Picnic table at the northbound rest area on Interstate 35

Photograph of a picnic table at the rest area on northbound Interstate 35 in Cooke County.
Date: October 30, 2020
Creator: Phillips, Mark Edward
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History

View from pedestrian bridge over I-35E looking northwest.

Photograph of I-35 from the pedestrian bridge of I-35 East. This view is towards the northwest and shows one branch of where I-35 splits into I-35E and I-35W in Denton.
Date: September 15, 2020
Creator: Phillips, Mark Edward
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History

View facing north of Interstate 35 and the split into I-35W and I-35E in Denton, Texas

Photograph of the split of Interstate 35 into I-35W and I-35E in Denton, Texas.
Date: September 15, 2020
Creator: Phillips, Mark Edward
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History

Overpass ramp from Interstate 35 East toward Interstate 35 West in Denton, Texas

Photograph of the overpass exit from Interstate 35 East to Interstate 35 West where Interstate 35 splits in Denton, Texas.
Date: 2020
Creator: Phillips, Mark Edward
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History
Broadening access to books on Texas and Oklahoma: Final report, best practices, and lessons learned (open access)

Broadening access to books on Texas and Oklahoma: Final report, best practices, and lessons learned

This white paper provides a summary of grant activities and provides some best practices and lessons learned for other efforts to make out-of-print humanities books available in ebook format.
Date: March 20, 2020
Creator: Hawkins, Kevin S.
Object Type: Paper
System: The UNT Digital Library
What Would a Waterbird Do? An Annual Study of 13 Urban Wetlands in Frisco, Texas (open access)

What Would a Waterbird Do? An Annual Study of 13 Urban Wetlands in Frisco, Texas

Intention for this study is driven by finding patterns that may be shown to reveal primary factors of influence for the abundance and diversity of wetland birds. These correlations may be used to promote wetland management strategies for the benefit of waterbird species, and help illuminate current local wetland conditions for waterbirds, respectively. The idea is to help enliven individuals to become a more conscious steward and manipulator of our environment through incorporating structural and biological components into wetland development and management strategies, and broadly speaking, urban development practices.
Date: May 2020
Creator: Proctor, Jayce Alan
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Mixed Method Inquiry into Student Academic Optimism: Validation of the Construct and Its Use to Give Voice to Latinx Student Experiences (open access)

A Mixed Method Inquiry into Student Academic Optimism: Validation of the Construct and Its Use to Give Voice to Latinx Student Experiences

This study examined student academic optimism in four diverse North Texas school districts. This study used a convergent parallel mixed methods design to analyze results of an online administration of the survey, and Latinx student responses to a focus group protocol derived from the survey. Quantitative results indicate the individual scales making up the construct align with previous research results. The three scales were found to be strongly and significantly correlated, indicating the potential for validation. Qualitative results indicate Latinx students' perceptions of their academic careers align with four themes. Latinx students are keenly aware of their teachers as a person, their school as a community, the intrusion of the outside world, and students as agents. Qualitative results support the importance of the three components of the construct, student trust in teachers, student academic press, and student identification with school. As a new source of data, combined with existing metrics of instructional effectiveness, student academic optimism could increase the ability of decision makers to improve the overall efficacy of school systems especially when addressing the persistent opportunity gaps for Latinx and other students of color.
Date: May 2020
Creator: Viamontes Quintero, Jesika
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Key Factors in Developing a Successful Bond Referendum in Texas School Districts (open access)

Key Factors in Developing a Successful Bond Referendum in Texas School Districts

In May of 2002, Wichita Falls ISD, a district in Texas with a stagnate enrollment of 14,000 students for multiple years, asked for the community to support a $120 million bond to help cover the cost of four new elementary campuses and to maintain and upgrade aging facilities. The bond failed. Additionally, a 2004 bond failed again. Finally, in 2006, the district is finally able to pass a $60 million bond and only includes two new elementary campuses and no funding to address the aging facilities. At the same time, other districts in fast growing areas of Texas are able to pass school bonds with little to no issues. This begs the question, is there a formula for getting school bonds passed? The purpose of this study is to discover what key factors influence a bond package; to help find those answers, eight districts in Texas were selected, five considered to be a fast-growth district" and three considered to be no-growth district. The study used a qualitative research approach, using semi-structured interviews with 24 participants. After all factors were analyzed, a pattern and recommendation is developed for districts to follow allowing a high degree of success for school bonds.
Date: May 2020
Creator: Griffiths, Peter Edward
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
In the Tall Grass West of Town: Racial Violence in Denton County during the Rise of the Second Ku Klux Klan (open access)

