Degree Level

A model for designing a new telecommunication system in Mongolia

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The objective of this research is to design, and determine the feasibility of, a telecommunication system for the city of Erdenet, Mongolia. The Mongolian Telecommunication Company, Telecommunication Company of Erdenet city, and the National Statistical Office of Mongolia provided the data required for telecommunication forecasting of Erdenet. The literature review and analysis of the telecommunication forecasting indicate the need for a model of a new Telecommunication system in Erdenet, Mongolia. The model, as indicated, should become a useful example for planning and updating the telecommunication system in Mongolia. The design of a proposed telecommunication network involves the following considerations: analyzing and forecasting telephone traffic, calculating the required number of channels, determining exchange locations, traffic matrix, and establishing a basic hierarchical structure.
Date: May 2001
Creator: Baatarjav, Enkhbat
System: The UNT Digital Library
Guilt and Shame as They Relate to Combat Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): An Analysis of Trauma Content And Resulting Symptomatology (open access)

Guilt and Shame as They Relate to Combat Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): An Analysis of Trauma Content And Resulting Symptomatology

This study began testing the Sewell and Williams (in press) model that differing trauma types yield differing presentations in social versus event processing domains. Other hypotheses explored trauma type with levels of guilt, and shame-proneness with anxiety. Volunteers were 44 male combat veterans being treated for PTSD. Data analyses determined whether trauma type related to guilt and perceived social support and whether shame-proneness related to levels of anxiety. High shame persons may process anxiety and social support differently than low shame persons. Results can assist professionals understand how a person's functioning is affected by certain types of trauma. Future research should focus on increasing social support for persons who have experienced trauma.
Date: May 2001
Creator: Taber, Iris
System: The UNT Digital Library
Portrait of Your Stream: Development and Assessment of a Stream Ecology Program for Middle-School Student (open access)

Portrait of Your Stream: Development and Assessment of a Stream Ecology Program for Middle-School Student

Portrait of Your Stream (POYS) is a stream ecology and student action program designed for use with middle-school students. The program is correlated with learning cycle pedagogical methods emphasizing student-centered lessons and activities in both classroom and outdoor settings. Implementation of a pilot program in the Fall semester of 1999 was used to collect formal and informal responses and data from students and teachers. Data included changes in student knowledge, skills and attitudes and were analyzed for determination of the success of program objectives and modifications to the program. The final POYS program is currently distributed and administered by the Botanical Research Institute of Texas.
Date: May 2001
Creator: Swirczynski, Brenda J.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Southland, The Completion Of a Dream: The Story Behind Southern Newsprint's Improbable Beginnings

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The purpose of this thesis is to explore the creative process behind Southland Paper Mills, the South's first newsprint factory. The thesis describes the conditions leading to the need for southern newsprint. It then chronicles, through the use of company records, the difficult challenges southern newsprint pioneers faced. The thesis follows the company history from the gem of an idea during the mid 1930's through the first decade of the Southland's existence. The paper concludes with the formative years of the company in the 1940's.
Date: May 2001
Creator: McGrath, Charles
System: The UNT Digital Library

The Effect of Steroid Dose Regimen on the Relationship Between Lower Extremity Muscle Function and Cardiac Function in Post Heart Transplant Patients

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Differences in cardiovascular/aerobic function in heart transplant patients might be attributed to the rate of corticosteroid withdrawal and/or to skeletal muscle function. This hypothesis was tested among nine male, cardiac transplant recipients. Prednisone dosage was monitored, and isokinetic strength testing was performed at 4 different time periods throughout the first year post-transplantation. Cardiovascular/aerobic measurements were obtained at the fourth time period. Pre-surgery characteristics were obtained from the patient's medical record. Significant Pearson-product moment correlations were only found between muscle function and aerobic function and between pre-surgery characteristics and cardiovascular/aerobic performance. The results of this study show no evidence that rapid reduction of prednisone dosage enhances aerobic function by benefiting skeletal muscle function.
Date: May 2001
Creator: Galatas, Mary V.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Extensions to Jinni Mobile Agent Architecture (open access)

