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An Examination of the Similarities and Differences Between Transformational and Authentic Leadership and Their Relationship to Followers' Outcomes (open access)

An Examination of the Similarities and Differences Between Transformational and Authentic Leadership and Their Relationship to Followers' Outcomes

To date there is no comprehensive understanding of what leadership is, nor is there an agreement among different theorists on what a good or effective leader should be. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the theoretical and empirical similarities and differences of two styles of leadership – transformational and authentic leadership. Follower outcomes, as well as, the effects of trust and psychological capital within these paradigms are of particular interest. Although theoretical differences are proposed for the leadership style, the extent of overlap suggests the need to more closely examine each theory. Pilot studies were created to validate original scenarios created for the study as well as to examine the validity and reliability of new measurement instruments. The dissertation is designed to determine whether the relationships between authentic leadership and a variety of follower outcomes including performance, affective commitment, satisfaction, trust, and organizational citizenship behavior are similar to those between transformational leadership and these outcomes. In addition, variables more unique to authentic leadership research including psychological capital and follower well-being were examined within both paradigms to determine whether their relationships are similar to each type of leadership style. An experimental study using Qualtrics was used to collect the …
Date: August 2013
Creator: McKee, Victoria
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Development of Novel Semi-conducting Ortho-carborane Based Polymer Films: Enhanced Electronic and Chemical Properties (open access)

Development of Novel Semi-conducting Ortho-carborane Based Polymer Films: Enhanced Electronic and Chemical Properties

A novel class of semi-conducting ortho-carborane (B10C2H12) based polymer films with enhanced electronic and chemical properties has been developed. The novel films are formed from electron-beam cross-linking of condensed B10C2H12 and B10C2H12 co-condensed with aromatic linking units (Y) (Y=1,4-diaminobenzene (DAB), benzene (BNZ) and pyridine (PY)) at 110 K. The bonding and electronic properties of the novel films were investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) and Mulliken charge analysis using density functional theory (DFT). These films exhibit site-specific cross-linking with bonding, in the pure B10C2HX films, occurring at B sites non-adjacent to C in the B10C2H12 icosahedra. The B10C2H12:Y films exhibit the same phenomena, with cross-linking that creates bonds primarily between B sites non-adjacent to C in the B10C2H12 icosahedra to C sites in the Y linking units. These novel B10C2HX: Y linked films exhibit significantly different electron structure when compared to pure B10C2HX films as seen in the UPS spectra. The valence band maxima (VBM) shift from - 4.3 eV below the Fermi level for pure B10C2HX to -2.6, -2.2, and -1.7 for B10C2HX:BNZ, B10C2HX:PY, and B10C2HX:DAB, respectively. The top of the valence band is composed of states derived primarily from the Y linking units, suggesting …
Date: August 2013
Creator: Pasquale, Frank L.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Survey of the Solo and Chamber Works for Trumpet, Horn, Trombone, Euphonium and Tuba By the Hungarian Composer Frigyes Hidas (open access)

A Survey of the Solo and Chamber Works for Trumpet, Horn, Trombone, Euphonium and Tuba By the Hungarian Composer Frigyes Hidas

Hidas composed more than 135 compositions. Of these 135 compositions 67 feature the trumpet, horn, trombone, euphonium, and tuba in a solo setting, a homogenous chamber setting, or a heterogeneous chamber setting. The first section of this project presents the significance of the topic, state of research, and methodology. Chapter one provides a narrative detailing the collaboration of Hidas with Gusztáv Höna and László Szabó, Sr. Chapter two provides a brief description of characteristics found in Hidas' compositions. Appendix A and B provides a survey of the 67 works for brass instruments that Hidas composed. Included in this survey is information pertaining to the title, editor, publisher and date of publication, total measures, duration, ranges, degree of difficulty, clefs, special effects/techniques, instrumentation, dedications, analytical information, general comments, recordings, and rental details.
Date: August 2013
Creator: Gill, Jonathan B.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Performer's Guide to Béla Bartók's Violin Concerto No 1, Opus Posthumous, 1907–1908 (open access)

