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Department of Psychology
35
College of Music
32
Department of Computer Science
30
Department of Counseling, Development and Higher Education
27
School of Visual Arts
22
Department of English
18
College of Education
15
Department of Biological Sciences
14
Department of Chemistry
13
Department of Teacher Education and Administration
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405 Matching Results
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Building an Intelligent Filtering System Using Idea Indexing
The widely used vector model maintains its popularity because of its simplicity, fast speed, and the appeal of using spatial proximity for semantic proximity. However, this model faces a disadvantage that is associated with the vagueness from keywords overlapping. Efforts have been made to improve the vector model. The research on improving document representation has been focused on four areas, namely, statistical co-occurrence of related items, forming term phrases, grouping of related words, and representing the content of documents. In this thesis, we propose the idea-indexing model to improve document representation for the filtering task in IR. The idea-indexing model matches document terms with the ideas they express and indexes the document with these ideas. This indexing scheme represents the document with its semantics instead of sets of independent terms. We show in this thesis that indexing with ideas leads to better performance.
Date:
August 2003
Creator:
Yang, Li
System:
The UNT Digital Library
A Dynamic and Thermodynamic Approach to Complexity.
The problem of establishing the correct approach to complexity is a very hot and crucial issue to which this dissertation gives some contributions. This dissertation considers two main possibilities, one, advocated by Tsallis and co-workers, setting the foundation of complexity on a generalized, non-extensive , form of thermodynamics, and another, proposed by the UNT Center for Nonlinear Science, on complexity as a new condition that, for physical systems, would be equivalent to a state of matter intermediate between dynamics and thermodynamics. In the first part of this dissertation, the concept of Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy is introduced. The Pesin theorem is generalized in the formalism of Tsallis non-extensive thermodynamics. This generalized form of Pesin theorem is used in the study of two major classes of problems, whose prototypes are given by the Manneville and the logistic map respectively. The results of these studies convince us that the approach to complexity must be made along lines different from those of the non-extensive thermodynamics. We have been convinced that the Lévy walk can be used as a prototype model of complexity, as a condition of balance between order and randomness that yields new phenomena such as aging, and multifractality. We reach the conclusions that …
Date:
August 2003
Creator:
Yang, Jin
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Origami in Fashion
The focus of my work is the incorporation of three-dimensional sculptural forms into the design of my garments while still maintaining the functional purpose of the garment. Origami paper folding is the inspiration for the sculptural forms. The major endeavor was to explore and solve the relationship between the organic human forms and the geometric forms created by the origami paper folds. This presented a challenge of exact precision. During this process, I experimented with different fabrics, which can accommodate the sharp creases and retain the shape. A variety of folding patterns were also explored. Although the design should be innovative and creative, the final garment must be wearable and comfortable.
Date:
August 2003
Creator:
Wu, Chia-Lin
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Our enemy, ourselves: Political conspiracy in American cinema, 1970-present.
Access:
Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
This thesis is an examination of "paranoid conspiracy" films, a film noir subgenre that emerged in mainstream American cinema in the early 1970s and turns on vast, shadowy conspiracies located within U.S. "power structures" (government agencies, the military, the media) and directed against the American public. Specifically, it focuses on the emergence of these films in the 1970s, their almost complete disappearance during the Reagan presidency, and subsequent reemergence in the early 1990s. Placing representative texts in the context of U.S. political and social reality of the last three decades, it analyzes the relationship between the conspiracy theory genre, the "crisis of confidence" in the American society, and the process of formation of American national identity.
Date:
August 2003
Creator:
Budziszewski, Przemyslaw
System:
The UNT Digital Library
The Pink Papers
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Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
The Pink Papers is a collection of three short stories and a novel in progress consisting of four chapters. Each piece is a work of original fiction. The preface addresses the female writer and the female voice in fiction. "Broken Clock" and "Pink Paper" are the stories of two girls coping with endometriosis. "Normal Capacity" looks at the loss of a dream through the eyes of a first-year law student. The novel in progress, titled Blanchard, OK, is set in a rural farming town in Oklahoma. The novel tells the stories of 24-year-old Robin, her Aunt Paula, and Paula's boyfriend, Sam.
