Meta-Analysis of the Impact of After-School Programs on Students Reading and Mathematics Performance (open access)

Meta-Analysis of the Impact of After-School Programs on Students Reading and Mathematics Performance

The purpose of this study employing meta-analysis was to assess the impact that after-school programs have on reading and mathematics outcomes. The participants in the primary studies were students in Grades K through 8; years 200 through 2009. The study utilized the theory of change as its theoretical basis. This meta-analysis used the effect size as the standard measure. It began with an overall Cohen's d of .40 for the impact that after-school programs have on reading and mathematics outcomes, and then proceeded to analyze three moderator variables: subject, time periods, and grade level.The findings of the meta-analysis, both overall and sub analyses, show that the independent variable, after-school programs, has an impact on the dependent variable, reading and mathematics. The overall results indicated that after-school programs are educationally significant in the areas of reading and mathematics combined. As for the moderator variable, the results for the areas of (a) subject (reading and mathematics), (b) time period (2000-2002, 2003-2005 and 2006-2009), and (c) grade (middle, and middle plus elementary combined), all indicated educationally significant results. The notable exception was the grade moderator, elementary.This study provides more information for researchers, practitioners and policy makers upon which to make practical research based …
Date: May 2011
Creator: Crawford, Stanley T.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Functions of Quotations in Steven Stucky's Oratorio August 4, 1964 and Their Placements within the Context of a Quotation Continuum:  Cultural, Commentary, Remembrance, and Unity (open access)

Functions of Quotations in Steven Stucky's Oratorio August 4, 1964 and Their Placements within the Context of a Quotation Continuum: Cultural, Commentary, Remembrance, and Unity

The oratorio August 4, 1964 is a twelve-movement work for orchestra, chorus, and four soloists written by Steven Stucky. The premise for the libretto, adapted by Gene Scheer, is the confluence of two events during one day (August 4, 1964) in the life of Lyndon B. Johnson. Although the main idea of the libretto focuses on these two events of this one day, many cultural references of the 1960's in general can be found as well, such as quotations from the well-known song "We Shall Overcome." Stucky borrows from a motet he wrote in 2005 for another quotation source utilized in this oratorio, "O Vos Omnes." My goal in this thesis is to reveal and analyze the many different levels of quotations that exist within August 4, 1964, to explore each quotation's individual function within the oratorio (as a cultural gesture, commentary or remembrance), and to examine the structural coherence that emerges as a result of their use within the oratorio.
Date: May 2011
Creator: Davenport, Jennifer Tish
System: The UNT Digital Library
Integrating Online Discussion Forums into the Foreign Language Curriculum: A Case Study of Advanced Learners of French (open access)

Integrating Online Discussion Forums into the Foreign Language Curriculum: A Case Study of Advanced Learners of French

This exploratory case study aims to develop a set of best practices for integrating online discussion forums into the foreign language curriculum, focusing specifically on a group of learners in an advanced French grammar course at a large, public U.S. university. During a period of two months, 26 participants completed a series of tasks designed to provide three different types of data: 1) exploration and analysis of interactional, linguistic, and social features of Web forum discourse; 2) participation in Web forums; and 3) feedback from students. Since the feedback received from two questionnaires was ultimately the most consistent and reliable type of data collected, this study focuses on students' participation patterns and their perceptions of Web forums as a communication space having the potential to provide opportunities for learning French. Although some students indicated that they would neither consider visiting a French-language Web forum nor actually visit one, in both cases, more than half of the participants who completed these questionnaires indicated that they would both consider visiting a French-language Web forum and might actually visit one. Since encouraging students to use French beyond the classroom and to engage in the lifelong use of French for personal enrichment (following the …
Date: May 2011
Creator: Mbuye, Kanku Lisette
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Biopsychosocial Approach to Understanding, Subtyping, and Treating Depression: Results from the National Comorbidity Survey - Replication. (open access)

The Biopsychosocial Approach to Understanding, Subtyping, and Treating Depression: Results from the National Comorbidity Survey - Replication.