Extensions to Jinni Mobile Agent Architecture

We extend the Jinni mobile agent architecture with a multicast network transport layer, an agent-to-agent delegation mechanism and a reflection based Prolog-to-Java interface. To ensure that our agent infrastructure runs efficiently, independently of router-level multicast support, we describe a blackboard based algorithm for locating a randomly roaming agent. As part of the agent-to-agent delegation mechanism, we describe an alternative to code-fetching mechanism for stronger mobility of mobile agents with less network overhead. In the context of direct and reflection based extension mechanisms for Jinni, we describe the design and the implementation of a reflection based Prolog-to-Java interface. The presence of subtyping and method overloading makes finding the most specific method corresponding to a Prolog call pattern fairly difficult. We describe a run-time algorithm which provides accurate handling of overloaded methods beyond Java's reflection package's limitations.
Date: May 2001
Creator: Tyagi, Satyam
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Essercizii musici: A Study of the Late Baroque Sonata (open access)

The Essercizii musici: A Study of the Late Baroque Sonata

Telemann's Essercizii musici is a seminal publication of the 1730's representative of the state of the sonata in Germany at that time. Telemann's music has been largely viewed in negative terms, presumably because of its lack of originality, with the result that the collection's content has been treated in a perfunctory manner. This thesis presents a reappraisal of the Essercizii musici based on criteria presented in Quantz's Versuch. A major source of the period, the Versuch provides an analytical framework for a deeper understanding of the sonatas that comprise Telemann's last publication. A comparison of contemporary publications of similarly titled collections establishes an historical framework for assessing the importance of the Essercizii musici as part of a tradition of publications with didactic objectives that may be traced to the late 17th century.
Date: May 2001
Creator: Volcansek, Frederick Wallace
System: The UNT Digital Library
Virtual teams: The relationship between organizational support systems and effectiveness (open access)

Virtual teams: The relationship between organizational support systems and effectiveness

This study investigates the effects of eight organizational support systems on virtual team effectiveness in five areas: communication, planning tasks and setting goals, solving problems and making decisions, resolving conflict, and responding to customer requirements. One hundred and eighty surveys were sent to information technology managers and collaborative team members, representing 43 companies. The results indicated that developing new roles for IT professionals and senior managers significantly increased virtual team effectiveness in several areas. The findings support the theory that organizations that utilize virtual teams must create high-level structures, policies, and systems to support the teams and the information tools they use.
Date: May 2001
Creator: Townsley, Carole
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Role of Intelligent Mobile Agents in Network Management and Routing (open access)

The Role of Intelligent Mobile Agents in Network Management and Routing

In this research, the application of intelligent mobile agents to the management of distributed network environments is investigated. Intelligent mobile agents are programs which can move about network systems in a deterministic manner in carrying their execution state. These agents can be considered an application of distributed artificial intelligence where the (usually small) agent code is moved to the data and executed locally. The mobile agent paradigm offers potential advantages over many conventional mechanisms which move (often large) data to the code, thereby wasting available network bandwidth. The performance of agents in network routing and knowledge acquisition has been investigated and simulated. A working mobile agent system has also been designed and implemented in JDK 1.2.
Date: December 2000
Creator: Balamuru, Vinay Gopal
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Behavioral Economic Analysis of Different Reinforcers: Sound-Clips Versus Points Exchangeable for Money (open access)

A Behavioral Economic Analysis of Different Reinforcers: Sound-Clips Versus Points Exchangeable for Money

Human operant studies frequently use points exchangeable for money as reinforcers. Some studies employ more immediately consumable reinforcers to emulate properties of food reinforcers. This study examined demand for points/money and for sound-clips to compare their economic characteristics. Across four participants, demand was often higher and less elastic for points/money than for sounds. During subsequent exposures at each response requirement, demand for sounds often decreased to a greater degree than demand for points/money. Thus, sound-clips seem less durable than points/money across prices and across repeated exposure to the same price. Response rates for points/money were often higher than for sounds, suggesting that reinforcers that generate higher response rates may be less elastic than reinforcers that generate lower response rates.
Date: December 2000
Creator: Alvey, Debi A.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Parts of Women

