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Recidivism Among Juvenile Sex Offenders in Texas (open access)

Recidivism Among Juvenile Sex Offenders in Texas

Juvenile sex offenders represent a serious and violent group of delinquents. Despite the severity of their crimes, the literature focusing on risk factors that influence recidivism and the types of re-arrest after incarceration is lacking. This research study examined 499 determinately sentenced juvenile sex offenders that were released from the Texas Juvenile Justice Department. This sample was then followed for three years upon their release. This analysis revealed that 51.5 percent were re-arrested for any offense while 45.91 percent were re-arrested for a felony offense. This study identified a number of risk factors relative to JSO recidivism. These factors include having a history of emotional abuse, race being African American, being gang affiliated, having a larger number of previous adjudications, and having higher counts of institutional misconduct infractions. Those JSOs older at intake and release, and those who were incarcerated for longer periods of time were less likely to re-offend upon release. Lastly, this study ends with suggestions for future research as well as policy implications geared toward juvenile sex offenders.
Date: May 2013
Creator: Martinez, Crystal G.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Investigating Postpartum Depression in Southern Rural Egypt and Effects of Sertraline on Fsh and Lh Gene Expression on Fathead Minnows Using Rt-pcr (open access)

Investigating Postpartum Depression in Southern Rural Egypt and Effects of Sertraline on Fsh and Lh Gene Expression on Fathead Minnows Using Rt-pcr

Postpartum depression (PPD) is a major health problem that affects many women worldwide. In Egypt, PPD is neglected despite the expected high prevalence rate among women during the transition period after the Egyptian revolution. This research investigated the prevalence, risk factors, and interventions of postpartum depression in southern rural Egypt. Interviews were conducted with 57 participants recruited from public and private hospitals. Questionnaires and the Arabic version of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale were administered. The prevalence of PPD is 73.7%. PPD is associated with low income and age at childbirth. Most participants regarded screening mothers after childbirth for PPD as effective; in comparison to, antidepressants that were regarded by most participants as ineffective. Women in southern rural Egypt prefer high number of pregnancies, so investigating the influence of sertraline, an antidepressant medication, on female hormones becomes important. In this research, fathead minnows were exposed to 3 and 10 ppb sertraline for 7 days. Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction was used to detect the change in gene expression of the Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH). Results showed that a down regulation at the 10 ppb was evident on the LH and to a lesser extent on FSH. Our results …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Mohamed, Hagar Abdo
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Examination of the Relationship Between Glucuronic Acid and Vascular Damage in Rats (open access)

Examination of the Relationship Between Glucuronic Acid and Vascular Damage in Rats

The goal of this experiment was to examine the role of glucuronic acid in the development of vascular damage in the kidneys and retinas of diabetic individuals. Glucuronic acid was provided to rats in their water at various concentrations in order to increase plasma levels of the compound. Kidneys and retinas were excised and compared to control specimens using microscopy to determine the effect of elevated blood glucuronic acid levels on the occurrence of microaneurysms in renal capillary networks. No differences were seen between the treatment and control groups. Further study needs to be conducted to determine a more suitable time frame for this experiment.
Date: May 2013
Creator: Moore, Ryan
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Don Gillis's Symphony No 5½: Music for the People (open access)

Don Gillis's Symphony No 5½: Music for the People

Don Gillis wrote Symphony No. 5½ (1947) in order to reconcile the American public with modern art music. By synthesizing jazz (as well as other American folk idioms), singable melodies, and humor, and then couching them into symphonic language, Gillis produced a work that lay listeners could process and enjoy. The piece was an immediate success and was played by orchestras across the globe, but it did not retain this popularity and it eventually faded from relevancy. This study focuses on elements that contributed to the initial efficacy and ultimate decline of the work. Due to its pervasive popular influences, Symphony No. 5½ is a crystallized representation of time in which it was written, and it soon became dated. Don Gillis did not harbor the idea that Symphony No. 5½ would grant him great wealth or musical immortality; he had a more pragmatic goal in mind. He used every musical element at his disposal to write a symphonic work that would communicate directly with the American people via a musical language they would understand. He was successful in this regard, but the dialogue ended soon after mid-century.
Date: May 2013
Creator: Morrison, Sean
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Interspecimen Study of Bone to Relate Macromechanical, Nanomechanical and Compositional Changes Across the Femoral Cortex of Bone (open access)