Date:
August 2003
Creator:
Blagg, Caroline
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Systematic Composition and Intuition in a Concerto for Organ and Orchestra
Historically, composers have used methods in addition to inspiration in writing music. Regardless of the source materials they used, composers ultimately rely on their musical sensitivity to inform the compositional decision-making. Discuses the rotational aspects of decimals that are created from certain prime-number denominators, and focuses on the prime number 17. Shows how these decimals can be transformed by converting them to different number bases. Looks at the Golden Proportion and its use in creating formal structures. Examines compositional and aesthetic issues arising from using number series to generate the pitches, rhythms, and sections in the Concerto for Organ and Orchestra. This process of composition reveals musical gestures that may not have been discovered using more intuitively based approaches to composition. Shows how musical sensitivity was necessary in shaping the numerically derived material in order to create aesthetically satisfying music.
Date:
August 2003
Creator:
Worlton, James Timbrel
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Creativity and Affective Traits Across the Life Span: Developmental Influences Among Adolescents and Older Adults
In recent years, empirical research has consistently supported an association between susceptibility to affective illness and creativity at the level of eminent achievement and at the non-eminent, or "everyday creativity" level. Although this research has provided greater evidence for the existence of this link, it has simultaneously unearthed more questions about how and why such an association exists. The purpose of this research was twofold: first, to provide further analysis of the nature of the relationship between hypomanic traits and creativity by employing a longitudinal study to determine the extent to which inter-individual differences over time in creativity are predicted by hypomanic traits. Second, the purpose of the cross-sectional analysis in the present study was to further determine how developmental components such as age and expertise may help unravel the ways in which hypomanic traits contribute to creativity and to further describe inter-individual differences among these variables. The first hypothesis, which proposed that the direction of the relationship between hypomanic traits and creativity could be predicted, was not supported by these results. The second research hypothesis was partially supported: hypomanic traits predict creativity in the combined adolescent and older adult samples. However, upon further examination of the regression analyses, the …
Date:
August 2003
Creator:
Wohl, Elizabeth C.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Vieques: Island of Conflict and Dreams
This written thesis is a companion to a 30-minute documentary video of the same title. The documentary is a presentation of the historical conflict between the United States Navy and the people of the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico. For over 60 years the island was used by the United States Navy as a military training facility. The documentary attempts to present an analysis of the struggle between citizens of the island and the Navy. This written component presents a summarized history of Puerto Rico, Vieques and the conflict with the United States Navy. In addition, the preproduction, production and post-production process of the documentary are discussed. A theoretical analysis of the filmmaker's approach and technique are addressed and analyzed as well. The thesis's goal is to provide a clear understanding of the Vieques conflict to United States audiences who do not a familiarity with the topic. The thesis is presented from the perspective of a person who grew up in Puerto Rico.
Date:
December 2003
Creator:
Borges, Cristóbal A.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Characterization of Cure Kinetics and Physical Properties of a High Performance, Glass Fiber-Reinforced Epoxy Prepreg and a Novel Fluorine-Modified, Amine-Cured Commercial Epoxy.
Kinetic equation parameters for the curing reaction of a commercial glass fiber reinforced high performance epoxy prepreg composed of the tetrafunctional epoxy tetraglycidyl 4,4-diaminodiphenyl methane (TGDDM), the tetrafunctional amine curing agent 4,4'-diaminodiphenylsulfone (DDS) and an ionic initiator/accelerator, are determined by various thermal analysis techniques and the results compared. The reaction is monitored by heat generated determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and by high speed DSC when the reaction rate is high. The changes in physical properties indicating increasing conversion are followed by shifts in glass transition temperature determined by DSC, temperature-modulated DSC (TMDSC), step scan DSC and high speed DSC, thermomechanical (TMA) and dynamic mechanical (DMA) analysis and thermally stimulated depolarization (TSD). Changes in viscosity, also indicative of degree of conversion, are monitored by DMA. Thermal stability as a function of degree of cure is monitored by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The parameters of the general kinetic equations, including activation energy and rate constant, are explained and used to compare results of various techniques. The utilities of the kinetic descriptions are demonstrated in the construction of a useful time-temperature-transformation (TTT) diagram and a continuous heating transformation (CHT) diagram for rapid determination of processing parameters in the processing of prepregs. Shrinkage …
Date:
December 2003
Creator:
Bilyeu, Bryan
System:
The UNT Digital Library
NCAA Division I Athletes Preferences for Coaching Behaviors
The purpose of this study was to determine whether coaching behavior preferences of NCAA Division I athletes differ as a function of gender and type of sport. The Coaching Behavior Questionnare (CBQ; Martin & Barnes, 1999) was administered to 195 NCAA Division I athletes. Gender and sport type were the independent variables and the participant's mean scores for the subscales on the CBQ were the dependent variables. Descriptive statistics revealed that, overall, NCAA Division I athletes prefer positive and instructional behaviors more than non-responses or negative behaviors. A 2 (gender) x 3 (type of sport) MANOVA and follow-up discriminant function analysis indicated that coaching behavior preferences differed as a function of gender and type of sport played. Thus, NCAA Division I coaches should consider both individual and situational characteristics when working with their athletes to achieve the desired outcome.