In the Tall Grass West of Town: Racial Violence in Denton County during the Rise of the Second Ku Klux Klan

The aim of this thesis is to narrate and analyze lynching and atypical violence in Denton County, Texas, between 1920 and 1926. Through this intensive study of a rural county in north Texas, the role of law enforcement in typical and systemic violence is observed and the relationship between Denton County Officials and the Ku Klux Klan is analyzed. Chapter 1 discusses the root of the word lynching and submits a call for academic attention to violence that is unable to be categorized as lynching due to its restrictive definition. Chapter 2 chronicles known instances of lynching in Denton County from its founding through the 1920s including two lynchings perpetrated by Klavern 136, the Denton County Klan. Chapter 3 examines the relationship between Denton County Law Enforcement and the Klan. In Chapter 4, seasons of violence are identified and applied to available historical records. Chapter 5 concludes that non-lynching violence, termed "disappearances," occurred and argues on behalf of its inclusion within the historiography of Jim Crow Era criminal actions against Black Americans. In the Prologue and Epilogue, the development and dissolution of the St. John's Community in Pilot Point, Texas, is narrated.
Date: May 2020
Creator: Crittenden, Micah Carlson
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library

Analysis of Interrelationships between Climate Change and Cotton Yield in Texas High Plains

The Texas High Plains produces the most substantial amount of cotton in Texas. The region is a semi-arid area with limited precipitation, and it is, therefore, susceptible to climate change. Cotton production in the Texas High Plains is mostly dependent on irrigation to increase yield. The overall goal of this research was to study the interrelationships between climate change and cotton yield using correlation analysis and also to study how climate has changed in the region using trend analysis. A three-decade data (1987-2017) was analyzed to establish the relationship between climate change and cotton and also to determine how climate has changed in the area over the last 30 years. The research used precipitation and temperature data to assess climate change.The results of this research showed that annual mean temperature has lesser impacts on cotton yield, and the correlation between annual precipitation and cotton yield is insignificant. It also found out that high rates of temperature at the boll opening stage of cotton growth results in decreased cotton yield and that at the boll development and boll opening stages, precipitation is needed. Again, the research indicated that, on average, there had been a significant increase in temperature, but precipitation trends …
Date: May 2020
Creator: Sarbeng, Lorenda
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
That Isolation Creeps In: Exploring the Intersection of Public Transit and Mental Health in Dallas County, Texas (open access)

That Isolation Creeps In: Exploring the Intersection of Public Transit and Mental Health in Dallas County, Texas

The primary goal of the research project was to organize a community needs assessment, which culminated in a report attached in the appendix. Data from sixteen interviews with community leaders involved in mental health promotion throughout Dallas County, Texas was used as the foundation of the professional report. This data revealed several key barriers faced by those with mental illness in their ability to access mental health services in Dallas County. The information gathered prompted further exploration into the intersection between public transit and mental health. Transit became the focus of this work when it came up as simultaneously a barrier to care and mode of prevention in the majority of the interviews. Interestingly, Dallas County has public plans to address transit related disparities; however, their intervention pulls from strategies determined to be ineffectual among the poor and disenfranchised. In this work we explore community needs and the civic culture of Dallas with a specific focus on transportation.
Date: August 2020
Creator: Sanderson, Brittney
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Southwest Retort, Volume 72, Number 6, February 2020 (open access)

Southwest Retort, Volume 72, Number 6, February 2020

This publication of the Dallas-Fort Worth Section of the American Chemical Society includes information about research, prominent scientist, organizational business, and various other stories of interest to the community.
Date: February 2020
Creator: American Chemical Society. Dallas/Fort Worth Section.
Object Type: Journal/Magazine/Newsletter
System: The UNT Digital Library
Southwest Retort, Volume 72, Number 8, April 2020 (open access)

Southwest Retort, Volume 72, Number 8, April 2020

This publication of the Dallas-Fort Worth Section of the American Chemical Society includes information about research, prominent scientist, organizational business, and various other stories of interest to the community.
Date: April 2020
Creator: American Chemical Society. Dallas/Fort Worth Section.
Object Type: Journal/Magazine/Newsletter
System: The UNT Digital Library
Southwest Retort, Volume 73, Number 1, September 2020 (open access)