Interspecimen Study of Bone to Relate Macromechanical, Nanomechanical and Compositional Changes Across the Femoral Cortex of Bone

Mechanics of bone is widely studied and researched, mainly for the study of fracture. This has been done mostly on a macro scale. In this work hierarchical nature of bone has been explored to investigate bone mechanics in more detail. Flexural test were done to classify the bones according to their strength and deflection. Raman spectroscopy analysis was done to map the mineralization, collagen crosslinking changes across the thickness of the bone. Nanoindentation was done to map indentation hardness and indentation modulus across femoral cortex of the bone. The results indicate that the composition of the bone changes across the thickness of the femoral cortex. The hypothesis is confirmed as increase in mineralization, carbonate to phosphate ratio and collagen crosslinking shows the effect as increased indentation hardness and modulus and decreased deflection.
Date: May 2013
Creator: Nar, Mangesh
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Using a Multimodal Sensing Approach to Characterize Human Responses to Affective and Deceptive States (open access)

Using a Multimodal Sensing Approach to Characterize Human Responses to Affective and Deceptive States

Different ways to measure human affective and deceptive reactions to stimulus have been developed. One method is a multimodal approach using web camera, thermal imaging camera and physiological sensors data to extract different features in the human face (verbal and non-verbal behavior) such as breathing rate, heart rate, face temperature, skin conductance, eye tracking, language analysis and facial expressions among others. Human subjects from different ages and ethnicity were exposed to two different experiments were they watched videos (affection recognition) and others answered an interview session (deception recognition). With the data collected from videos (thermal and visual), different regions of interest (ROI) of the face were selected as well as the whole picture. The ROI were determined based on the most sensitive parts of the face where larger changes of temperature or other physiological features are recorded. It was also analyzed the language (written and spoken) in order to obtain the verbal modalities. The data has been compared among the subjects to determine whether the deceptive and affective reactions of a person can be predicted using multimodal approach. From the multiple data obtained, a characterization of reactions is proposed when subjects are exposed to different stimulus, positive or negative, as …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Narvaez-Valle, Alexis
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Down, Set, Like? A Study of Social Networking and Sports Fandom (open access)

Down, Set, Like? A Study of Social Networking and Sports Fandom

Sports in the 21st century have become popular across multiple industries, and a major boon to a television industry dealing with increasing audience fragmentation. So an understanding of fans' behavior is important to all parties. This study, an online survey consisting of 242 responses, examined fandom and its relationship with time spent using social networking sites and found no statistical correlation. Six uses and gratification factors obtained: human connection, network content, distraction/amusement, social integration, social surveillance, and active entertainment. The low comparative saliency of the social integration factor suggests that perhaps fandom is distinct from other ways of identifying with similarly-minded individuals (e.g. political and/or religious affiliation), or that perhaps fandom as a factor is less than sufficient to explain how/why sports fans use social networking sites.
Date: May 2013
Creator: Otteson, Gabe
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Data Transmission in Quantized Consensus (open access)

Data Transmission in Quantized Consensus

In the world of networked system, average consensus is an important dimension of co-ordinate control and cooperation. Since the communication medium is digital, real value cannot be transmitted and we need to perform quantization before data transmission. But for the quantization, error is introduced in exact value and initial average is lost. Based on this limitation, my 16 bit quantization method (sending MSB in 1-4 cycle and MSB+LSB in 5th cycle) reduces error significantly and preserves initial average. Besides, it works on all types of graphs (star, complete, ring, random geometric graph). My other algorithm, distributing averaging algorithm (PQDA) with probabilistic quantization also works on random geometric graph, star, ring and slow co-herency graph. It shows significant reduced error and attain strict consensus.
Date: May 2013
Creator: Parvez, Imtiaz
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Corrosion Protection of Low Carbon Steel By Cation Substituted Magnetite (open access)