Date:
December 2003
Creator:
Barnes, Kelly A.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Refactoring FrameNet for Efficient Relational Queries
The FrameNet database is being used in a variety of NLP research and applications such as word sense disambiguation, machine translation, information extraction and question answering. The database is currently available in XML format. The XML database though a wholesome way of distributing data in its entireness, is not practical for use unless converted to a more application friendly database. In light of this we have successfully converted the XML database to a relational MySQL database. This conversion reduced the amount of data storage amount to less than half. Most importantly the new database enables us to perform fast complex querying and facilitates use by applications and research. We show the steps taken to ensure relational integrity of the data during the refactoring process and a simple demo application demonstrating ease of use.
Date:
December 2003
Creator:
Ahmad, Zeeshan Asim
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Corporate Christians and Terrible Turks: Economics, Aesthetics, and the Representation of Empire in the Early British Travel Narrative, 1630 - 1780
This dissertation examines the evolution of the early English travel narrative as it relates to the development and application of mercantilist economic practices, theories of aesthetic representation, and discourses of gender and narrative authority. I attempt to redress an imbalance in critical work on pre-colonialism and colonialism, which has tended to focus either on the Renaissance, as exemplified by the works of critics such as Stephen Greenblatt and John Gillies, or on the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, as in the work of scholars such as Srinivas Aravamudan and Edward Said. This critical gap has left early travel narratives by Sir Francis Moore, Jonathan Harris, Penelope Aubin, and others largely neglected. These early writers, I argue, adapted the conventions of the travel narrative while relying on the authority of contemporary commercial practices. The early English travelers modified contemporary conventions of aesthetic representation by formulating their descriptions of non-European cultures in terms of the economic and political conventions and rivalries of the early eighteenth century. Early English travel literature, I demonstrate, functioned as a politically motivated medium that served both as a marker of authenticity, justifying the colonial and imperial ventures that would flourish in the nineteenth century, and as …
Date:
December 2003
Creator:
Abunasser, Rima Jamil
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Early Literacy: An Examination of the Principal Behaviors That Impact Reading Achievement
Literacy is fundamental to formal education, learning, and training for future career related skills. It provides not only the means of acquisition of information and skills during schooling, but it is a vital predictor of a person's general level of education in school as well as successful completion of schooling. Literacy skills serve as the major foundational skill for all school-based learning and without it, chances for academic and occupational success are limited. Despite the efforts of teachers, a significant portion of students continue to fail to achieve success in early literacy in school, with severe consequences for their subsequent educational progress, career opportunities and life chances. The extent of this problem varies throughout school systems. All of our children are affected by their reading ability, and as educators it is critical to provide for all students the most effective literacy programs and strategies which are research based, data-driven and successfully replicated. Because of the psychological, social and economic consequences of reading failure, it is critical to review the research to determine the risk factors that may predispose youngsters to reading failure, and the instructional practices that can be applied to ameliorate reading deficits at the earliest possible time. The …
Date:
December 2003
Creator:
Baker, Brenda
System:
The UNT Digital Library
The Early Music Ensemble in 21st Century America
The early music ensemble has evolved from a counterculture to a mainstream musical genre. Because of this early music is having to learn arts management. Once a unique force it now competes with other arts organizations for funding and audience. Unlike other arts groups, early music has little help from within to clarify non-profit management. Through three types of surveys that were e-mailed to 239 early music organizations and 20 early music societies, an assessment of what is currently happening with early music ensembles in terms of growth, funding and over all well-being can be made. The information obtained revealed that most early music ensembles have little or no training in how to run an organization. This inexperience is creating problems and changing the face of early music. Information from the surveys also reveals that even with the economic problems over the last three years, early music is continuing to survive.
Date:
December 2003
Creator:
Assid, Tonya
System:
The UNT Digital Library
The Effects of "Errorless" Training and Testing on the Performances of Typically Developing Children During Acquisition and Retention.
