This collection of short stories attempts to examine the role of a changing and often indifferent world has in the way various characters achieve maturity. Though the past is not always obvious in each story, each protagonist is characterized as holding onto some aspect of his or her past life in a way that is detrimental to their growing as human beings. the stories attempt to portray the indifference of the world as it moves forward to the plight of these characters, and to portray the manner in which they each come to terms with such a world and with their own lives.

Research has shown that health promotion programs (HPP) that incorporate education about physical activity (PA) are one mode of rehabilitation that can improve the health of individuals with disabilities. However, education-based PA curriculum is not included in the rehabilitation program for individuals with a brain injury, indicating a gap in services provided. Consequently, the purpose of this study was to create and deliver a physical activity centered education (PACE) program that supplemented the existing rehabilitation program for brain injury. PACE consists of an 8-week (16 session) program aimed to (1) increase self-efficacy for being physically active of PACE program participants, (2) increase PA stage of change in PACE program participants or the maintenance of adequate level of PA, and (3) improve the rehabilitation outcomes (i.e., abilities, participation, adjustment) of PACE program participants. Based on previous research, it is hypothesized that participation in PACE will result in (1A) increased self-efficacy for PA, (1B) greater self-efficacy for PA than the standard of care group, (2A) increased readiness to be physically active, (2B) greater readiness to change their PA behavior than the standard of care group, (3A) improved rehabilitation outcomes, and (3B) greater rehabilitation outcomes than the standard of care group. the PACE …

The original works of copyright holders included tangible creations, as music written on a page, thereby, extending copyright protection to songwriters and music publishers. Until 1995, absent from U.S. copyright law was protection for copyright owners of intangible sound recordings. the Performance Rights Act (PRA) seeks to amend the US copyright law in order to grant copyright holders of sound recordings the right to performance royalties from terrestrial broadcast radio. If passed, the legislation would be unprecedented in the United States. the PRA has implications for broadcast radio, record labels, and performing artists. This study includes historical and legal perspective of previous attempts at legislation of this nature and predicts outcomes of current legislation.

My Land, My Life is a documentary film about the woman, Jo Angela Lamb, who lives and works on Frying Pan Ranch in Texas Panhandle. the film explores the complexity of a ranch woman's experience that breaks the spell of the stereotyped image of American cowgirls. It also reflects on women ranchers’ relationship with their family members and their relationship with the land.

Jiggs is a documentary that explores how Jiggs Gaffney serves despite his mental disability. By observing Jiggs’ involvement at Pine Cove Christian Camps, and revealing his past, the documentary shows how anyone can be used for a greater good, and reveals how God can be served and glorified by anyone, no matter the individual circumstances.

The current study was designed to evaluate the utility of progressing sequentially from multiple-respondent anecdotal assessments through test-control treatment analysis as an effective and efficient method of identifying the environmental determinants of problem behavior. the goal of the study was to evaluate overall agreement among multiple respondents on the primary function of aberrant behavior using the Motivation Assessment Scale (MAS) and Questions About Behavioral Function (QABF) and, if agreement was obtained, conduct a test-control evaluation to confirm anecdotal assessment findings while simultaneously evaluating the effects of function-based treatment. for 4 individuals, at least 4 of 5 respondents to the anecdotal assessments agreed (both within and across assessments) on the probable maintaining consequence for their problem behaviors. Test-control multielement evaluations were then conducted in which baseline sessions, corresponding to the suspected operant function of each individual’s problem behavior, were alternated with sessions in which the identified contingency was arranged for alternative behavior. Each evaluation showed substantial decreases in problem behavior and maintenance of alternative responses.