Corrosion Protection of Low Carbon Steel By Cation Substituted Magnetite

Surfaces of low carbon steel sheet were modified by exposure to highly caustic aqueous solutions containing either chromium or aluminum cations. Corrosion resistances of such surfaces were compared with that of steel surfaces exposed to plain caustic aqueous solution. In all cases a highly uniform, black coating having a spinel structure similar to magnetite (Fe3O4) was obtained. The coated steel surfaces were characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometry (FTIR). Polarization resistances (Rp) of modified steel surfaces were measured and compared with that of bare steel surfaces. Results indicate that chromium (Fe2+ Fe3+x Cr3+1-x) or aluminum (Fe2+ Fe3+x Al3+1-x) substituted spinel phases formed on steel surfaces showed higher Rp values compared to only magnetite (Fe2+ 2Fe3+O4) phase formed in the absence of either chromium or aluminum cations. Average Rp values for steel surfaces with chromium containing spinel phase were much higher (21.8 k?) as compared to 1.7 k? for bare steel surfaces. Steel surfaces with aluminum containing spinel phase and steels with plain magnetite coated samples showed average Rp values of 3.3 k? and 2.5 k? respectively. XPS and EDS analysis confirmed presence of cations of chromium and …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Phadnis, Ameya
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Design of a Dual Band Gan Pa Utilizing Dual Band Impedance Transformers (open access)

Design of a Dual Band Gan Pa Utilizing Dual Band Impedance Transformers

This thesis discusses the design, fabrication, and testing of a high efficiency, dual band radio frequency power amplifier. While it is difficult to demonstrate an exact mode of operation for power amplifiers at radio frequencies, based on the characteristics of the transistor itself, the argument can be made that our high efficiency performance is due to an approximation to class E operation. The PA is designed around a CGH40025 transistor manufactured by Cree, Inc, which has developed a very useful nonlinear model of its transistor, which allows use of software load/source pull methods to determine optimum impedances to be presented to the gate and drain (hereafter referred to as source and load) of the transistor at each band of operation. A recent work on dual-band impedance matching is then used to design distributed element networks in order to present conjugate matches of these impedances to the transistor. This is followed by a careful layout, after which the PA is then fabricated on a low-impedance substrate using a LPKF Protomat S63 rapid prototyping machine. Measurements of gain and drain current provide values for power-added-efficiency. Simulated gains were 21 and 18 dB at 800 MHz and 1.85 GHz, respectively, with PAE around …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Poe, David R.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Muerte Y Soledad En La Poesía De Manuel Altolaguirre Ante El Exilio (open access)

Muerte Y Soledad En La Poesía De Manuel Altolaguirre Ante El Exilio

This study focuses on the Spanish poet of the Generation of '27 Manuel Altolaguirre. The purpose of this thesis is to show how the poetry of Manuel Altolaguirre evolves in relation to specific issues. Specifically, I study the changes in his work in regard to the themes of death and solitude, resulting from exile in 1939, to be enriched by new experiences, many of them dramatic, taking more personal ways, while offering them a more profound and complex and even in regard to the subject of the poet's death comes to contemplate a more positive way. The thesis is divided into five chapters. Following the introduction, the second chapter focuses on Altolaguirre's biography and the Generation in 1927 while the third focuses and analyzes his poetry before his exile in 1939. The fourth chapter examines his poetry after exile until his death in 1959, while the fifth and last chapter concludes this study.
Date: May 2013
Creator: Mandujano, Olga Lidia
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Evaluating Appropriateness of Emg and Flex Sensors for Classifying Hand Gestures (open access)

Evaluating Appropriateness of Emg and Flex Sensors for Classifying Hand Gestures

Hand and arm gestures are a great way of communication when you don't want to be heard, quieter and often more reliable than whispering into a radio mike. In recent years hand gesture identification became a major active area of research due its use in various applications. The objective of my work is to develop an integrated sensor system, which will enable tactical squads and SWAT teams to communicate when there is absence of a Line of Sight or in the presence of any obstacles. The gesture set involved in this work is the standardized hand signals for close range engagement operations used by military and SWAT teams. The gesture sets involved in this work are broadly divided into finger movements and arm movements. The core components of the integrated sensor system are: Surface EMG sensors, Flex sensors and accelerometers. Surface EMG is the electrical activity produced by muscle contractions and measured by sensors directly attached to the skin. Bend Sensors use a piezo resistive material to detect the bend. The sensor output is determined by both the angle between the ends of the sensor as well as the flex radius. Accelerometers sense the dynamic acceleration and inclination in 3 …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Akumalla, Sarath Chandra
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Novel Role of Trypsin in Zebrafish (open access)