A Performer's Guide to Béla Bartók's Violin Concerto No 1, Opus Posthumous, 1907–1908

Despite Bartók's lasting international fame, some of his works remain unjustly lesser-known. One of the pieces that still resides in relative obscurity is his Violin Concerto No.1—a gem of the violin repertoire that must be brought to the broader public's attention. The fact that the concerto was hidden definitely contributed to its little–known status at first. However, the most important cause for the lack of enthusiasm to tackle this terrific work lies in the unorthodox demands it puts on the violinist. The purpose of this paper is to provide musical and technical suggestions based on Bartók's performing style and on his requirements for performer, which will help to create a more persuasive interpretation of the piece. The guide covers the questions of character, articulation, dynamics, and other performance aspects, and also provides practical suggestions, such as fingerings and bowings. It is hoped that this study will help violin performers to gain additional knowledge and insight into this composition and encourage more frequent performances of it.
Date: August 2013
Creator: Jobbágy, Szemoke
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Integration of Western Techniques with East Asian Philosophies in Isang Yun's Quartett Für Horn, Trompete, Posaune Und Klavier (open access)

The Integration of Western Techniques with East Asian Philosophies in Isang Yun's Quartett Für Horn, Trompete, Posaune Und Klavier

Korean composer Isang Yun (1917-1995) was one of the few successful Asian avant-garde composers to blend philosophical elements from East Asia with Western techniques such as the twelve-tone method, Hauptton, Hauptklang, and Umspielung. In addition to the integration of Western and Eastern influences, a significant feature of Yun´s compositional language, found throughout his oeuvre, is the application of East Asian philosophical tenets into his works. The purpose of this dissertation is to develop a greater understanding of Isang Yun's life and music, more specifically the Quartett für Horn, Trompete, Posaune und Klavier. The dissertation is divided into five chapters. The first chapter of the dissertation presents introductory data, including the purpose and significance of the study. The second chapter provides pertinent biographical facts about Isang Yun and his works, obtained through research of authoritative books, journal articles, and interviews. The third chapter offers references to traditional Korean brass instruments in terms of their historical background, structure, and timbre. In addition, it also focuses on the processes by which Yun incorporated the compositional techniques of Hauptton, Hauptklang, and Umspielung to the work and their relation to Tao philosophy. The fourth chapter consists of an analytical and stylistic study of the Quartett; …
Date: August 2013
Creator: Kim, Daewook
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Centers of Invariant Differential Operator Algebras for Jacobi Groups of Higher Rank (open access)

Centers of Invariant Differential Operator Algebras for Jacobi Groups of Higher Rank

Let G be a Lie group acting on a homogeneous space G/K. The center of the universal enveloping algebra of the Lie algebra of G maps homomorphically into the center of the algebra of differential operators on G/K invariant under the action of G. In the case that G is a Jacobi Lie group of rank 2, we prove that this homomorphism is surjective and hence that the center of the invariant differential operator algebra is the image of the center of the universal enveloping algebra. This is an extension of work of Bringmann, Conley, and Richter in the rank 1case.
Date: August 2013
Creator: Dahal, Rabin
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Relationship-based Cross National Customer Decision-making Model in the Service Industry (open access)

A Relationship-based Cross National Customer Decision-making Model in the Service Industry

In 2012, the CIA World Fact Book showed that the service sector contributed about 76.6% and 51.4% of the 2010 gross national product of both the United States and Ghana, respectively. Research in the services area shows that a firm's success in today's competitive business environment is dependent upon its ability to deliver superior service quality. However, these studies have yet to address factors that influence customers to remain committed to a mass service in economically diverse countries. In addition, there is little research on established service quality measures pertaining to the mass service domain. This dissertation applies Rusbult's investment model of relationship commitment and examines its psychological impact on the commitment level of a customer towards a service in two economically diverse countries. In addition, service quality is conceptualized as a hierarchical construct in the mass service (banking) and specific dimensions are developed on which customers assess their quality evaluations. Using, PLS path modeling, a structural equation modeling approach to data analysis, service quality as a hierarchical third-order construct was found to have three primary dimensions and six sub-dimensions. The results also established that a country's national economy has a moderating effect on the relationship between service quality and …
Date: August 2013
Creator: Boakye, Kwabena G.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Evaluation of Law Enforcement and the Court System in Texas: Perspectives of Adult Protective Services Case Managers (open access)

