Academic Achievement: Examining the Impact of Community Type at a Small Liberal Arts College in Texas (open access)

Academic Achievement: Examining the Impact of Community Type at a Small Liberal Arts College in Texas

Hierarchical regression was used to determine if high school community type is an effective predictor of academic success when controlling for demographics, prior academic achievement, socioeconomic status, and current commitment or work habits for students entering Austin College in 1992,1993, and 1994 . Findings revealed that there is a relationship between attending high school in community types of rural and independent town controlling for the effects of SAT scores, high school rank, sex, and late application deposit on first semester grade point average.
Date: August 1995
Creator: Rutherford, Janis Pruitt
System: The UNT Digital Library
Adolescent Pregnancy: Voices Heard in the Everyday Lives of Pregnant Teenagers (open access)

Adolescent Pregnancy: Voices Heard in the Everyday Lives of Pregnant Teenagers

The purpose of this study is to examine the problems that pregnant teenagers encounter at school and at home while they are trying to complete their high school education. Data were collected by in-depth interviews. Twenty pregnant adolescents, who were between the ages of 15 through 18, and were participants in a special teen pregnancy program were interviewed. The major findings in this study included the respondents': 1) unstable family life histories, 2) denial that they were pregnant, 3) need for self-identity as an adult, 4) conflict with parents and 5) motivation to complete their high school education. This study points to the need for more research on the problems that pregnant adolescents encounter in their everyday lives.
Date: December 1995
Creator: Oviedo, Sonia
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Algorithm for the PLA Equivalence Problem (open access)

An Algorithm for the PLA Equivalence Problem

The Programmable Logic Array (PLA) has been widely used in the design of VLSI circuits and systems because of its regularity, flexibility, and simplicity. The equivalence problem is typically to verify that the final description of a circuit is functionally equivalent to its initial description. Verifying the functional equivalence of two descriptions is equivalent to proving their logical equivalence. This problem of pure logic is essential to circuit design. The most widely used technique to solve the problem is based on Binary Decision Diagram or BDD, proposed by Bryant in 1986. Unfortunately, BDD requires too much time and space to represent moderately large circuits for equivalence testing. We design and implement a new algorithm called the Cover-Merge Algorithm for the equivalence problem based on a divide-and-conquer strategy using the concept of cover and a derivational method. We prove that the algorithm is sound and complete. Because of the NP-completeness of the problem, we emphasize simplifications to reduce the search space or to avoid redundant computations. Simplification techniques are incorporated into the algorithm as an essential part to speed up the the derivation process. Two different sets of heuristics are developed for two opposite goals: one for the proof of equivalence …
Date: December 1995
Creator: Moon, Gyo Sik
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Analysis of Factors That Influence the Involvement of Faculty in Learning Communities (open access)

An Analysis of Factors That Influence the Involvement of Faculty in Learning Communities

This research study attempts to analyze variables that influence the extent of faculty involvement in learning communities. A theoretical framework identifies three primary variable sets—faculty background, structural, and organizational/environmental.
Date: December 1995
Creator: Lapoint, Patricia A. (Patricia Ann)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Analysis of Memory Interference in Buffered Multi-processor Systems in Presence of Hot Spots and Favorite Memories (open access)

Analysis of Memory Interference in Buffered Multi-processor Systems in Presence of Hot Spots and Favorite Memories

In this thesis, a discrete Markov chain model for analyzing memory interference in multiprocessors, is presented.
Date: August 1995
Creator: Sen, Sanjoy Kumar
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Analysis of the Use of Gift Annuity Agreements at Selected United States Colleges and Universities for the Period 1988-93 (open access)

An Analysis of the Use of Gift Annuity Agreements at Selected United States Colleges and Universities for the Period 1988-93

The objective of this research was to describe the extent to which Gift Annuity Agreements were used by United States higher education institutions in raising private philanthropic support during the period 1988-93.
Date: August 1995
Creator: McIntosh, Clifford Joe
System: The UNT Digital Library
Anatomy of Loss (open access)

Anatomy of Loss

Anatomy of Loss contains a foreword, which discusses the place of autobiography in fiction, and five original short stories.
Date: August 1995
Creator: Behlen, Shawn Lee
System: The UNT Digital Library
Anxiety, Locus of Control and Stress in Adoptive and Biological Parents of Adolescents (open access)

Anxiety, Locus of Control and Stress in Adoptive and Biological Parents of Adolescents

The purpose of this study was to critically examine differences in levels of anxiety, locus of control and stress between adoptive and biological parents of adolescents.
Date: December 1995
Creator: Larussa, Thomas K. (Thomas Keith)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Applications of Reductive Analytical Techniques in the Phrygian Settings of the Orgelbüchlein by J.S. Bach (open access)