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Parts of Women contains a scholarly preface that discusses the woman's body both in fiction and in the experience of being a woman writer. The preface is followed by five original short stories. "Parts of Women" is a three-part story composed of three first-person monologues. "Controlled Burn" involves a woman anthropologist who discovers asbestos in her office. "Tango Lessons" is about a middle-aged woman who's always in search of her true self. "Expatriates" concerns a man who enters the lives of his Hare Krishna neighbors, and "Rio" involves a word-struck man in his attempt to form a personal relationship.
Date: May 2001
Creator: Murphy, Maria Christine
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Thematic Apperception Test: The relationship between scored fanasy aggression and aggressive behavior (open access)

The Thematic Apperception Test: The relationship between scored fanasy aggression and aggressive behavior

This study attempted to determine the relationship between fantasy aggression and behavioral aggression, and whether fantasy aggression measured by the Thematic Apperception Test is related to behavioral aggression. Participant TAT protocols from psychology clinic files were scored for fantasy aggression, and these scores were correlated with self-reported presence or absence of behavioral aggression. The scoring system used was a blend of popular aggression scales used in the 1960s and newer theory. Other variables that were examined were story length and gender in relation to the measured amount of fantasy and behavioral aggression.
Date: December 2000
Creator: Fabrick, Joanne Madeline
System: The UNT Digital Library
Performance Improvement in an Accounting Firm: Comparing Operational and Financial Data Before and After Process Redesign (open access)

Performance Improvement in an Accounting Firm: Comparing Operational and Financial Data Before and After Process Redesign

The case study described in this thesis involves a process improvement project in the Tax Department of a Certified Public Accounting firm. A process map was created by interviewing employees involved in the process. A process analysis identified problems and possible solutions. The Partners in the firm decided to streamline the process for simple tax returns in order to make them more profitable. This study examined what impact, if any, the process improvement intervention had on key financial and operational measures. Results indicated that the tax returns prepared in the new process were faster, cheaper, and more profitable. This study indicates that organizations conducting process improvement interventions can beneficially affect key financial and operational measures.
Date: December 2000
Creator: Chhabra, Meeta Kaur
System: The UNT Digital Library

Reflections on the Development of Children of Alcoholics

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The specific purpose of this study was to try and understand why unique experiences of living with an alcoholic parent could create developmental deficits which emotionally challenge COAs' when faced with the life lessons a college environment offers. This study offered four possible explanations for experiencing challenges in its theoretical background: (1) psychosocial development, (2) the epistemology of alcoholism and its effects on the family, (3) personality development and the concurrence of building resilience, and (4) the college environment itself, with the phenomenon of binge drinking--forcing COAs to confront family alcoholism. A total of 7 participated in this study--4 men and 3 women. Despite the dynamic differences in the answers overall, all 7 participants acknowledged one important concept. When the participants were asked about their own drinking habits, each participant said, though in different ways, they had to be careful with their drinking habits. Participants seemed to be aware that whether alcoholism is genetic or a learned addiction, they were at risk of becoming alcoholics themselves. This study found overall, as previous literature suggests, no matter how COAs are studied, they are found to be a heterogeneous population. Specifically, this study's results points out that they are indeed heterogeneous, yet …
Date: May 2001
Creator: Weise, Molly Amanda
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Effects of Biofeedback on Task Performance (open access)

The Effects of Biofeedback on Task Performance

This experiment attempted to study the effectiveness of biofeedback training on an individual's peak performance while performing a stress-provoking task. In a between subjects design 30 individual college students were divided into 2 groups. One group received auditory biofeedback and relaxation training, and the other group received no training. Both groups met the researcher for 1 hour a week for seven weeks. During each session the participant completed a ten-minute Competition and Coaction (C & C) computer software program (Shea, 1992). The biofeedback equipment recorded the physiological state of each of the participants while he/she performed the C & C task. Both groups' physiological values and C & C scores were compared using the SPSS software. The biofeedback group had statistically lower stress values than the non-biofeedback group (Schwartz, 1995). There was no statistical difference between the 2 groups' C & C scores. The STAI Y-1 and Y-2 anxiety inventories were given to each of the participants at the 1st and 7th session to examine the anxiety differences between the 2 groups. There were no statistical differences between the 2 groups' STAI scores. This study's findings show that individuals can be taught to lower their stress response while performing a …
Date: December 2000
Creator: Bruce, Kurt
System: The UNT Digital Library
Preparation and Characterization of a Treated Montmorillonite Clay and Epoxy Nanocomposite (open access)