Aggression has traditionally been subdivided into two correlated, but distinct, subtypes: reactive and instrumental. Reactive aggression (RA) is considered impulsive, emotionally driven behavior, whereas instrumental aggression (IA) is planned and incentive-motivated. This thesis examines the relationships between RA, IA, psychopathy, and antisocial personality disorder (APD) symptoms in male and female offenders recruited from a jail in north Texas. Contrary to predictions, psychopathic traits did not account for more variance in aggression than did APD symptoms. Impulsivity demonstrated slight incremental validity over psychopathy for RA, and to a lesser degree, IA. the continued utility of the reactive-instrumental distinction and implications for professional practice in relation to the current study are examined. Study limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

Cyclic voltammetry experiments were performed to compare the electrodeposition characteristics of bismuth on ruthenium. Two types of electrodes were used for comparison: a Ru shot electrode (polycrystalline) and a thin film of radio-frequency sputtered Ru on a Ti/Si(100) support. Experiments were performed in 1mM Bi(NO3)3/0.5M H2SO4 with switching potentials between -0.25 and 0.55V (vs. KCl sat. Ag/AgCl) and a 20mV/s scan rate. Grazing incidence x-ray diffraction (GIXRD) determined the freshly prepared thin film electrode was hexagonally close-packed. After thermally oxidizing at 600°C for 20 minutes, the thin film adopts the tetragonal structure consistent with RuO2. a hydrated oxide film (RuOx?(H2O)y) was made by holding 1.3V on the surface of the film in H2SO4 for 60 seconds and was determined to be amorphous. Underpotential deposition of Bi was observed on the metallic surfaces and the electrochemically oxidized surface; it was not observed on the thermal oxide.

Behavior analysts form parent-professional relationships with families of many different backgrounds. the study evaluated the effectiveness of a training program to teach behavior analysts to utilize an open family interview format. the study was conducted at an autism treatment program. a pre-post treatment design with in vivo simulation probes before and after training was used to assess the effects of the workshop on the participants and parents’ verbal behavior. Results showed that rate of questions per minute and number of closed-ended questions decreased after training, the duration of interviews decreased after training, the number of closed-ended questions significantly decreased after training, and frequency of the discussion topic of child goals increased after training. in general, interviewer responses varied. Preliminary data and parent questionnaire responses suggested parents were comfortable with the new interview format and felt the behavior analyst understood cultural and family needs.

The following collection includes three short stories and two essays compiled with a critical preface. “Valentine’s Day” explores the limits of friendship and love in various situations including, two road trips (one fictional and one factual), pet ownership, and the impersonations of Frank Sinatra.

This study explores Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s use of the dramatic form to challenge Herbert Spencer’s social Darwinism by offering feminist adaptations of Darwin’s theories of natural and sexual selection. As she does in her career-defining manifesto, Women & Economics (1898), Gilman in her lesser-known plays deploys her own brand of reform Darwinism to serve the feminist cause. Despite her absence in histories of modern drama, Gilman actively participated in the establishment and development of this literary, historical, and cultural movement. After situating Gilman in the context of nineteenth-century naturalist theater, this thesis examines two short dramatic dialogues she published in 1890, “The Quarrel,” and “Dame Nature Interviewed,” as well as two full-length plays, Interrupted (1909) and the Balsam Fir (1910). These plays demonstrate Gilman’s efforts to use the dramatic form in her early plays to “rehearse” for Women & Economics, and in her later drama, to “stage” the theories she presents in that book.

The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of background music in a retail setting on Generation Y students’ shopping behaviors by using the Mehrabian-Russell environmental psychology model. the study examined the impact of genre, volume, and song familiarity on purchase intention, as well as whether these musical factors would produce a change in mood. the influence of involvement with shopping on in-store music was also examined. a total of 251 students completed pre- and post-shopping surveys at the University of North Texas’ Follett Bookstore. Participants were all between 18 and 35 years of age (Generation Y). the surveys aimed to capture the participants’ entry and exit mood as well as information such as level of shopping involvement and intentions, musical awareness, overall shopping experience, and basic demographics. a positive mood change was found between entry and exit among those who were somewhat familiar and not at all familiar with the music, and entry mood affected overall shopping experience. There was a positive correlation between exit mood and the overall experience, and a negative correlation between exit mood and the amount of money spent.

The Entente powers began World War I without any formal anti-submarine countermeasures. However, the Entente developed countermeasures through trial and error over time. Success was moderate until America joined the war. with America came the arrival of subchasers to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations. This highly specialized vessel helped turn the tide against U-boats. a true counter to the U-boat threat in the Mediterranean did not come until October 2, 1918 with the bombardment of Durazzo. This thesis discusses the development of Entente anti-submarine capabilities and illustrate how America's contribution led to success. a detailed analysis of the rarely discussed bombardment of Durazzo is included using archival documents.