Novel Role of Trypsin in Zebrafish

It has been shown previously in our laboratory that zebrafish produce trypsin from their gills when they are under stress, and this trypsin is involved in thrombocyte activation via PAR2 during gill bleeding. In this study, I investigated another role of the trypsin that is secreted from zebrafish. This investigation has demonstrated a novel role of trypsin in zebrafish. Not only did this investigation demonstrate the role of trypsin in zebrafish behavior, but also it showed that PAR2 might be the receptor that is involved in trypsin-mediated behavioral response. In addition, we have shown that Gq and ERK inhibitors are able to block the trypsin pathway and prevent the escaping behavior. Finally, the results of this investigation suggest that the cells that respond to trypsin are surface cells, which have an appearance similar to that of neuromast cells.
Date: May 2013
Creator: Alsrhani, Abdullah Falleh
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Optical Transparent Pmma Composite Reinforced By Coaxial Electrospun Pan Hollow Nanofibers (open access)

Optical Transparent Pmma Composite Reinforced By Coaxial Electrospun Pan Hollow Nanofibers

Electrospinning has been recognized as an efficient technique for the fabrication of polymer fibers. These electrospun fibers have many applications across a broad range of industries. In this research, optical transparent composites were successfully fabricated by embedding polyacrylonitrile (PAN) hollow nanofibers into poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrix. The hollow PAN nanofibers were prepared by coaxial electrospinning. The PAN was used as the shell solution, and the mineral oil was used as the core solution. The resulting fibers were then etched with octane to remove the mineral oil from the core. The hollow PAN fibers were then homogeneously distributed in PMMA resins to fabricate the composite. The morphology, transmittance and mechanical properties of the PAN/PMMA composite were then characterized with an ESEM, TEM, tensile testing machine, UV-vis spectrometer and KD2 Pro Decagon device. The results indicated that the hollow nanofibers have relatively uniform size with one-dimensional texture at the walls. The embedded PAN hollow nanofibers significantly enhanced the tensile stress and the Young's modulus of the composite (increased by 58.3% and 50.4%, respectively), while having little influence on the light transmittance of the composite. The KD2 Pro device indicated that the thermal conductivity of the PMMA was marginally greater than the …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Antoine, Donley
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Kinetics of Sulfur: Experimental Study of the Reaction of Atomic Sulfur with Acetylene and Theoretical Study of the Cn + So Potential Energy Surface (open access)

Kinetics of Sulfur: Experimental Study of the Reaction of Atomic Sulfur with Acetylene and Theoretical Study of the Cn + So Potential Energy Surface

The kinetics of the reaction of atomic sulfur with acetylene (S (3P) + C2H2) were investigated experimentally via the flash photolysis resonance fluorescence method, and the theoretical potential energy surface for the reaction CN + SO was modeled via the density functional and configuration interaction computational methods. Sulfur is of interest in modern chemistry due to its relevance in combustion and atmospheric chemistry, in the Claus process, in soot and diamond-film formation and in astrochemistry. Experimental conditions ranged from 295 – 1015 K and 10 – 400 Torr of argon. Pressure-dependence was shown at all experimental temperatures. The room temperature high-pressure limit second order rate constant was (2.10 ± 0.08) × 10-13 cm3 molecule-1 s-1. The Arrhenius plot of the high-pressure limit rate constants gave an Ea of (11.34 ± 0.03) kJ mol-1 and a pre-exponential factor of (2.14 ± 0.19) × 10-11 cm3 molecule-1 s-1. S (3P) + C2H2 is likely an adduct forming reaction due to pressure-dependence (also supported by a statistical mechanics analysis) which involves intersystem crossing. The potential energy surface for CN + SO was calculated at the B3LYP/6-311G(d) level and refined at the QCISD/6-311G(d) level. The PES was compared to that of the analogous reaction …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Ayling, Sean A.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Attention Biases Associated with Vulnerability to Bipolar Disorder (open access)