Preparation and Characterization of a Treated Montmorillonite Clay and Epoxy Nanocomposite

Montmorillonite reinforced polymers are a new development in the area of nanocomposite materials. Since reinforcement of epoxy is important to the development of high strength adhesives and composite matrices, the introduction of montmorillonite to epoxy is of interest. Compositional effects on epoxy reactivity, on molecular relaxation, and on mechanical properties were investigated. Change in reactivity was determined by Differential Scanning Calorimetry. Tensile properties at room temperature indicated improved modulus and retention of strength of the epoxy matrix but a decreased elongation to failure. Depression of dry nanocomposite glass transition was observed for nanocomposites beyond 5% by weight montmorillonite. Samples that were saturated with water showed lower moduli due to the epoxy matrix. The greatest moisture absorption rate was found at 7%, the least at 3%.
Date: December 2000
Creator: Butzloff, Peter Robert
System: The UNT Digital Library
Unexpected Unexpected Utilities: A Comparative Case-Study Analysis of Women and Revolutions (open access)

Unexpected Unexpected Utilities: A Comparative Case-Study Analysis of Women and Revolutions

Women have been part of modern revolutions since the American Revolution against Great Britain. Most descriptions and analyses of revolution relegate women to a supporting role, or make no mention of women's involvement at all. This work differs from prior efforts in that it will explore one possible explanation for the successes of three revolutions based upon the levels of women's support for those revolutions. An analysis of the three cases (Ireland, Russia, and Nicaragua) suggests a series of hypotheses about women's participation in revolution and its importance to revolutions' success.
Date: December 2000
Creator: Casey, Walter Thomas
System: The UNT Digital Library
Establishment and Competitive Ability of Nelumbo Lutea in Relation to Myriophyllum Spicatum (open access)

Establishment and Competitive Ability of Nelumbo Lutea in Relation to Myriophyllum Spicatum

Limitations from reduced light and increasing water depth on Nelumbo lutea seedlings were determined in tank experiments. Survival was high in all tested light levels. Total biomass increased significantly with increasing light. Biomass allocation shifted significantly to root production between 3 and 6 weeks in the 10 and 24% levels. Survival decreased with increasing planting depth, and biomass of survivors reduced significantly between 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 m depths. Nelumbo lutea and Myriophyllum spicatum populations were monitored for one season in a 0.7 ha pond to track changes in species dominance. Myriophyllum spicatum dominated early, and N. lutea dominated from July through October, suppressing M. spicatum at all depths. Competitive interactions between N. lutea and M. spicatum were investigated for two seasons in a container experiment situated within a pond. Where established, N. lutea dominated in the presence of M. spicatum. However, N. lutea could not be established in depths greater than 1 meter.
Date: December 2000
Creator: Snow, Joe R.
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Behavioral Economic Analysis of the Demand for Money in Humans (open access)

A Behavioral Economic Analysis of the Demand for Money in Humans

This study investigated the effects of unit price structure, unit price descriptions, and unit price sequence on the demand for money in humans. Six groups of 3 participants solved multiplication problems in exchange for money under various unit prices. Consumption of money decreased as the unit price increased across all conditions. However, the data also showed that: (a) fixed price structures produced slightly more elastic demand than did variable price structures, (b) price descriptions produced more elastic demand under variable price structures but had little or no effect under fixed price structures, and (c) the alternate sequence used with fixed price structures produced slightly more elastic demand.
Date: December 2000
Creator: Reyes, Jorge R.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Haiku Seasons (open access)

Haiku Seasons

Haiku Seasons is a choral work that uses several haiku to portray moments in nature. Spread throughout the performance space, four choirs (SATB, 3/part) depict larger parts of the pastoral scene (i.e., mountains, the moon, etc.). Soloists depart from the choirs in order to perform solo, duo, trio, and quartet passages, which take place throughout the work. If enough singers are available, individual soloists may be used. The soloist groups display the more intimate moments of the scenes (i.e., sparrows, a blade of grass, etc.). The intent of Haiku Seasons is to create an image of nature isolated from human interaction. Thus, the image is a pastoral setting with many independent parts all coexisting in a relatively silent world. I combine aspects of tonality, time, space, and silence to create this image.
Date: December 2000
Creator: Smith, Steven Lyle
System: The UNT Digital Library
Dynamic Grid-Based Data Distribution Management in Large Scale Distributed Simulations (open access)