Evaluation of Law Enforcement and the Court System in Texas: Perspectives of Adult Protective Services Case Managers

The purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of Texas Adult Protective Services (APS) case managers (CM) in regard to their relationships with the law enforcement community and area courts. The sample consisted of 138 Texas APS CMs. The survey measured respondents' perceived strengths and weaknesses of their relationships with both the law enforcement community and with area courts. Items also included respondents' interest in receiving additional training and their perceptions of level of job-readiness of newly hired APS CMs. Data were analyzed quantitatively using SAS. Findings of the survey revealed high ratings of perceived teamwork on the part of the CM are associated with high relationship ratings with both area courts and law enforcement. Findings also revealed that high ratings of perceived autonomy on the part of the CM are associated with lower relationship ratings with law enforcement personnel but not with area courts.
Date: May 2013
Creator: Weaver, Matthew S.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Layout-accurate Ultra-fast System-level Design Exploration Through Verilog-ams (open access)

Layout-accurate Ultra-fast System-level Design Exploration Through Verilog-ams

This research addresses problems in designing analog and mixed-signal (AMS) systems by bridging the gap between system-level and circuit-level simulation by making simulations fast like system-level and accurate like circuit-level. The tools proposed include metamodel integrated Verilog-AMS based design exploration flows. The research involves design centering, metamodel generation flows for creating efficient behavioral models, and Verilog-AMS integration techniques for model realization. The core of the proposed solution is transistor-level and layout-level metamodeling and their incorporation in Verilog-AMS. Metamodeling is used to construct efficient and layout-accurate surrogate models for AMS system building blocks. Verilog-AMS, an AMS hardware description language, is employed to build surrogate model implementations that can be simulated with industrial standard simulators. The case-study circuits and systems include an operational amplifier (OP-AMP), a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), a charge-pump phase-locked loop (PLL), and a continuous-time delta-sigma modulator (DSM). The minimum and maximum error rates of the proposed OP-AMP model are 0.11 % and 2.86 %, respectively. The error rates for the PLL lock time and power estimation are 0.7 % and 3.0 %, respectively. The OP-AMP optimization using the proposed approach is ~17000× faster than the transistor-level model based approach. The optimization achieves a ~4× power reduction for the OP-AMP …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Zheng, Geng
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Derivation of the Thematic Material and Intervallic Gestures From the Main Theme in Fantasia Carioca By Sérgio Assad (open access)

Derivation of the Thematic Material and Intervallic Gestures From the Main Theme in Fantasia Carioca By Sérgio Assad

The quantity of classical guitar literature reached a new peak late in the twentieth century with many famous guitarists publishing their own works for solo classical guitar. This increase in the published guitar literature resulted in a decline of the relative analytical discussions of contemporary guitar works. Sérgio Assad is a perfect example of an active guitarist/composer whose works are frequently performed in guitar recitals and yet very little discussion has been provided attempting to gain a deeper understanding of his compositional language. The purpose of this study is to two-fold: first, to show that Fantasia Carioca (1994) is a very carefully organized work and includes an intricate network of thematic material developed through a spectrum of intervallic gestures, of which all derive from the main theme of the piece; second, to provide a deeper insight into the compositional language of Sérgio Assad through a demonstration of different compositional procedures to which the composer resorts. This one-movement piece reveals a high level of organization present in Sérgio Assad's style. The entire thematic material is carefully derived from the main theme. Each thematic unit shows a set of predetermined characteristics that allow these units to react to particular textures and situations. …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Abdihodži?, Armin
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Finding Meaning in Context Using Graph Algorithms in Mono- and Cross-lingual Settings (open access)