Attention Biases Associated with Vulnerability to Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is associated with significant social and occupational impairments, as well as increased risk for substance abuse and suicide. More research is needed to identify potential mechanisms associated with vulnerability to the disorder. Previous research has identified altered processing of emotional information in bipolar and bipolar-prone individuals, including attentional biases which appear to differ based on the current affective state of the individual. The current study applied a sensitive measure of attention (i.e., eye-tracking) to assess whether vulnerability to bipolar disorder, as indexed by hypomanic personality traits, would be correlated with biases in attention to emotional facial stimuli, independent of mood state. Hypomanic personality traits were hypothesized to be associated with greater attention to happy and angry faces, as indexed by faster initial orientation, more frequent gazes, and longer gaze duration for these stimuli. Participants completed self-report measures assessing current mood symptoms, positive and negative affect, and hypomanic personality traits. They then completed two tasks assessing attention for emotional faces. The first was an eye-tracking task, which measured latency to first fixation, total gaze duration and total number of gazes for each emotional face category. The second was a spatial cueing task which assessed both attentional engagement with emotional …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Bain, Kathleen Marie
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Influence of Perceived Support From Parental and Peer Relationships on Students' Health-related Beliefs and Behaviors (open access)

The Influence of Perceived Support From Parental and Peer Relationships on Students' Health-related Beliefs and Behaviors

College is an important time for young adults, but most college students fail to meet the daily recommendations for physical activity. Social support is associated with positive health practices, but limited research is available on the role of perceived support from specific relationships, (e.g., peers and parents). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of perceived support from parental and peer relationships on health-related beliefs and behaviors. Participants (N = 333) completed the Quality of Relationships Inventory, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, Satisfaction With Life scale, and a short version of the Physical Self-Description Questionnaire. While highly active students did not necessarily have more socially support relationships, females self-reported more conflict with both parents and more depth and support with a special person in their life than males, and parental and peer relationships appeared to be a greater influence on females' perceptions of satisfaction and self-worth.
Date: May 2013
Creator: Barton, Mitch
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
How Drawing Becomes Writing: Proto-orthography in the Codex Borbonicus (open access)

How Drawing Becomes Writing: Proto-orthography in the Codex Borbonicus

The scholarship on the extent of the Nahuatl writing system makes something of a sense-reference error. There are a number of occurrences in which the symbols encode a verb, three in the present tense and one in the past tense. The context of the use of calendar systems and written language in the Aztec empire is roughly described. I suggest that a new typology for is needed in order to fully account for Mesoamerican writing systems and to put to rest the idea that alphabetic orthographies are superior to other full systems. I cite neurolinguistic articles in support of this argument and suggest an evolutionary typology based on Gould's theory of Exaptation paired with the typology outlined by Justeson in his "Origins of Mesoamerican Writing" article.
Date: May 2013
Creator: Bolinger, Taylor
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
La Evolución Del Subalterno En Tres Novelas Mexicanas: La Negra Angustias, Balún Canán, Y Neonao (open access)

La Evolución Del Subalterno En Tres Novelas Mexicanas: La Negra Angustias, Balún Canán, Y Neonao

The subaltern is a recurrent literary figure in Mexican narrative. The objective of this thesis is to investigate three ethnic groups – indeed, subalterns – in Mexico which include: Afro-Mexicans, indigenous groups, and Filipino colonial subjects from the perspectives of the Mexican Revolution, post-revolutionary Mexico, and the conquest of the Philippines in the sixteenth century. The principal characters play crucial roles in events shaping the history and culture of Mexico and thus demonstrate their importance to the country's development while also revealing the reality of subalterns. The literary research shows that trying circumstances or a lack of self-identity were the main causes for a character to be or become a subaltern in addition to their inherent ethnic disadvantages. However, the characters who overcame their subaltern state often changed personality traits or adapted to their surroundings in order to be assimilated into the majority culture.
Date: May 2013
Creator: Bowen, LaVerne Alexandra
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Classless: on Being Middle Class in America (open access)

Classless: on Being Middle Class in America

Classless: On Being Middle Class in America is a documentary film that explores what it means to be middle class in America. The film combines personal narrative, folksy reporting, and comedy as the film's director— Joe Brown, tries to reconcile his own status anxiety with everyday understandings of social class. Classless takes the form of a journey; the film travels through the American South, Northeast, and the Mountain West while trying to get at the heart of our middle class American Dream. Classless forwards three main arguments: (1) the American middle class is not as all-encompassing as seems; (2) Americans are more concerned about inequality than both politicians and the media suggest; and (3) many Americans are not actually middle class, economically speaking.
Date: May 2013
Creator: Brown, Joseph V.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Adapting on the Plains: the United States Army's Evolution of Mobile Warfare in Texas, 1848-1859 (open access)