This study examines the effects of two teaching procedures and two testing procedures (“Skip” and “Guess”) on acquisition, retention and generalization of learning. Three typically developing females between the ages of 8 and 11 learned the 24 lower case letters of the Greek alphabet. Half of the letters were taught with the “Skip” procedure and the other half with the “Guess” procedure. The “Skip” procedure produced faster and more efficient learning than the “Guess” procedure. The “Skip” procedure also resulted in better initial retention (4 weeks), but this effect disappeared in subsequent retention tests. The training conditions did not have differential effects on generalization tests across learning channels, except for the Free/Say channel.
Date:
December 2003
Creator:
Arnadottir, Iris
System:
The UNT Digital Library
The Effects of Workshop Training and Coaching on the Acquisition and Generalization of Teaching Skills
The purpose of this study was threefold: (a) to examine the separate effects of increased accuracy on multiple-choice/rank-order written tests and coaching on the teaching performance of participants; (b) to compare generalization across tasks produced by the workshop and coaching; and (c) to assess maintenance of teaching performance. Following baseline, two adults received a lecture on discrete trial teaching procedures. A written test measured verbal performance on workshop material periodically throughout this phase. During the next phase, each adult then experienced further training via in-situ coaching. A multiple baseline design across tasks was used during the coaching phase. Results of the workshop training package revealed an inverse relationship between the strongest verbal performance and strongest teaching performance skill areas. In addition, only with the introduction of the in-situ coaching package did teacher performance improve significantly across all behaviors. Child responding remained relatively constant throughout the study, regardless of teacher performance. Some generalization of teacher behavior was observed across tasks, but was extremely variable across both workshop and coaching conditions. After the cessation of coaching, teacher performance remained stable across maintenance phases and at a 6-week follow-up.
Date:
December 2003
Creator:
Almon, Holly C.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
The Six Piano Sonatas of James Sellars: Aspects of Form, Rhythm, Texture, and Style
Access:
Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
James Sellars has established himself as one of America's foremost composers whose eclectic style reveals a wealth of influences. His artistic combination of various traditional and avant-garde techniques, along with his sensitive and expert craftsmanship has earned him an important position in contemporary American music. Sellars' compositional styles have encompassed neo-Romanticism, in his early days, through post-serialism and Dada to an eclectic, post-Romantic style utilizing popular elements including electro-acoustic techniques. His extensive catalog of over 150 compositions includes works for orchestra, opera, chorus, dance, chamber, voices with ensemble, solo voice, piano, instrumental solos, band, and media. Sellars' compositions for piano solo span a 38-year period and total 17 works, the most important of which are his six one-movement sonatas, which represent, according to Sellars, "a journey from modernism to post-modernism." Their value lies in their eclectic stylistic approaches, artistic nd technical challenges, and pianistic effectiveness. The first three sonatas, incorporating post-serial elements, fall into a modernist stylistic stance while numbers four through six, in postmodern style, contrast one another drastically. Sonata Brasileira, recalls the broad sweeping gestures of the Romantic period; Sonata V reveals the influence of the absurdist Dada movement; and the last sonata Patterns on a Field, blends …
Date:
August 2003
Creator:
Solomons, John
System:
The UNT Digital Library
New Surveillance Technologies and the Invasion of Privacy Rights
Definition of privacy has changed by the changes and improvements in information and surveillance technologies. These changes and improvement need new legal decisions for new kinds of privacy invasions. This study explores the scope of privacy right, particularly when a technological surveillance has occurred by law enforcement agencies. It focuses in particular on increasing law enforcements' surveillance technologies and devices that have the potential to impact citizens' information privacy. These increasing changes in surveillance technologies have important implications both for law enforcements and citizens. This study also discusses increasing law enforcement surveillance for the public's security, changes of the laws that allow law enforcements to use new surveillance powers as a war on terrorism, and the citizens concerns of information privacy. A particular attention is given to the recent public opinion surveys which show citizens' increasing privacy concerns. Finally, a set of recommendations to figure out security-privacy debate and reduce the privacy concerns of the citizens is offered.