Finding Meaning in Context Using Graph Algorithms in Mono- and Cross-lingual Settings

Making computers automatically find the appropriate meaning of words in context is an interesting problem that has proven to be one of the most challenging tasks in natural language processing (NLP). Widespread potential applications of a possible solution to the problem could be envisaged in several NLP tasks such as text simplification, language learning, machine translation, query expansion, information retrieval and text summarization. Ambiguity of words has always been a challenge in these applications, and the traditional endeavor to solve the problem of this ambiguity, namely doing word sense disambiguation using resources like WordNet, has been fraught with debate about the feasibility of the granularity that exists in WordNet senses. The recent trend has therefore been to move away from enforcing any given lexical resource upon automated systems from which to pick potential candidate senses,and to instead encourage them to pick and choose their own resources. Given a sentence with a target ambiguous word, an alternative solution consists of picking potential candidate substitutes for the target, filtering the list of the candidates to a much shorter list using various heuristics, and trying to match these system predictions against a human generated gold standard, with a view to ensuring that the …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Sinha, Ravi Som
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Beliefs and Expectations of Effective Secondary Choral Teachers in Culturally Diverse Schools (open access)

The Beliefs and Expectations of Effective Secondary Choral Teachers in Culturally Diverse Schools

Through the years, educational theorists and researchers have been interested in a possible relationship between teachers' effectiveness and their beliefs and expectations. Three concepts underpinned this work: teacher effectiveness, cultural diversity, and teachers' beliefs and expectations. The premise of the study was that the beliefs and expectations of effective secondary choral teachers are related to the social-cultural contexts in which they teach. The study implemented critical discourse analysis as the theoretical framework and the in-depth phenomenological long interview for data collection. Three secondary choral teachers were selected to participate in the study based on the researcher's criteria. The study revealed how each teacher conceptualized student cultural diversity during the teaching experience. Teacher beliefs about effective teaching in culturally diverse settings were described as developing over time in phases along a continuum. The study also confirmed that teachers' beliefs about students can be changed through experiences and reflection. The study revealed effective teachers focused on three different types of expectations in the teaching and learning context and affirmed diverse cultural identities and backgrounds. Recommendations included the development of stronger mentorship programs to increase effective teaching strategies for the secondary choral classroom. The findings of this study support my previous work, which …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Spradley, Mackie V.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Funds Target Rate Surprise and Equity Duration (open access)

Federal Funds Target Rate Surprise and Equity Duration

In this paper I use an equity duration framework to develop and empirically test the hypothesis that returns on growth stock portfolios react more strongly to Federal Funds target rate change announcements, as compared to value stock portfolios. When I decompose the Federal Funds rate change, I find that portfolio returns are only sensitive to rate shocks, as opposed to the predictable component of rate change. Since growth stocks are expected to have higher duration than value stocks, I further explore the well documented polarity between value and growth stocks, by examining the interest rate sensitivities of portfolios that diverge along four fundamental-to-prices ratios: dividend yield, book-to-market value, earnings-to-price and cashflows-to-price. In each case, I find that price reactions are more pronounced for portfolios with high growth characteristics. I also document that portfolio returns react asymmetrically to positive and negative target rate surprises, and that this reaction is conditional on the state of business cycles - periods of economic expansions and recessions. To improve the robustness of my results, several statistical applications have been applied. First, I include Newey-west estimators to examine significant levels of regression estimates. Second, I check if there is any contemporaneous correlation across target rate shocks …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Tee, Kienpin
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Politics of Grading: a Comparative Study of High School English Teachers' Personal Beliefs, Self-reported Systems, and Actual Practices (open access)

The Politics of Grading: a Comparative Study of High School English Teachers' Personal Beliefs, Self-reported Systems, and Actual Practices