The experiment successfully established the mathematical correlations between the logarithm of retention time of illegal drugs with GC system and the solute descriptor L from the Abraham model. the experiment used the method of Gas Chromatography to analyze the samples of illegal drugs and obtain the retention time of each one. Using the Abraham model to calculate and analyze the sorption coefficient of illegal drugs is an effective way to estimate the drugs. Comparison of the experimental data and calculated data shows that the Abraham linear free energy relationship (LFER) model predicts retention behavior reasonably well for most compounds. It can calculate the solute descriptors of illegal drugs from the retention time of GC system. However, the illegal drugs chosen for this experiment were not all ideal for GC analysis. HPLC is the optimal instrument and will be used for future work. HPLC analysis of the illegal drug compounds will allow for the determination of all the solute descriptors allowing one to predict the illegal drugs behavior in various Abraham biological and medical equations. the results can be applied to predict the properties in biological and medical research which the data is difficult to measure. the Abraham model will predict …

As the technology is advances the reduced size of hardware gives rise to an additive 1/f baseband noise. This additive 1/f noise is a system noise generated due to miniaturization of hardware and affects the lower frequencies. Though 1/f noise does not show much effect in wide band channels because of its nature to affect only certain frequencies, 1/f noise becomes a prominent in OFDM communication systems where narrow band channels are used. in this thesis, I study the effects of 1/f noise on the OFDM systems and implement algorithms for estimation and suppression of the noise using Kalman filter. Suppression of the noise is achieved by subtracting the estimated noise from the received noise. I show that the performance of the system is considerably improved by applying the 1/f noise suppression.

A high rate of instructional engagement is important to maximize progress in early intensive behavioral interventions (EIBI). Teachers responsible for eliciting instructional engagement may need additional support to maintain high rates of engagement. Literature suggests that goal setting and feedback is effective in increasing performance. the purpose of this study was to evaluate whether goal setting and group feedback would increase engagement in instructional activities related to the children’s goals. Results indicate that goal setting and group feedback was successful in increasing engagement in instructional activities. the results are discussed in the context of engagement, staff performance, group contingencies and performance feedback.

This thesis contains two parts. the preface theorizes memory and examines the author’s own experience writing her identity. Part II is a memoir framed with the process of training for a marathon. the marathon acts as a narrative thread that pulls together scenes of memory from the author’s childhood which features the author running away from home on several occasions. Running a marathon and running away from home intertwine to allow the writer to draw conclusions about her life and her family.

Mercury (Hg) is a globally distributed toxicant that has been shown to have negative effects on birds. in the United States, avian taxa have been shown to possess high Hg concentrations in the northeast, Great Lakes and Everglades ecosystems; however, few studies have measured avian Hg concentrations in other geographic regions. Previous studies have documented high Hg concentrations in multiple organisms in east Texas, but birds were not included in these studies. the main objective of the present study was to quantify Hg concentrations in birds in differing trophic levels at Caddo Lake and Lake Lewisville, TX. Results suggest that Hg concentrations may be high enough to negatively impact some bird taxa, particularly those at high trophic levels, residing at both Caddo Lake and Lake Lewisville.

There are over a million adopted children in the United States, which makes up over 2% of the population. in spite of the fact that the majority of children are adopted into loving and caring homes, early life trauma puts them at higher risk for developing behavioral and emotional problems than non-adopted children. Due to these issues, many adoptive parents encounter post-adoption stress. This stress is often linked to minimal education regarding short- and long-term challenges associated with adoption. the adoption agency is likely the best group for addressing challenges, yet few researchers have studied adoption agency communication and adoptive parent adjustment. in this study I examined pre-adoption communication satisfaction, post-adoption adjustment (life change and parental adjustment), and coping strategies. Hypothesis 1 questioned the relationship between adoptive parents’ pre-adoption communication satisfaction with their social workers and post-adoption family adjustment; this hypothesis was supported only for problems related to home and work life adjustment. Hypothesis 2 predicted coping strategies would mediate the relationship between communication satisfaction and family adjustment. H2 was not supported for both life change and parental adjustment. Research Questions 1a and 1b inquired about the coping strategy that had an impact on life change and parental adjustment; escape-avoidance …