Applications of Reductive Analytical Techniques in the Phrygian Settings of the Orgelbüchlein by J.S. Bach

This study aims to two problematic aspects of the Phrygian mode: a. the development of a harmonic pattern at the cadence that differs from that of the other modes and of the major and minor modes as well; b. the observation that the Phrygian scale inverts all of the intervallic properties of the Major scale. The result of these two observations is that when the reductive techniques of Heinrich Schenker are applied in the Phrygian repertory, melodic and harmonic properties are brought into conflict with each other. However, application of alternative models of the Ursatz developed by Lori Burns has certain benefits for demonstrating musical properties in the Phrygian repertory.
Date: May 1995
Creator: Leite, Zilei de Oliveira
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Approach Towards the Total Synthesis of Clonostachydiol (open access)

An Approach Towards the Total Synthesis of Clonostachydiol

The syntheses of the unsymmetrical 14-membered bismacrolides have been reviewed. A total synthesis of clonostachydiol, the latest to join this family, has been attempted using trimethylsilyl acetylene as the builiding block and palladium catalyzed reactions for the formation of key bonds. The alkyne groups were introduced by Stille coupling of trimethylstannylethynyltrimethylsilane with an acid chloride for one fragment and by addition of lithiotrimethylsilyl acetylene to an aldehyde for the other. Lactic acid derivatives were chosen as starting materials for both fragments, thus introducing two of the chiral centers. The remaining stereocenters were introduced using stereoselective reductions of ketones.
Date: August 1995
Creator: Maiti, Tushar B. (Tushar Baran)
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Argument for the Reassessment of Stravinsky's Early Serial Compositions (open access)

An Argument for the Reassessment of Stravinsky's Early Serial Compositions

Between 1952 and 1957, Igor Stravinsky surprised the world of music by gradually incorporating serialism into his style of composition. Although Stravinsky still used the neo-classical trait of making strong references to the music of earlier periods, musical analyses of this transitional period have focused on serial aspects to the exclusion of anachronistic elements. Evidence of Stravinsky's possible use of musical structures adapted from earlier times is found in his consistent use of musical figures that are closely related to the cadences of the late Medieval and Renaissance eras. By fully addressing these neo-classical traits in future analyses, music theorists will gain an additional perspective, which is helpful in understanding the music of Stravinsky's transitional period.
Date: December 1995
Creator: Hughes, Timothy Stephen
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Arrangement of Ezra Pound's Personae (1926) : An Interpretive Application of Editorial and Critical Theory (open access)

The Arrangement of Ezra Pound's Personae (1926) : An Interpretive Application of Editorial and Critical Theory

Pound foregrounded the importance of "shaping" poetic books through particular arrangements of individual poems by using his ideogrammic method as the crucial organizational principle for constructing Personae (1926). Critics have long understood Pound's use of the ideogrammic method in individual poems, but have so far ignored his application of it to the structuring of poetic books and sequences. Lea Baechler and A. Walton Litz, the editors of a 1990 edition of Personae (1926), however, have moved a crucial section of poems, and their rearrangement of the original text both disregards evidence of authorial intention and obscures Pound's innovative principles for arranging his shorter poems into meaningful sequences.
Date: December 1995
Creator: Salchak, Stephen P. (Stephen Patrick)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Artists' Books: An Investigation Into Another Genre of Artistic Expression (open access)

Artists' Books: An Investigation Into Another Genre of Artistic Expression

For centuries, books have been a traditional way to display prints. Contemporary artists' books have become more than simply a method of displaying prints and have, in fact, become a relevant medium for artistic expression. It has been important to my work that each of my artist's books have functioned as a unified whole, all parts of complementing each other and strengthening the overall concept.
Date: August 1995
Creator: Zipfel, Karen K.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Assessing Regional Gully Erosion Risk: A Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems Approach (open access)

Assessing Regional Gully Erosion Risk: A Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems Approach

Gully erosion has been established as a major source of sediment pollution in the upper Trinity River watershed in north-central Texas. This fact, along with a lack of models appropriate for a large-area gully erosion analysis established a need for a gully erosion study in the upper Trinity basin. This thesis project attempted to address this need by deriving an index indicative of gully erosion risk using remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) methodology. In context of previous field studies, the coarse spatial resolution of the input GIS data layers presented a challenge to prediction of gully prone areas. However, the remote sensing/GIS approach was found to provide useful reconnaissance information on gully risk over large areas.
Date: August 1995
Creator: Sill, Paul E. (Paul Eric)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Assessing the Effects of a Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluent on Zooplankton, Phytoplankton and Corbicula Flumina in a Constructed Wetland (open access)