The purpose of this study was to attain and analyze data regarding high school English teachers' beliefs about grading practices and their self-reported grading practices, to identify and understand disparities that exist between teachers' beliefs and self-reported practices, to identify discrepancies between the same self-reported practices and evidence of the practices actually utilized, and to consider teachers' perceptions as to the causes for these discrepancies. Instrumentation for this study included two surveys with both Likert and Likert-like items and an interview/portfolio analysis of teachers' grading systems. A combined total of 204 high school English-language arts teachers representing thirty-eight states and eighty-five schools comprised the sample. Corresponding pairs of Likert-type items were analyzed using studies of the mode, median, mean rank, and the Mann-Whitney U Test to study a comparison of the medians, and comparisons of true Likert scale item results were completed using studies of the means and an independent samples t-test. Interview/portfolio analysis data were analyzed both descriptively and inferentially including the calculation of 95% confidence intervals for generalizability. All open-ended items were considered qualitatively through a process of identifying and categorizing trends in language and over-arching themes. Results indicate that the sample finds grading practices recommended by experts …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Thibodeaux, Lisa M.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles for Nonlinear Bioimaging, Cell Detection and Selective Cell Destruction (open access)

Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles for Nonlinear Bioimaging, Cell Detection and Selective Cell Destruction

Light matter interactions have led to a great part of our current understanding of the universe. When light interacts with matter it affects the properties of both the light and the matter. Visible light, being in the region that the human eye can "see," was one of the first natural phenomenon we used to learn about our universe. The application of fundamental physics research has spilled over into other fields that were traditionally separated from physics, being considered two different sciences. Current physics research has applications in all scientific fields. By taking a more physical approach to problems in fields such as chemistry and biology, we have furthered our knowledge of both. Nanocrystals have many interesting optical properties. Furthermore, the size and properties of nanocrystals has given them applications in materials ranging from solar cells to sunscreens. By understanding and controlling their interactions with systems we can utilize them to increase our knowledge in other fields of science, such as biology. Nanocrystals exhibit optical properties superior to currently used fluorescent dyes. By replacing molecular dyes with nanoparticles we can reduce toxicity, increase resolution and have better cellular targeting abilities. They have also shown to have toxicity to cancer and antibacterial …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Urban, Ben E.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Influence of Business Intelligence Components on the Quality of Decision Making (open access)

The Influence of Business Intelligence Components on the Quality of Decision Making

Decision makers require the right information at the right time, in the right place and in the right format so that they can make good decisions. Although business intelligence (BI) has the potential to improve decision making, there is little empirical evidence of how well this has been achieved. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the quality of decisions made using BI. The research question it addresses is what are the key antecedents of decision quality for users of business intelligence systems? The theoretical support for the model is developed based on the literature review that draws on decision support systems (DSS), group decision support systems (GDSS), and BI. Grounded on this literature review, the antecedents of decision quality are operationalized in this dissertation through independent variables such as the problem space complexity, the level of BI usage, the BI user experience, and information quality. The dependent variable is operationalized as decision quality and it captures the self-satisfaction with a decision made by users in a BI environment. The research model was tested using a survey of BI users whose names were provided by a marketing company. This research suggests that BI user experience is a more complex …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Visinescu, Lucian L.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Determinacy-related Consequences on Limit Superiors (open access)

Determinacy-related Consequences on Limit Superiors

Laczkovich proved from ZF that, given a countable sequence of Borel sets on a perfect Polish space, if the limit superior along every subsequence was uncountable, then there was a particular subsequence whose intersection actually contained a perfect subset. Komjath later expanded the result to hold for analytic sets. In this paper, by adding AD and sometimes V=L(R) to our assumptions, we will extend the result further. This generalization will include the increasing of the length of the sequence to certain uncountable regular cardinals as well as removing any descriptive requirements on the sets.
Date: May 2013
Creator: Walker, Daniel
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
James Wintle's Northwest Miniatures for Flute, Trumpet and Piano (1998): a Performance Guide (open access)

James Wintle's Northwest Miniatures for Flute, Trumpet and Piano (1998): a Performance Guide