Dynamic Grid-Based Data Distribution Management in Large Scale Distributed Simulations

Distributed simulation is an enabling concept to support the networked interaction of models and real world elements that are geographically distributed. This technology has brought a new set of challenging problems to solve, such as Data Distribution Management (DDM). The aim of DDM is to limit and control the volume of the data exchanged during a distributed simulation, and reduce the processing requirements of the simulation hosts by relaying events and state information only to those applications that require them. In this thesis, we propose a new DDM scheme, which we refer to as dynamic grid-based DDM. A lightweight UNT-RTI has been developed and implemented to investigate the performance of our DDM scheme. Our results clearly indicate that our scheme is scalable and it significantly reduces both the number of multicast groups used, and the message overhead, when compared to previous grid-based allocation schemes using large-scale and real-world scenarios.
Date: December 2000
Creator: Roy, Amber Joyce
System: The UNT Digital Library
Synthesis and characterization of molecules for electron transfer research. (open access)

Synthesis and characterization of molecules for electron transfer research.

Dimethoxynaphthalene (donor) and quinone (acceptor) have been chosen as a suitable redox pair and are bonded to either permethylated silane chains or corresponding permethylated alkyl chains to form Acceptor-(Bridge)-Donor molecules. The idea that the s-delocalization phenomenon of silane chains may greatly facilitate ET reactions will be tested. The starting material for the donor precursor, 4-(1,4-dimethoxynaphthyl)bromocyclohexane, was 1,4-naphthoquinone. After methylation and bromination, the Grignard reagent of the resulting bromide was reacted with cyclohexanedione, mono ethylene ketal. The resulting alcohol was changed to the donor precursor through the following functional group transformation steps: dehydration, hydrogenation, deketalization and bromination. 1,4-Dibenzyloxybromobenzene, the precursor for the acceptor, was synthesized from 1,4-hydroquinone through bromination and benzylation. The connection of the two precursors and either permethylated silane chains or permethylated alkyl chains will give the final target molecules for ET research. Progress on this is included.
Date: December 2000
Creator: Xiao, Wu
System: The UNT Digital Library
Three Voices for voices, woodwind, percussion, and string instruments (open access)

Three Voices for voices, woodwind, percussion, and string instruments

Composed for soprano, tenor, and baritone voices, woodwind, percussion, and string instruments, Three Voices is a polyglotic work that includes German, Chinese, and Spanish texts. The texts are chosen from Brecht Bertolt's Das Schiff, Po Chu I's Lang T'ao Sha, and Frederico Garcia Lorcá's Mar. Significant features of the piece are 1) application of Chinese operatic singing methods to vocal material in the sections that use Chinese text, 2) use of western instruments to emulate the sound of certain Chinese instruments, and 3) employment of Sprechstimme and dramatically inflected speech to create theatrical effects and highlight the sections that use German and Spanish texts.
Date: December 2000
Creator: Wu, Man-Mei
System: The UNT Digital Library
Cowboys, Postmodern Heroes, and Anti-heroes: The Many Faces of the Alterized White Man (open access)

Cowboys, Postmodern Heroes, and Anti-heroes: The Many Faces of the Alterized White Man

This thesis investigates how hegemonic white masculinity adopts a new mode of material accumulation by entering into an ambivalent existence as a historical agent and metahistory at the same time and continues to function as a performative identity that offers a point of identification for the working class white man suggesting that bourgeois identity is obtainable through the performance of bourgeois ethics. The thesis postulates that the phenomenal transitions brought on by industrialization and deindustrialization of 50's through 90's coincide with the representational changes of white masculinity from paradigmatic cowboy incarnations to the postmodern action heroes, specifically as embodied by Bruce Willis. The thesis also examines how postmodern heroes' "intero-alterity" is further problematized by antiheroes in Tim Burton's films.
Date: August 2000
Creator: Murphree, Hyon Joo Yoo
System: The UNT Digital Library