Assessing the Effects of a Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluent on Zooplankton, Phytoplankton and Corbicula Flumina in a Constructed Wetland

Wetland wastewater treatment offers low-cost, energy efficient alternatives to conventional wastewater technologies. In this study, an artificial wetland was constructed at the City of Denton, Texas Pecan Creek Water Reclamation Plant to facilitate diazinon removal from treated effluent.
Date: May 1995
Creator: Hymel, Stephanie Ramick
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Assessment of Cognitive Functioning of Persons with Schizophrenia: Identification of Neuropsychological Markers (open access)

The Assessment of Cognitive Functioning of Persons with Schizophrenia: Identification of Neuropsychological Markers

The present study was conducted to clarify and expand knowledge of cognitive functioning in chronic schizophrenia patients (N=21) as compared to a bipolar group (N=20) and a normal group (N=20).
Date: December 1995
Creator: Hall, Janice Anne Crawford
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Assessment of Learning Outcomes of Students Taught a Competency-Based Computer Course in an Electronically-Expanded Classroom (open access)

An Assessment of Learning Outcomes of Students Taught a Competency-Based Computer Course in an Electronically-Expanded Classroom

This study sought to determine whether there was a difference in subject matter knowledge as measured by a pretest and posttest, a difference in final course grade as a numeric score, and a difference in attitudes toward computers between students in a competency-based ("hands-on") computer applications course taught in an electronically-expanded classroom compared to students taught in a traditional classroom setting. In addition, students taught in the electronically-expanded classroom completed a questionnaire assessing attitudes toward the presentation method. Another purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of applying distance education techniques to teach what was, in essence, an on-campus course. The vehicle for this investigation was an electronically-expanded classroom. The electronically-expanded classroom utilized distance education technology (video, audio, and computer networking) to connect two classrooms in the one building. Students in these two classrooms were the treatment group. Students taking the course in a traditional setting functioned as the comparison group. A total of 109 participants completed the study. Results of the study revealed no significant difference in scores on the subject matter posttest, the final course grade as a numeric score, and attitudes towards computers posttest between students taught the course in an electronically-expanded classroom and students …
Date: December 1995
Creator: Mortensen, Mark H.
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Assessment of Storm Water Toxicity from the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and Denton, Texas (open access)

An Assessment of Storm Water Toxicity from the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and Denton, Texas

With the advent of national storm water regulations, municipalities with populations greater than 100,000 are required to obtain National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permits (NPDES) for storm water discharges. In addition to the sampling required for the permit process, the City of Fort Worth contracted with the University of North Texas' Institute of Applied Sciences to conduct acute toxicity testing using Pimephales prcmelas and Ceriodaphnia dubia on storm water samples received from the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. A Toxicity Identification Evaluation (TIE) was performed on four samples that exhibited acute toxicity to C. dubia. High levels of metals as well as diazinon were some of the probable toxicants found.
Date: August 1995
Creator: Keating, Paul Redmond
System: The UNT Digital Library
Attention and Information Processing Variables in Hypothetically Psychosis-Prone College Students (open access)

Attention and Information Processing Variables in Hypothetically Psychosis-Prone College Students

Considering the explanations of schizophrenia that presume schizophrenia spectrum disorders (e.g., schizotypal personality disorder, schizoaffective disorder, etc.) to be genetically related to schizophrenia, the purpose of this study was to investigate the attention and information processing abilities of individuals who have been identified as schizotypal or psychosis-prone (i.e., schizophrenia spectrum functioning in individuals who do not have schizophrenia). Research indicates that persons identified as psychosis-prone may show attention and information processing deficits similar to individuals with schizophrenia. The identification and description of individuals who later decompensate into schizophrenia would advance the understanding of schizophrenia and its causes. The Chapman's PER-MAG scale (Perceptual Aberration-Magical Ideation) was used to identify 35 hypothetically psychosis-prone college students (schizotypy group) and 42 normal college students (nonschizotypy group) out of the 806 volunteer subjects. Their attention and information processing abilities were measured by COGLAB (a multiparadigmatic cognitive test battery that represents a continuum of cognitive functions, from preattentional to attentional, to conceptual). Their social adjustment was measured by the Premorbid Adjustment Scale (PAS). The hypotheses of the study were that the hypothetically psychosis-prone subjects would perform poorer than controls on COGLAB measures and that COGLAB measures of a more molar nature would better predict social adjustment …
Date: December 1995
Creator: Ottesen, James McBride
System: The UNT Digital Library
Attributional Style as a Predictor of Academic Success for Students with Learning Disabilities and Attention Deficit Disorder in Postsecondary Education (open access)

