that together existed for just over 30 years, 1888 to 1919: The Gounod and New Haven Oratorio Societies of New Haven, Connecticut. These societies are important because, especially in the case of the New Haven Society, they were closely related to Yale University and the work of Horatio Parker. One must assume from the onset that the two choral groups examined in the following pages did not have the prominence of the many larger New England choral societies. However a more detailed knowledge about the struggles, successes, influence and leadership of two smaller societies illuminates a field of research in the history of American choral music that has been largely ignored.
Date: May 2001
Creator: Clark, R. Andrew
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
The American Way to the Kyoto Protocol: an Economic Analysis to Reduce Carbon Pollution. A Study for World Wildlife Fund (open access)

The American Way to the Kyoto Protocol: an Economic Analysis to Reduce Carbon Pollution. A Study for World Wildlife Fund

This report presents a study of policies and measures that could dramatically reduce US greenhouse gas emissions over the next two decades. It examines a broad set of national policies to increase energy efficiency, accelerate the adoption of renewable energy technologies, and shift energy use to less carbon-intensive fuels. The policies address major areas of energy use in residential and commercial buildings, industrial facilities, transportation, and power generation.
Date: July 2001
Creator: Bailie, Alison; Bernow, Stephen; Dougherty, William; Lazarus, Michael & Kartha, Sivan
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library

An Analysis of Major American Riots: Issues in Riots and Riot Control

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
By conducting sound research to understand the concepts surrounding rioting and efficient riot response tactics, professionals, especially whose main job is to ensure the tranquility in the society, will be better prepared to deal with all kinds of civil movements. The purpose of this study, consequently, is to meet the growing need for educational materials in this area and to provide riot response case studies, which demonstrate the numerous administrative challenges faced by law enforcement decision makers. In this study, seven major riots from throughout the United States are discussed including the Hay Market Riot of 1886, the Watts Riot of 1965, and Los Angeles Riots of 1992. Each riot case is studied in five different and independent stages: the setting and pre-disturbance situation, basic causes of the event, the disturbance situation, the response to the riot, and the aftermath of the incident. The study of all of these stages is intended to help police administrators acquire a general perspective on collective violence, and help them prevent future occurrences in their jurisdictions. In this thesis a special reference is given to the deficiencies of American riot policing and some recommendations were formed accordingly. Therefore, the study concludes with a list …
Date: August 2001
Creator: Cinoglu, Huseyin
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Analysis of Sales People's Perceptions of Performance Appraisal Criteria at a Telecommunications Corporation. (open access)

An Analysis of Sales People's Perceptions of Performance Appraisal Criteria at a Telecommunications Corporation.

The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze sales people's perceptions of performance appraisal criteria in a telecommunications corporation. The study was prompted by the perceived disillusionment of the sales people with the current performance appraisal criteria. The perceptions of 67 sales people were assessed using a questionnaire developed by the researcher. One-way analysis of variance procedures (ANOVA) were used to determine if there were statistically significant differences in premise and telemarketing sales people's perceptions of performance appraisal criteria. Findings indicated that there were no statistically significant difference in premise and telemarketing sales people's perceptions of the 38 performance appraisal criteria statements. Findings did not indicate a statistically significant difference in premise and telemarketing sales people's perceptions of the performance criteria statements, the attitude or satisfaction statements, and the peripheral issue statements. Based on this study, the sales people appear to have clear perceptions of the performance appraisal criteria.
Date: December 2001
Creator: Harris, Ellen L.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Analysis of Teaching Periodicals for Aging Education Content (open access)

An Analysis of Teaching Periodicals for Aging Education Content

Ninety elementary public school teachers were surveyed to find out where they obtained their teaching ideas. Seven popular elementary-level teaching periodicals, dated 1989-1999, were analyzed for aging-related content, and compared with 27 of the National Academy for Teaching and Learning about Aging (NATLA) aspects of aging recommended for students' learning. Results indicate that public elementary teachers obtain their teaching ideas from various places: teaching institutes or workshops; other teachers; ideas or lessons they develop themselves; and teaching periodicals. A large percentage obtain lesson ideas from teaching periodicals that they browse or read. This finding may assist NATLA in making recommendations to particular editorial boards. Surprisingly, few teachers obtain their teaching ideas from state and local curricular mandates. When the periodical issues were analyzed, aging-related content was categorized in four ways: informational articles with selected teaching or learning activities; articles describing intergenerational programs or activities; book reviews with selected learning activities; and book review titles mentioning older adult characters. Category totals among the 7 periodicals were highest in book review titles mentioning older adult characters and book reviews with selected learning activities. The content was compared to NATLA's recommendations for students' learning. The findings were not significant. The aging aspect that …
Date: May 2001
Creator: Wimsatt, T. Joy
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Analysis of the Effect of Environmental and Systems Complexity on Information Systems Failures (open access)