The most effective and useful way to diagnose and subtype depression has been a long debated topic which even now does not have a definite answer. The biopsychosocial approach to diagnosis may be a solution to this problem by linking various etiologies to symptom presentation. The biopsychosocial model, in regard to depression, takes into account biological risk factors/contributors, psychological or cognitive risk factors/contributors, and social risk factors/contributors to depression when making diagnosis and subtyping determinations. However, the most effective way to use this model in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of depression is not yet clear. In this study, the utility of the biopsychosocial model as an effective approach to conceptualizing and treating depression was assessed by testing hypotheses that showed that etiological contributors are related to the presence and differential presentation of depression, and that these etiologically-based subtypes of depression respond differently to different forms of treatment. These hypotheses were tested using data from the National Comorbidity Survey - Replication (NCS-R). Results showed that the biopsychosocial model can effectively predict the presence, severity and chronicity of depression, and may inform specific biopsychosocially-based subtypes. No conclusions could be drawn regarding success in treatment based on the biopsychosocial model. Future directions …
Date: May 2011
Creator: McGill, Brittney C.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Structural Validity and Item Functioning of the LoTi Digital-Age Survey. (open access)

Structural Validity and Item Functioning of the LoTi Digital-Age Survey.

The present study examined the structural construct validity of the LoTi Digital-Age Survey, a measure of teacher instructional practices with technology in the classroom. Teacher responses (N = 2840) from across the United States were used to assess factor structure of the instrument using both exploratory and confirmatory analyses. Parallel analysis suggests retaining a five-factor solution compared to the MAP test that suggests retaining a three-factor solution. Both analyses (EFA and CFA) indicate that changes need to be made to the current factor structure of the survey. The last two factors were composed of items that did not cover or accurately measure the content of the latent trait. Problematic items, such as items with crossloadings, were discussed. Suggestions were provided to improve the factor structure, items, and scale of the survey.
Date: May 2011
Creator: Mehta, Vandhana
System: The UNT Digital Library
Perceptions of Control and Social Support: Correlates of HIV-Related Self-Efficacy (open access)

Perceptions of Control and Social Support: Correlates of HIV-Related Self-Efficacy

This study examines the extent to which locus of control and social support are linked to self-efficacy with regard to disease management in HIV-positive adults. Perceived ability to effectively manage illness was measured with the Self-Efficacy for Managing Chronic Disease Scale. Scores from the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support and the Multidimensional Locus of Control Scale were used as predictors. The gender-balanced sample (N = 69) of HIV+ adults was primarily African-American (65.3%) and European American (30.5%), with a mean age of 47 years (SD = 8.37). Correlational analyses suggested significant positive relationships between self-efficacy, social support, and locus of control due to powerful others. A regression analysis found that the model accounted for 23% of the variance in self-efficacy (adj. R-squared =.23, F (5, 63) = 4.81, p < .01), with social support (&#946; = .37, t = 3.28, p < .01) and locus of control (&#946; = .25, t = 2.26, p < .05) both significant predictors. Results suggest that social support and locus of control contribute to the belief that HIV can be managed. Interestingly, an external locus of control contributed to this belief, perhaps due to the perception of a physician, religious icon, or partner …
Date: May 2011
Creator: Lopez, Eliot Jay
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Lexicographer's Daughter: A Memoir (open access)

The Lexicographer's Daughter: A Memoir

This creative nonfiction dissertation is a memoir of the author's search for the somewhat mysterious hidden past of her father, the lexicographer Charles J. Lovell, who died in 1960, when the author was nine. Her father's early death left the author with many unanswered questions about his past and his family and so she undertakes a search to answer, if possible, some of those questions. Her search takes her to Portland, Maine; New Bedford, Massachusetts; and Pasadena, California, where she tries to discover the facts and uncover the forces that shaped her father's life. Along the way, she realizes how profoundly his death affected and shaped her own life, contributing to the theme of loss that pervades the memoir. In addition, she begins to realize how much her mother, Dixie Hefley Lovell, whose significance she previously overlooked, shaped her life. Ultimately, she comes to understand and accept that some of her questions are unanswerable.
Date: May 2011
Creator: Lovell, Bonnie Alice
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Wireless Traffic Surveillance System Using Video Analytics (open access)