Date:
August 2003
Creator:
Simsek, Yilmaz
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Comparisons of Improvement-Over-Chance Effect Sizes for Two Groups Under Variance Heterogeneity and Prior Probabilities
The distributional properties of improvement-over-chance, I, effect sizes derived from linear and quadratic predictive discriminant analysis (PDA) and from logistic regression analysis (LRA) for the two-group univariate classification were examined. Data were generated under varying levels of four data conditions: population separation, variance pattern, sample size, and prior probabilities. None of the indices provided acceptable estimates of effect for all the conditions examined. There were only a small number of conditions under which both accuracy and precision were acceptable. The results indicate that the decision of which method to choose is primarily determined by variance pattern and prior probabilities. Under variance homogeneity, any of the methods may be recommended. However, LRA is recommended when priors are equal or extreme and linear PDA is recommended when priors are moderate. Under variance heterogeneity, selecting a recommended method is more complex. In many cases, more than one method could be used appropriately.
Date:
May 2003
Creator:
Alexander, Erika D.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Financial Transfer and Its Impact on the Level of Democracy: A Pooled Cross-Sectional Time Series Model.
This dissertation is a pooled time series, cross-sectional, quantitative study of the impact of international financial transfer on the level of democracy. The study covers 174 developed and developing countries from 1976 through 1994. Through evaluating the democracy and democratization literature and other studies, the dissertation develops a theory and testable hypotheses about the impact of the international variables foreign aid and foreign direct investment on levels of democracy. This study sought to determine whether these two financial variables promote or nurture democracy and if so, how? A pooled time-series cross-sectional model is developed employing these two variables along with other relevant control variables. Control variables included the presence of the Cold War and existence of formal alliance with the United States, which account for the strategic dimension that might affect the financial transfer - level of democracy linkage. The model also includes an economic development variable (per capita Gross National Product) to account for the powerful impact for economic development on the level of democracy, as well as a control for each country's population size. By addressing and the inclusion of financial, economic, strategic, and population size effects, I consider whether change in these variables affect the level of …
Date:
May 2003
Creator:
Al-Momani, Mohammad H.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Play Therapy Instruction: A Model Based On Objectives Developed by the Delphi Technique
The purpose of this study was to determine the core skills/methods and practicum experiences play therapy experts and professors believe to be essential in the education of the beginning play therapist in the specific areas of theory and history, terms, organizations, authors who have contributed to the field, methods, skills, training in special populations, practicum experience, and advanced skills. Two questionnaires were used to obtain opinions from play therapy experts and play therapy instructors. The first questionnaire was sent to twelve play therapy experts to obtain their opinions on the core curriculum and experiences necessary for training a play therapist in an introductory play therapy class, practicum experience, and advanced play therapy training. Frequencies and means were obtained and used to delete and add items for Questionnaire II. Questionnaire II was sent to 180 play therapy professors. Fifty play therapy professors returned the instrument. The ratings on Questionnaire II given by the professors were used to provide curriculum guidelines for developing a play therapy program. This program includes an introduction to play therapy course, play therapy practicum experiences, and advanced skills and advanced practicum experiences.
Date:
May 2003
Creator:
Joiner, Kimberly D.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Explorations with optically active, cage-annulated crown ethers.
A variety of optically active macrocyclic crown ethers that serve as "host" systems that are capable of differentiating between enantiomeric "guest" molecules during host-guest complexation have been prepared via incorporation of chiral elements into the crown ring skeleton. The ability of these crown ethers to recognize the enantiomers of guest salts, i.e., (+) a-methyl benzylamine and to transport them enantioselectively in W-tube transport experiments were studied. The ability of these crown ethers to perform as chiral catalysts in an enantioselective Michael addition was studied. The extent of asymmetric induction, expressed in terms of the enantiomeric excess (%ee), was monitored by measuring the optical rotation of the product and comparing to the literature value.
Date:
May 2003
Creator:
Ji, Mingzhe
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Voyeurism and Fetishism
This problem in lieu of thesis concerns voyeurism and fetishism and how they relate to art. It addresses at voyeurism from both sides of the gaze. It describes a body of work that was created to explore the relationship between the voyeur and the fetish object and the viewer and the art object.
Date:
May 2003
Creator:
De Anda, Veronica
System:
The UNT Digital Library
The Creation of Modern Fashions through the Merging of Eastern and Western culture: Spring Message
I have always believed the design of clothes should not try to conceal the naked body but should act as a catalyst that reveals the existence and strength of the individual. Spring Message includes three phases, Spring Message, Mystification, and My Paradise to reflect my three life experiences. Spring Message is an attempt to express my thoughts and ideas though designs in fashion, which were derived from the ancient beliefs, traditions, and western influence I have experienced. Through my individual pieces and creations I hope the viewer will be able to see who I am, where I came from, and understand the happiness and changes in my life.
Date:
May 2003
Creator:
Cui, Yan
System:
The UNT Digital Library