Adapting on the Plains: the United States Army's Evolution of Mobile Warfare in Texas, 1848-1859

The Army, despite having been vexed for a century on how to effectively fight the Plains Indians, ultimately defeated them only a decade after the Civil War. This thesis will bring to the forefront those individuals who adapted fighting techniques and ultimately achieved victories on the Texas frontier before the Civil War. The majority of these victories came as a result of mounted warfare under the direction of lower ranking officers in control of smaller forces. The tactic of fighting Indians from horseback was shown to be effective by the Rangers and later emulated by the Army.
Date: May 2013
Creator: Buchy, Mark B.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Mr Secrets and Social Media:  the Confession of Richard Rodriguez (open access)

Mr Secrets and Social Media: the Confession of Richard Rodriguez

Richard Rodriguez's works create troubling situations for many scholars. Though numerous critics see him as the penultimate Chicano writer, many others see his writing as only pandering to the elite. However, all politics and controversies aside, he is a writer whose ideas upon language and public confession have been revolutionary. Throughout the thesis, I argue that Rodriguez's ideas upon language and identity are applicable to the social media landscape that we reside in currently, especially the public confession. Also, I use deconstructionism, along with postmodern criticism, to illustrate the changing arc of Rodriguez's confession from his first autobiography to his final one. In his first memoir, Rodriguez remains in the closet upon his sexuality, and the reader only catches glimpses of the 'real' character inside his work. In the second memoir, the reader sees a better glimpse because of his coming out; yet, even in this regard, he does not do so wholly and still leaves his confession unfinished. By the third, he applies themes and problems seen in his first and second works to discuss our browning nature, and how we are all sinners and that we desire to confess our sins. In my assessment of Rodriguez, I argue …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Burns, Amanda Jill
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Impact of Clinician Expectations on Termination Status and Therapeutic Outcome (open access)

Impact of Clinician Expectations on Termination Status and Therapeutic Outcome

Given the high rates of premature termination in training clinics, research aimed at understanding client attrition is urgently needed. Recent investigations in this area have implicated expectations of psychotherapy as a strong predictor of premature termination; however, this phenomenon has only been studied from the perspective of client expectations to date. There is reason to believe clinician expectations for the duration and effectiveness of psychotherapy may further impact the likelihood of their clients terminating prematurely. This study sought to address this gap in the literature by examining the association of clinicians' expectations to clients' psychotherapy outcomes and termination status in a training clinic setting. Clinicians were found to hold significantly higher expectations for client improvement than would be expected, and these high expectations were found to be positively correlated with clinically significant change in clients. Implications for improving client retention and treatment outcome in training clinics are discussed.
Date: May 2013
Creator: Connor, Dana R.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Thermal Characterization of Austenite Stainless Steel (304) and Cnt Films of Varying Thickness Using Micropipette Thermal Sensors (open access)

Thermal Characterization of Austenite Stainless Steel (304) and Cnt Films of Varying Thickness Using Micropipette Thermal Sensors

Thermal transport behavior of austenite stainless steel stripe (304) and the carbon nano-tubes (CNTs) films of varying thickness are studied using a micropipette thermal sensor. Micropipette sensors of various tip sizes were fabricated and tested for the sensitivity and reliability. The sensitivity deviated by 0.11 for a batch of pipette coated under same physical vapor deposition (PVD) setting without being affected by a tip size. Annealing, rubber coating and the vertical landing test of the pipette sensor proved to be promising in increasing the reliability and durability of the pipette sensors. A micro stripe (80µm × 6µm × 0.6µm) of stainless steel, fabricated using focused ion beam (FIB) machining, was characterized whose thermal conductivity was determined to be 14.9 W/m-K at room temperature. Similarly, the thermal characterization of CNT films showed the decreasing tendency in the thermal transport behavior with the increase in the film thickness.
Date: May 2013
Creator: Dangol, Ashesh
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library