A Wireless Traffic Surveillance System Using Video Analytics

Video surveillance systems have been commonly used in transportation systems to support traffic monitoring, speed estimation, and incident detection. However, there are several challenges in developing and deploying such systems, including high development and maintenance costs, bandwidth bottleneck for long range link, and lack of advanced analytics. In this thesis, I leverage current wireless, video camera, and analytics technologies, and present a wireless traffic monitoring system. I first present an overview of the system. Then I describe the site investigation and several test links with different hardware/software configurations to demonstrate the effectiveness of the system. The system development process was documented to provide guidelines for future development. Furthermore, I propose a novel speed-estimation analytics algorithm that takes into consideration roads with slope angles. I prove the correctness of the algorithm theoretically, and validate the effectiveness of the algorithm experimentally. The experimental results on both synthetic and real dataset show that the algorithm is more accurate than the baseline algorithm 80% of the time. On average the accuracy improvement of speed estimation is over 3.7% even for very small slope angles.
Date: May 2011
Creator: Luo, Ning
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Comparative Study of Two Single-Subject Keyboard Ricercare by Johann Jacob Froberger: Projections of Sixteenth-Century Practice Combined with Features that Forecast Baroque Practice (open access)

A Comparative Study of Two Single-Subject Keyboard Ricercare by Johann Jacob Froberger: Projections of Sixteenth-Century Practice Combined with Features that Forecast Baroque Practice

This study is focused on an analysis of two single-subject ricercare in the keyboard music of Johann Jacob Froberger and examines possible pathways to the development of the Baroque fugue. This dissertation is divided into three parts. Chapter I contains the purpose, significance of this study and composer, as well as characteristics of the seventeenth-century single-subject ricercar. Chapter II details and examines Froberger's two ricercare. Finally, a conclusion of this study is presented in Chapter III. Two appendixes are included in this dissertation: a list of the single-subject ricercare of Andrea Gabrieli, Giovanni Gabrieli, and Johann Jacob Froberger; and an analysis of the two single-subject ricercare, FbWV 407 and FbWV 409, by Johann Jacob Froberger.
Date: May 2011
Creator: Lee, WoongHee
System: The UNT Digital Library
Contemporary Research on Child-Centered Play Therapy (CCPT) Modalities: A Meta-Analytic Review of Controlled Outcome Studies (open access)

Contemporary Research on Child-Centered Play Therapy (CCPT) Modalities: A Meta-Analytic Review of Controlled Outcome Studies

The present meta-analytic study estimated the overall effectiveness of child therapy interventions using CCPT methodology and explored the relationships between study characteristics and treatment effects. Fifty-two studies between 1995 and the present were included based on the following criteria: (a) the use of CCPT methodology, (b) the use of control or comparison repeated measure design, (c) the use of standardized psychometric assessment, and (d) clear reports of effect sizes or sufficient information for effect size calculation. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) techniques were utilized to estimate the overall effect size for the collected studies and explore relationships between effect sizes and study characteristics. Dependent variable included 239 effect sizes, and independent variables included 22 study characteristics. The mean age of all child participants in the collected studies was 6.7. In 15 studies, the majority of participants were Caucasian. An equal number of studies were made up of non-Caucasian participants, including 3 with majority African American, 4 with majority Hispanic/Latino participants, 5 with majority Asian/Asian American participants, and 3 with other ethnic populations. Study collection included 33 studies with majority of boys and 11 studies with majority of girls. HLM analysis estimated a statistically significant overall effect size of 0.47 for the …
Date: May 2011
Creator: Lin, Yung-Wei (Dennis)
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Pattern Oriented Data Structure for Interactive Computer Music (open access)

A Pattern Oriented Data Structure for Interactive Computer Music

This essay describes a pattern oriented data structure, or PODS, as a system for storing computer music data. It organizes input by sequences or patterns that recur, while extensively interlinking the data. The interlinking process emulates cognitive models, while the pattern processing draws specifically from music cognition. The project aims at creating open source external objects for the Max/MSP software environment. The computer code for this project is in the C and Objective-C computer programming languages.
Date: May 2011
Creator: Lockhart, Adam
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Ecological Understanding of Teacher Quality in Early Childhood Programs: Implications and Recommendations (open access)

An Ecological Understanding of Teacher Quality in Early Childhood Programs: Implications and Recommendations