An Analysis of the Effect of Environmental and Systems Complexity on Information Systems Failures

Companies have invested large amounts of money on information systems development. Unfortunately, not all information systems developments are successful. Software project failure is frequent and lamentable. Surveys and statistical analysis results underscore the severity and scope of software project failure. Limited research relates software structure to information systems failures. Systematic study of failure provides insights into the causes of IS failure. More importantly, it contributes to better monitoring and control of projects and enhancing the likelihood of the success of management information systems. The underlining theories and literature that contribute to the construction of theoretical framework come from general systems theory, complexity theory, and failure studies. One hundred COBOL programs from a single company are used in the analysis. The program log clearly documents the date, time, and the reasons for changes to the programs. In this study the relationships among the variables of business requirements change, software complexity, program size and the error rate in each phase of software development life cycle are tested. Interpretations of the hypotheses testing are provided as well. The data shows that analysis error and design error occur more often than programming error. Measurement criteria need to be developed at each stage of the …
Date: August 2001
Creator: Zhang, Xiaoni
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library

Analysis of the Impact of CACREP Accreditation of Counselor Education Programs on Student Knowledge Outcomes

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
The principal investigator (PI) for this study analyzed mean scores on the National Counselor Examination (NCE) of students from CACREP accredited and non- CACREP accredited programs. Data was provided by the National Board of Certified Counselors, Inc., for a total of ten examination administrations across six years. The fourteen variables examined in the study consisted of the eight common-core knowledge domains identified in CACREP standards, the five counselor work behavior areas identified by NBCC via periodic job analysis of counseling practice, and one overall or total score on the NCE. NCE mean scores of students from CACREP accredited programs were higher than NCE mean scores of students from non-CACREP accredited programs on all variables across all ten NCE administrations. Data seem to indicate that students from CACREP accredited programs perform significantly better on the NCE than students from non-CACREP accredited programs, in all fourteen variables. Sample size was large, totaling 9707, so the PI calculated effect sizes using Cohen's d for each variable to aid interpretation of statistical significance. Five variables had large effect sizes of .70 or higher. The higher effect size statistics were associated with the counselor work behavior areas, with the highest effect size (.85) associated with …
Date: May 2001
Creator: Scott, Susan W.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library

Animal Contribution to Human Medicine

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
The use of animal models in research has led to a fierce debate between animal rights activists and scientists. The former claim that little useful information is gained from animal studies and the suffering of animals does not preclude any treatments which may be used to treat human illnesses. Yet, research scientists claim that in vivo animal models are of absolute necessity to developing treatments and cures to disease. To determine the necessity of animal use, one must examine the models currently in research. Have the animal models for disorders such as cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy given scientists enough information to develop effective treatments? This paper will examine the role of animal subjects in several disease research protocols, as well as the applicability of the research.
Date: May 2001
Creator: Kvernes, Kayce
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library

Anne Brontë's New Women: Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall as Precursors of New Woman Fiction

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall were published more than forty years before the appearance of the feminist type that the Victorians called the “New Woman;” yet, both novels contain characteristics of New Woman fiction. By considering how Brontë's novels foreshadow New Woman fiction, the reader of these novels can re-enact the “gentlest” Brontë as an influential feminist whose ideology informed the construction of the radical New Woman. Brontë, like the New Woman writers, incorporated autobiographical dilemmas into her fiction. By using her own experiences as a governess, Brontë constructs Agnes Grey's incongruent social status and a morally corrupt gentry and aristocracy through her depiction of not only Agnes's second employers, the Murrays, but also the morally debauched world that Helen enters upon her marriage to Arthur Huntingdon in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Moreover, Brontë incorporates her observations of Branwell's alcoholism and her own religious beliefs into The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Although Brontë's novels contain autobiographical material, her heroines are fictional constructions that she uses to engage her readers with the woman question. Brontë accomplishes this engagement through her heroines' narrative re-enactments of fictional autobiographical dilemmas. Helen's diary and Agnes's diary-based narrative produce the …
Date: August 2001
Creator: Phillips, Jennifer K.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Application of Hackman and Oldham's Job Characteristic Model to Perceptions Community Music School Faculty Have Towards Their Job (open access)

The Application of Hackman and Oldham's Job Characteristic Model to Perceptions Community Music School Faculty Have Towards Their Job