James Wintle's, Northwest Miniatures for flute, trumpet and piano is a unique work in the chamber music repertoire. In addition, the use of auxiliary instruments makes this piece a rarity in the flute and trumpet chamber music repertoire. There are a limited number of resources presently available to performers regarding Northwest Miniatures.This dissertation provides a pedagogical performance guide addressing the inherent challenges for the flutist and this instrumentation and serves as a new resource for performers and scholars of this work. It provides a performance analysis of the piece along with pertinent pedagogical information and exercises to assist the flutist. Insight from the composer on how to address these challenges is also included. Because there are a limited number of scholarly resources available on the subject of flute and trumpet chamber music, this dissertation is a significant contribution to this genre of repertoire.
Date: May 2013
Creator: Walker, Julee Kim
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Determinants of the Applications to the Institutional Care in Turkey: Darulaceze Example (open access)

Determinants of the Applications to the Institutional Care in Turkey: Darulaceze Example

Although institutional care has started to be outmoded in the developed countries with development of different models of care, it still has a considerable place in the developing countries such as Turkey. This is because, changes in the demographic structure, extended family, and urban development of Turkey has brought about several aging problems leading older adults to end up in institutions. Loneliness was one of the significant reasons given in the Social Inquiry Survey of Applicants of Darulaceze Old-Age Institution and the basis for a micro level analysis in this study. Therefore, the main objective of the study was to determine the predictors of loneliness, including age, the state of living alone, functional independence, education, and gender. Analysis of the results indicated that these predictors have significant effects on the loneliness predominantly defined by social factors rather than medical factors. In addition, the meso and macro level analyses were employed to control the micro level analysis and see a general picture of institutional care. Thus, an academic example of diagnosing the main reasons behind the institutional care was presented to understand the context of aging in Turkey.
Date: May 2013
Creator: Esendemir, Serif
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Transfantasies for Flauto Traverso, Computer Music, and Dance (open access)

Transfantasies for Flauto Traverso, Computer Music, and Dance

TransFantasies is an interdisciplinary composition for Baroque flute (flauto traverso), computer music, and dance. A crucial component of the work is an interactive hardware and software environment that provides the opportunity for the players to shape aspects of the work during the performance. This essay discusses the influences that inspired the work and presents an in-depth analysis of notable elements of the composition. Primary issues include compositional models for gesture-based composition, historical performance practices, interactivity, and relationships between music and dance. The final component of the essay details the software component designed to create the composition. It also discusses music technology in current practice and its role in this particular work. At its core, TransFantasies is concerned with those moments where computer-influenced decisions and human behaviors collide.
Date: May 2013
Creator: Fick, Jason
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Modeling Transition Metal Catalysts for Small Molecule Activation and Functionalization (open access)

Modeling Transition Metal Catalysts for Small Molecule Activation and Functionalization

There is a high demand for the development of processes for the conversion of ubiquitous molecules into industrially useful commodities. Transition metal catalysts are often utilized for the activation and functionalization of small organic molecules due to their diverse nature and proven utility with a myriad of chemical transformations. The functionalization of methane (CH4) and dinitrogen (N2) to methanol (CH3OH) and ammonia (NH3) respectively is of particular interest; however, both methane and dinitrogen are essentially inert due to the inherit strength of their bonds. In this dissertation a series of computational studies is performed to better understand the fundamental chemistry behind the functionalization of methane and the activation of dinitrogen in a homogeneous environment. A catalytic cycle is proposed for the oxy-functionalization of methane to methanol. The cycle consists of two key steps: (1) C-H activation across a metal-alkoxide bond (M-OR), and (2) regeneration of the M-OR species through an oxy-insertion step utilizing external oxidants. The C-H activation step has been extensively studied; however, the latter step is not as well understood with limited examples. For this work, we focus on the oxy-insertion step starting with a class of compounds known to do C-H activation (i.e., Pt(II) systems). Computational studies …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Figg, Travis M.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Home Literacy Practices in Diverse Families: Parental Involvement in Kindergarten Children's Literacy Development (open access)