Southwest Retort, Volume 73, Number 1, September 2020

This publication of the Dallas-Fort Worth Section of the American Chemical Society includes information about research, prominent scientist, organizational business, and various other stories of interest to the community.
Date: September 2020
Creator: American Chemical Society. Dallas/Fort Worth Section.
Object Type: Journal/Magazine/Newsletter
System: The UNT Digital Library
Southwest Retort, Volume 73, Number 2, October 2020 (open access)

Southwest Retort, Volume 73, Number 2, October 2020

This publication of the Dallas-Fort Worth Section of the American Chemical Society includes information about research, prominent scientist, organizational business, and various other stories of interest to the community.
Date: October 2020
Creator: American Chemical Society. Dallas/Fort Worth Section.
Object Type: Journal/Magazine/Newsletter
System: The UNT Digital Library
Southwest Retort, Volume 73, Number 4, December 2020 (open access)

Southwest Retort, Volume 73, Number 4, December 2020

This publication of the Dallas-Fort Worth Section of the American Chemical Society includes information about research, prominent scientist, organizational business, and various other stories of interest to the community.
Date: December 2020
Creator: American Chemical Society. Dallas/Fort Worth Section.
Object Type: Journal/Magazine/Newsletter
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Role of Faith-Based Congregations during Disaster Response and Recovery: A Case Study of Katy, Texas (open access)

The Role of Faith-Based Congregations during Disaster Response and Recovery: A Case Study of Katy, Texas

When governments are unable or unwilling to provide necessary relief to communities, local faith-based congregations (FBCs) step in and fill the gap. Though shown to provide for so many needs following disaster, FBCs have largely been left out of the institutional emergency management cycle. The aim of this study was to explore the role of FBCs in the disaster response and recovery process and investigate how recovery impacts FBCs. The primary objective of this study is to gain a better understanding of FBCs and how to better integrate them into the formal emergency management process.The main questions were as follows: First, what is the role of FBCs during the disaster recovery process? Second, how do FBCs change (temporarily and permanently) during disaster recovery, and what factors may promote or inhibit change? To answer these questions, qualitative semistructured interviews were held to develop a case study of Katy, Texas and its recovery from Hurricane Harvey of 2017. The applied and conceptual implications resulting from this study, which apply to FBCs, researchers, emergency managers, and policy makers, highlight the opportunity to better incorporate FBCs formally into emergency management practices.
Date: December 2020
Creator: Elliott, Julie R
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Lynching of Women in Texas, 1885-1926 (open access)

The Lynching of Women in Texas, 1885-1926

This work examines the lynching of twelve female victims in Texas from 1885 to 1926.
Date: December 2020
Creator: Brown, Haley
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Perceptions of Restorative Practices by Male Students of Color in Middle School (open access)

Perceptions of Restorative Practices by Male Students of Color in Middle School

Zero-tolerance discipline policies have been in use in U.S. schools for almost 25 years. Since their enactment in the 1990s, researchers have found that zero tolerance disciplinary policies and practices can cause students to enter the school-to-prison pipeline. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand the perceptions of middle-school male students of color regarding the discipline process on a campus that supplemented zero-tolerance discipline with restorative practices (RPs). Additional intents of this study were to discover the challenges students encountered when they returned from a disciplinary alternative education program (DAEP) and determine whether RPs helped or hindered their transition to the home campus. Six middle-school male students of color who were placed at the district's DAEP and returned to their home campus participated in the study. The conceptual framework was based on Braithwaite's concept of stigmatized shame following an exclusion and Nathanson's human reactions to shame. The study yielded seven major themes: (a) student perceptions of exclusion, (b) behaviors related to exclusion from school, (c) human reactions to shame—attacking others, (d) human reactions to shame—avoidance, (e) the need for reintegration and acceptance, (f) traumatic events, and (g) dissonance in the discipline process.
Date: May 2020
Creator: Millican, Deborah
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library

The Administration of Unemployment Relief by the State of Texas during the Great Depression, 1929-1941

During the Great Depression, for the first time in its history, the federal government provided relief to the unemployed and destitute through myriad New Deal agencies. This dissertation examines how "general relief" (direct or "make-work") from federal programs—primarily the Emergency Relief and Construction Act (ERCA) and Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)—was acquired and administered by the government of Texas through state administrative agencies. These agencies included the Chambers of Commerce (1932-1933), Unofficial Texas Relief Commission (1933), Texas Rehabilitation and Relief Commission (1933), Official Texas Relief Commission (1933-1934), Texas Relief Commission Division of the State Board of Control (1934), and the Department of Public Welfare (1939). Overall, the effective administration of general relief in the Lone Star State was undermined by a political ideology that persisted from, and was embodied by, the "Redeemer" Constitution of 1876.
Date: May 2020
Creator: Park, David B.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library