Attributional Style as a Predictor of Academic Success for Students with Learning Disabilities and Attention Deficit Disorder in Postsecondary Education

Thirty one students with learning disabilities (LD) and/or with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) completed a combined Academic Attributional Style and Coping with Academic Failures Questionnaire. The reformulated learned helplessness model (Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978) predicted that students with negative attributional styles (i.e., internal-stable-global attributions) experienced motivational, cognitive, and emotional deficits. The present study examined college achievement (grade point average) of students with LD and/or ADHD. The Prediction that students with LD and/or ADHD with negative attributional styles would achieve less academic success than comparable students with positive attributional styles (i.e., extenal-unstable-specific attributions) was supported by the research results.
Date: December 1995
Creator: Tominey, Matthew F.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Autographs 1928 : Four Songs for Soprano and Chamber Ensemble (open access)

Autographs 1928 : Four Songs for Soprano and Chamber Ensemble

Autographs 1928: Four Songs for Soprano and Chamber Ensemble is a composition of approximately 16 minutes' duration and is scored for mezzo-soprano, flute, oboe, clarinet, horn in F, viola, violoncello, one keyboardist (piano and celesta), and two percussionists (marimba, xylophone, chimes, timpani, bass drum, temple blocks, triangle, and slapstick). The work consists of four songs and four readings with texts from Walls's maternal grandmother's autograph book. The composition opens with a reading and alternates between readings and songs. The music is intended to reflect the playful, tender and humorous nature of the lyrics.
Date: August 1995
Creator: Walls, Jay Alan
System: The UNT Digital Library
Benjamin West's St. Paul Shaking the Viper from his Hand After the Shipwreck: Altarpiece of 1789 and Designs for Other Decorative Works in the Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul, The Royal Naval College, London (open access)

Benjamin West's St. Paul Shaking the Viper from his Hand After the Shipwreck: Altarpiece of 1789 and Designs for Other Decorative Works in the Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul, The Royal Naval College, London

This thesis analyzes Benjamin West's altarpiece St. Paul Shaking the Viper from His Hand After the Shipwreck and his designs for thirty-three related artworks in the Royal Naval College Chapel, Greenwich, England, as a synthesis of the major influences in his life and as an example of both traditional and innovative themes in his artistic style of the late eighteenth century. This study examines West's life, the Greenwich Chapel history, altarpiece and decorative scheme, and concludes that the designs are an example of West's stylistic flexibility and are related thematically to his Windsor Royal Chapel commission.
Date: December 1995
Creator: Hanna, Margaret A. (Margaret Ann)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Biodegradation of Certain Petroleum Product Contaminants in Soil and Water By Selected Bacteria (open access)

Biodegradation of Certain Petroleum Product Contaminants in Soil and Water By Selected Bacteria

Soil contamination by gasoline underground storage tanks is a critical environmental problem. The results herein show that in situ bioremediation using indigenous soil microorganisms is the method of choice. Five sites were selected for bioremediation based on the levels of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene and the amount of total petroleum hydrocarbons in the soil. Bacteria capable of degrading these contaminants were selected from the contaminated sites and grown in 1,200 I mass cultures. These were added to the soil together with nutrients, water and air via PVC pipes.
Date: December 1995
Creator: Nevárez-Moorillón, Guadalupe Virginia
System: The UNT Digital Library
Biological and Toxicological Responses Resulting from Dechlorination of a Major Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant Discharge to the Trinity River (open access)

Biological and Toxicological Responses Resulting from Dechlorination of a Major Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant Discharge to the Trinity River

Federal regulations such as the Clean Water Act (P.L. 92-500), and its amendments, direct the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) to implement programs to control the releases of conventional pollutants and toxics into the waterways of the United States. The EPA began requiring treatment plants to conduct toxicity tests (biomonitoring) of their effluent discharges. To control toxicity caused by chlorination of wastewater discharges, the EPA also began requiring some treatment facilities to dechlorinate their wastewater before discharging. This research was funded by the EPA to document the changes that occurred in the Trinity River from the dechlorination of the effluent from Ft. Worth's Village Creek municipal wastewater treatment plant. The study occurred over a two year period beginning in August 1990. A wide variety of biological field assessments and toxicological assays were used to measure various responses. Seven river stations, covering approximately twenty river miles, and the treatment plant effluent were assessed. Two of the river stations were upstream from the treatment plant and used as reference sites. The remaining five river stations were downstream from the treatment plant, spread out over seventeen river miles. The study evaluated the impact of chlorination prior to dechlorination, which served as a baseline. Responses …
Date: August 1995
Creator: Guinn, Richard J. (Richard Joe)
System: The UNT Digital Library