Intraverbal behavior governs core elements of academic and intellectual behavior. These intraverbal relations can be explicitly taught when an individual is prompted to provide an appropriate response with pictures, text, or other stimuli following a verbal stimulus. It is possible that a focus on fluency of the target repertoires may lead to more conclusive data. the current study assessed the effects of precision teaching based instruction for component textual repertoires on the acquisition of intraverbal relations. Specifically, this study compared the effectiveness of two textual prompting procedures (with and without fluency-based instruction) on the acquisition and application of intraverbal relations using time-delay and a carefully controlled set of intraverbal stimuli. Results indicate that the use of textual prompts and an errorless time-delay transfer of stimulus control procedure were effective strategies for teaching intraverbal responses regardless of the inclusion of fluency-based instruction.

Ethnic identity development is a process that occurs for all individuals, and weakness in ethnic identity is associated with numerous psychosocial difficulties. Security in ethnic identity can be difficult for those exposed to varying attitudes and behaviors in a multicultural society. As such, the current study examined the influence of mindfulness and self-compassion on ethnic identity development. a sample of 479 undergraduate students completed online self-report questionnaires measuring demographic information, mindfulness, self-compassion, ethnic identity status, and self-esteem. Results suggested that mindfulness and self-compassion are significant negative predictors of ethnic identity, and that self-compassion was a better predictor of ethnic identity status than was mindfulness. Self-compassion did not moderate the relationship between mindfulness and ethnic identity status, as was hypothesized. the sample included primarily Caucasian (n = 278) individuals born in the United States, which likely limited generalizability of findings. Implications of the current findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

While there is growing evidence that shade/flood tolerance tradeoffs may be important in distributions of bottomland hardwood trees and indications that they should apply to herbs, no studies have definitively explored this possibility. Four years of field data following historic flooding were supplemented with a greenhouse experiment designed to identify interactions congruent with tradeoffs. Fifteen bottomland species were grown in two levels of water availability and three levels of shade over 10 weeks. Results indicate responses of Fimbristylis vahlii and Ammannia robusta are consistent with tradeoffs. Modification of classical allometric responses to shade by substrate saturation indicates a potential mechanism for the tradeoff in A. robusta. Responses indicating potential for increased susceptibility to physical flooding disturbance are also discussed.

Buruli ulcer (BU), an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans, is the third most common mycobacterial disease after leprosy and tuberculosis and a WHO-defined neglected tropical disease. Despite years of research, the mode of transmission of BU remains unknown. This master’s thesis provides an integrated spatial analysis of disease dynamics in Ghana, West Africa, an area of comparatively high BU incidence. Within a case/matched control study design, environmental factors associated with BU infection and spatial behaviors are investigated to uncover possible links between individual daily activity spaces and terrains of risk across disturbed landscapes. This research relies upon archival and field-collected data and analyses conducted with geographical information systems (GIS).

Because of its trademark racial diversity, historians have often presented New Orleans as a place transformed by incorporation into the American South following 1804. Assertions that a comparatively relaxed, racially ambiguous Spanish slaveholding regime was converted into a two-caste system of dedicated racial segregation by the advent of American assumption have been posited by scholars like Frank Tannenbaum, Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, and a host of others. Citing dependence on patronage, concubinage, and the decline in slave manumissions during the antebellum period, such studies have employed descriptions of the city’s prominent free people of color to suggest that the daily lives of non-whites in New Orleans experienced uniform restriction following 1804, and that the Crescent City’s transformation from Atlantic society with slaves to rigid slave society forced free people of color out of the heart of the city, known as the Vieux Carré, and into “black neighborhoods” on the margins of town. Despite the popularity of such generalized themes in the historiography, however, the extant sources housed in New Orleans’s valuable archival repositories can be used to support a vastly divergent narrative. By focusing on individual free people of color, or libres, rather than the non-white community as a whole, this …