This research examined whether or not relationships exist between preschool teacher quality and parent involvement as indicated by the Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler Model of Parent Involvement Survey. Additionally, the study also considered family income and child membership in special education as predictors of parent involvement. The survey instruments included the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale, Revised (ECERS-R) and the Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler Parent Involvement Survey. A total of 306 parents across 35 preschool classrooms participated in the study. Effect sizes, beta weights and structure coefficients from a series of multiple regression analyses measured the relationship between variables. A regression equation comprised of teacher quality, family income and child membership in special education was statistically significant in predicting parent school-based involvement. In the school-based involvement model the predictors teacher quality and child membership in special education accounted for a greater percentage of variance than did family income. Teacher quality demonstrated a small, negative beta weight but accounted for the greatest amount of variance among the three predictors within the school-based parent involvement model. A negative relationship between teacher quality and school-based parent involvement suggested that as teacher quality improved, parents reported less involvement in school-based activities and events. Findings for special …
Date: May 2011
Creator: Macias-Brown, Armandina A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Exploring Critical Factors in Predicting Post-Adoptive Use of Facebook (open access)

Exploring Critical Factors in Predicting Post-Adoptive Use of Facebook

Social networking applications (SNAs) have experienced a boom in popularity in recent years. Sites like Facebook and MySpace continuously draw new users, and are successful in organizing groups of users around topics of common interest. Among SNAs, Facebook has demonstrably outgrown its rivals growing an estimated 157 percent from 2008 to 2009. Facebook is now estimated to be the fourth largest Internet site in the world, trailing only Google, Microsoft and Yahoo (Schonfeld 2009). This dissertation posits and tests a theoretical model composed of key factors that contribute to post-adoptive use of social networking applications and the relationship of those factors to one another. This study also identifies and clarifies new constructs that were not previously used to measure usage, and further refines the constructs that were previously used so that they better fit social networking applications. The results of this dissertation show that the critical factors of social capital, hedonic enjoyment, perceived usefulness, social influence, satisfaction and attitude have a positive influence on a post-adoptive user's intention to continue using Facebook. The results of this study yielded a structural model for predicting the post-adoptive use of Facebook. This work also developed an instrument for measuring constructs relevant to social …
Date: May 2011
Creator: Magro, Michael J.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Bioresorbable Polymer Blend Scaffold for Tissue Engineering (open access)

Bioresorbable Polymer Blend Scaffold for Tissue Engineering

Tissue engineering merges the disciplines of study like cell biology, materials science, engineering and surgery to enable growth of new living tissues on scaffolding constructed from implanted polymeric materials. One of the most important aspects of tissue engineering related to material science is design of the polymer scaffolds. The polymer scaffolds needs to have some specific mechanical strength over certain period of time. In this work bioresorbable aliphatic polymers (PCL and PLLA) were blended using extrusion and solution methods. These blends were then extruded and electrospun into fibers. The fibers were then subjected to FDA standard in vitro immersion degradation tests where its mechanical strength, water absorption, weight loss were observed during the eight weeks. The results indicate that the mechanical strength and rate of degradation can be tailored by changing the ratio of PCL and PLLA in the blend. Processing influences these parameters, with the loss of mechanical strength and rate of degradation being higher in electrospun fibers compared to those extruded. A second effort in this thesis addressed the potential separation of the scaffold from the tissue (loss of apposition) due to the differences in their low strain responses. This hypothesis that using knit with low tension will …
Date: May 2011
Creator: Manandhar, Sandeep
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Influence of Ohmic Metals and Oxide Deposition on the Structure and Electrical Properties of Multilayer Epitaxial Graphene on Silicon Carbide Substrates (open access)

The Influence of Ohmic Metals and Oxide Deposition on the Structure and Electrical Properties of Multilayer Epitaxial Graphene on Silicon Carbide Substrates

Graphene has attracted significant research attention for next generation of semiconductor devices due to its high electron mobility and compatibility with planar semiconductor processing. In this dissertation, the influences of Ohmic metals and high dielectric (high-k) constant aluminum oxide (Al2O3) deposition on the structural and electrical properties of multi-layer epitaxial graphene (MLG) grown by graphitization of silicon carbide (SiC) substrates have been investigated. Uniform MLG was successfully grown by sublimation of silicon from epitaxy-ready, Si and C terminated, 6H-SiC wafers in high-vacuum and argon atmosphere. The graphene formation was accompanied by a significant enhancement of Ohmic behavior, and, was found to be sensitive to the temperature ramp-up rate and annealing time. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) showed that the interface between the metal and SiC remained sharp and free of macroscopic defects even after 30 min, 1430 °C anneals. The impact of high dielectric constant Al2O3 and its deposition by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering on the structural and electrical properties of MLG is discussed. HRTEM analysis confirms that the Al2O3/MLG interface is relatively sharp and that thickness approximation of the MLG using angle resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (ARXPS) as well as variable-angle spectroscopic ellipsometry (VASE) is accurate. The totality …
Date: May 2011
Creator: Maneshian, Mohammad Hassan
System: The UNT Digital Library
School Governance and Student Achievement: Revealing Factors Beyond the McCarty-Ramsey Model (open access)