Hackman and Oldham's Job Characteristic Model was applied to study of perceptions community music school faculty hold towards their job. The research questions addressed core job characteristics of skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback, critical psychological states (experienced meaningfulness, experienced responsibility, and knowledge of results); personal and work outcomes of satisfaction and motivation; need for professional growth. The results were compared to the national norms for nine different job families provided by Oldham, Hackman, and Stepina. Thirty-three schools, all members of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts, located in every geographical region of the United States, yielded 437 faculty responses (64% return rate). Of the core job characteristics, dealing with others and autonomy received the highest ratings; feedback and task significance received the lowest ratings. Of the psychological states, experienced responsibility yielded the highest rating and experienced meaningfulness yielded the lowest ratings. Of the personal/work outcomes, personal development and colleague relations received the highest ratings; pay satisfaction and overall general satisfaction received the lowest ratings. A comparison to the professional job family norms, using a one-sample ttest, found significant differences in 16 out of the 18 variables measured by the Job Characteristic Model. Strong …
Date: August 2001
Creator: Lawrence, Robert M.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Arctic Flora and Fauna: Status and Conservation (open access)

Arctic Flora and Fauna: Status and Conservation

What is the overall state of the Arctic environment? The aim of this report is to answer the many aspects of this seemingly straightforward question. Although several national and international efforts have looked at parts of the Arctic, this is the first attempt to assess the state of Arctic flora and fauna as a whole.
Date: June 11, 2001
Creator: Program for the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF)
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Art Lies, Volume 30, Spring 2001 (open access)

Art Lies, Volume 30, Spring 2001

Journal containing essays, commentaries, and exhibition information regarding Texas artwork and other contemporary art issues.
Date: 2001
Creator: Adele, Lynne; Smither, Murray & Steen, William
Object Type: Journal/Magazine/Newsletter
System: The Portal to Texas History
Art Lies, Volume 31, Summer 2001 (open access)

Art Lies, Volume 31, Summer 2001

Journal containing essays, commentaries, and exhibition information regarding Texas artwork and other contemporary art issues.
Date: 2001
Creator: Kalil, Susie
Object Type: Journal/Magazine/Newsletter
System: The Portal to Texas History
Art Lies, Volume 32, Fall 2001 (open access)

Art Lies, Volume 32, Fall 2001

Journal containing essays, commentaries, and exhibition information regarding Texas artwork and other contemporary art issues.
Date: 2001
Creator: Bryant, John & Huerta, Benito
Object Type: Journal/Magazine/Newsletter
System: The Portal to Texas History
Assessment and Comparison of  the Stress Experienced by International and American Students at the University of North Texas (open access)

Assessment and Comparison of the Stress Experienced by International and American Students at the University of North Texas

There were two purposes of the current study: (1) to evaluate if the East Asian Student Stress Inventory could be used to assess the stress experienced by International and American students at the University of North Texas and (2) to determine if the Inventory could discriminate between the two groups on the basis of the stress assessment. A sample of International (n=205) and American (n=216) graduate and undergraduate students completed the inventory. Results indicated that the EASSI could be generalized to a wider spectrum of International students. Using principal component factor analysis with varimax rotation, eight factors were extracted: culture shock, physiological symptoms, family pressure, test anxiety, financial difficulties, attitude toward study, social support and academic self esteem. The inventory clearly discriminated between the two groups on the subscales of culture shock, family pressure and attitude toward study and the International students scored higher on these subscales.
Date: May 2001
Creator: Islam, Nehalul
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Assessment of Cognitive Development and Writing Aptitude Within Learning Communities (open access)

The Assessment of Cognitive Development and Writing Aptitude Within Learning Communities

Learning communities have emerged as an efficient and effective paradigm for improving undergraduate education, especially for entering freshmen. The academy has become increasingly interested in learning outcomes and student retention, especially as they are related to the assessment of various approaches to educating the whole student. Learning community pedagogy has developed through rigorous research. However, little is known about the impact of this pedagogy upon college students' cognitive development and writing aptitude. Cognitive development theory has been most significantly influenced by the work of William G. Perry, Jr. Though no theory exists which would address the stages of writing development in university students, many composition theorists suggest a correlation between cognitive development and writing aptitude. This study measured cognitive development and writing aptitude in learning community students and non-learning community students, matching them for SAT scores, high school grade point averages, gender, and ethnicity. The research questions of interest were: 1) How does participation in a learning community affect students' cognitive development; and 2) How does participation in a learning community affect students' writing aptitude? The participants were pre- and post-assessed for cognitive development, using the Measure of Intellectual Development (MID). Additionally, participants were preand post-assessed for writing aptitude, using …
Date: August 2001
Creator: Barnard, Miriam K.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library