Equitable Early Childhood Education for Young Bilingual Learners in North Texas: Examining Kindergarten Entry Assessments for Bilingual Children

A considerable amount of research has been done surrounding education in classrooms from kindergarten to Grade 12, but little research has been done surrounding early childhood education (ECE) beginning with birth to age 4. As a result, research is needed that examines interventions aimed to improve the quality of early childhood education for young bilingual learners at the earliest stages of schooling. The present study examines current efforts to serve the specific population of young bilingual children entering classrooms in an urban school district in North Texas. The focus of this study includes the access and examination of quality ECE programs (defined by the extent to which bilingual children have access to bilingual education programming). The present study also observes the visibility of young bilingual children who receive services that are responsive to their characteristics, experiences, and specific needs. Lastly, this study used a multiple regression analysis to examine the Kindergarten Early Assessment test that has been put in place to measure the school readiness performance of bilingual children in this urban district. Specifically, the analysis included program type, language of assessment, socio-economic status and gender variables.
Date: May 2020
Creator: McEntire, Celina Angelica
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Measuring College Readiness: Developing a System of On-Track and Off-Track Metrics for Texas High School Students (open access)

Measuring College Readiness: Developing a System of On-Track and Off-Track Metrics for Texas High School Students

The purpose of this study was to analyze and determine the predictive power of individual and a combination of different indicators that are used to determine college readiness. For this study a logistic regression analysis was conducted due to the dichotomous nature of the dependent variable. The dependent variable for the study was the earning of a post-secondary credential. The independent variables included high school diploma type, Advanced Placement course taken, Advanced Placement test performance, SAT performance, ACT performance, a multidimensional index made up of all the variables, and high school GPA. The study found that high school GPA had the strongest odds ratio, Exp(B), for the participants earning a post-secondary credential (Exp(B) = 6.597), followed by diploma type (Exp(B) = 6.316), taking an Advanced Placement course (Exp(B) = 4.368), earning at least one qualifying Advanced Placement test score (Exp(B) = 3.846), a multidimensional index (Exp(B) = 2.318), ACT score (Exp(B) = 1.161) and SAT score (Exp(B) = 1.003). Future analysis is needed by using live data of student's college performance, stratifying the data to account for differences in post-secondary performance by different racial and socio-economic groups, and studying the effects of the State of Texas' chosen college readiness variables.
Date: August 2020
Creator: Saenz, David Pael
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Evaluation of Long-Term Air Quality Trends in North Texas using Statistical and Machine Learning Techniques (open access)

An Evaluation of Long-Term Air Quality Trends in North Texas using Statistical and Machine Learning Techniques

While ozone design values have decreased since 2000, the values measured in Denton Airport South (DEN), an exurban region in the northwest tip of the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) metroplex, remains above those measured in Dallas Hinton (DAL) and Fort Worth Northwest (FWNW), two extremely urbanized regions; in addition, all three sites remained in nonattainment of National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) ozone despite reductions in measured NOx and CO concentrations. The region's inability to achieve ozone attainment is tied to its concentration of total non-methane organic compounds (TNMOC). The mean concentration of TNMOC measured at DAL, FWNW, and DEN between 2000 and 2018 were 67.4 ± 1.51 ppb-C, 89.31 ± 2.12 ppb-C, and 220.69 ± 10.36 ppb-C, respectively. Despite being the least urbanized site of the three, the TNMOC concentration measured at DEN was over twice as large as those measured at the other two sites. A factor-based source apportionment analysis using positive matrix factorization technique showed that natural gas was a major contributing source factor to the measured TNMOC concentrations at all three sites and the dominant source factor at DEN. Natural gas accounted for 32%, 40%, and 69% of the measured TNMOC concentration at DAL, FWNW, and DEN, …
Date: May 2020
Creator: Lim, Guo Quan
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
South Texas Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 55, No. 1, Ed. 1, January 2020 (open access)

South Texas Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 55, No. 1, Ed. 1, January 2020

Monthly newspaper from Corpus Christi, Texas published by the Diocese of Corpus Christi that includes news of interest to Diocese members along with advertising.
Date: January 2020
Creator: Cottingham, Mary
Object Type: Newspaper
System: The Portal to Texas History