Home Literacy Practices in Diverse Families: Parental Involvement in Kindergarten Children's Literacy Development

Although prior research has shown that parental involvement positively affects a child's literacy development, attention should also be directed to the factors that keep parents from being involved in their children's education. The study reported in this dissertation examined five factors: socioeconomic status, level of education, employment, culture, and language that may be influential in parental assistance of their children's literacy development in the home. The data sources for this investigation included interview responses and a demographic survey. Data from 17 parents, each from a different household, and each with a child in kindergarten were obtained and used for the study. For analyses of these data, content analysis was used to identify similar themes among the interview responses and the demographic survey. Results indicated the following: (1) the time parents spent assisting their child with literacy activities was affected by long work hours, (2) parents with a yearly income of $25,000 or less were unable to provide additional literacy materials for their children, (3) lack of multicultural literature caused culturally diverse parents to feel devalued, and (4) parents who did not speak English fluently lacked the strategies to assist their children in completing English literacy homework. The findings suggest there …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Gonzalez, Lauren
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Aging Is a Determinant in Anoxia Stress Tolerance in Caenorhabditis Elegans (open access)

Aging Is a Determinant in Anoxia Stress Tolerance in Caenorhabditis Elegans

Oxygen availability is critical for survival for most organisms. The nematode, C. elegans, has been useful for studying genetic regulation of anoxia tolerance due to the oxygen deprivation response mechanisms shared with other metazoans. Studies examining long-term anoxia (72h, LTA) tolerance have only been conducted at adult day 1. To investigate the effect of aging on anoxia tolerance wild-type and mutant strains were exposed to LTA between adult day 1 and day 9. Wild-type isolates and daf-16(mu86) (FOXO transcription factor regulated by insulin-signaling) and aak-2(gt33) (catalytic subunit of AMP-activated protein kinase) strains were anoxia sensitive at day 1 and displayed increased LTA tolerance with aging correlated with reproductive senescence followed by a decline in survivorhsip through day 9. The daf-2(e1370) (insulin receptor homologue of C. elegans), glp-1(e2141) (a lin-12/Notch receptor) and fog-2(q71) (required for spermatogenesis) strains were LTA-tolerant through day 5. I conclude that aging influences LTA-tolerance in a strain- and age-dependent manner. In addition to being LTA-tolerant the daf-2(e1370) and glp-1(e2141) strains have a longevity phenotype that is suppressed by loss of kri-1 or daf-12. While loss of kri-1 did not suppress the LTA-tolerant phenotype of glp-1(e2141) at day 1 the portion of impaired survivors increased at day 3 …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Goy, Jo M.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Seeking Information After the 2010 Haiti Earthquake: a Case Study in Mass-fatality Management (open access)

Seeking Information After the 2010 Haiti Earthquake: a Case Study in Mass-fatality Management

The 2010 earthquake in Haiti, which killed an estimated 316,000 people, offered many lessons in mass-fatality management (MFM). The dissertation defined MFM in seeking information and in recovery, preservation, identification, and disposition of human remains. Specifically, it examined how mass fatalities were managed in Haiti, how affected individuals sought information about fatalities, and what needs motivated them. Data from 28 in-depth, partially structured interviews, conducted during two field visits ending 21 weeks after the earthquake, were included in a case study. The data analysis revealed the MFM was severely inadequate. One interviewee, a senior UN official, stated, "There was no fatality management." The analysis also indicated a need to learn whereabouts of the deceased motivated individuals to visit spots the deceased were last seen at. It sought to illumine information-seeking practices, as discussed in the works of J. David Johnson and others, by developing a new model of information flow in MFM. In addition, it reaffirmed Donald Case and Thomas Wilson's theoretical proposition – that need guides any seeking of information – in the case of Haiti. Finally, it produced recommendations regarding future directions in MFM for emergency managers and information scientists, including possible use of unidentified body parts in …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Gupta, Kailash
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library