School Governance and Student Achievement: Revealing Factors Beyond the McCarty-Ramsey Model

The purpose of this study was to identify and investigate the specific superintendent leadership type and underlying factors that support significant student achievement gains in communities where misalignment with the McCarty-Ramsey model exists. Utilizing a mixedmethod research strategy, contributing school districts were identified through a survey developed by McCarty and Ramsey. This survey indicated that districts could show positive student achievement gains while exhibiting misalignment among these factors. While all four types of superintendent leadership style were revealed in the survey, a prevalent superintendent leadership types was associated with the misaligned districts showing significant academic growth. This study indicated the professional advisor or the professional advisor/decision maker superintendent had the greatest achievement results in misaligned districts. The second investigation phase involved school districts that met two criteria: misalignment with the McCarty-Ramsey model, and three years of significant student achievement gains, as measured by the California Academic Performance Indicator. Interviews were conducted with identified school board presidents and superintendents to reveal practices or initiatives promoting these results. The interview protocol consisted of a series of open-ended questions regarding effective leadership and programs. The second finding revealed the effective superintendent focuses efforts on five specific district leadership actions identified by researchers such …
Date: May 2011
Creator: Kemp, Stella Maria
System: The UNT Digital Library
Style and Satisfaction: An Examination of the Relationship Between Instructor Communicator Style and Instructor Job Satisfaction (open access)

Style and Satisfaction: An Examination of the Relationship Between Instructor Communicator Style and Instructor Job Satisfaction

The study sample was composed of 110 teaching faculty at Vernon College, a multi-campus northwest Texas community college in Wichita Falls, TX. Participants completed two surveys: the Socio-communicative Orientation Scale (SCO) and the Teacher Satisfaction Scale (SAT). Demographic information was collected as well for generalizability purposes. As measured by the SCO, communicator style is a multi-dimensional concept including aspects of assertiveness and responsiveness communication behaviors; the assertiveness and responsiveness dimensions acted as independent variables. Instructor job satisfaction acted as the independent variable. The strength of the independent variables was measured separately in ratio to job satisfaction. Regression analysis results demonstrated that the assertiveness dimension of instructor communicator style is not a statistically significant contributor to instructor satisfaction. However, the responsiveness dimension can explain 12% of the variance in instructor job satisfaction. Beta weight and structure coefficient analysis confirmed the initial regression results for both independent variables. Further, commonality analysis clarified that the two independent variables within the study are in fact orthogonal in nature, meaning that they do not overlap and are not correlated. Hence, the responsiveness dimension of instructor communicator style is directly related to relationship building in an educational context and may be considered in professional development activities. …
Date: May 2011
Creator: Kirk, Don DeWayne
System: The UNT Digital Library
Evocations from Childhood: Stylistic Influences and Musical Quotations in Claude Debussy's Children's Corner and La Boîte À Joujoux (open access)

Evocations from Childhood: Stylistic Influences and Musical Quotations in Claude Debussy's Children's Corner and La Boîte À Joujoux

Claude Debussy is considered one of the most influential figures of the late 19th century and early 20th centuries. Among the various works that he wrote for the piano, Children's Corner and La Boîte a&#768; joujoux distinguish themselves as being evocative of childhood. However, compared to more substantial works like Pelléas et Mélisande or La Mer, his children's piano music has been underrated and seldom performed. Children's Corner and La Boîte a&#768; joujoux were influenced by a series of eclectic sources, including jazz, novel "views" from Russian composers, and traditional musical elements such as folk songs and Eastern music. The study examines several stylistic parallels found in these two pieces and is followed by a discussion of Debussy's use of musical quotations and allusions, important elements used by the composer to achieve what could be dubbed as a unique "children's wonderland."
Date: May 2011
Creator: Ko, Hsing-Yin
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Mind's Eye and Other Stories (open access)

The Mind's Eye and Other Stories

This collection contains a preface entitled "Of Other Worlds" and the following short stories: "The Mind's Eye," "Waking," "The Conquest of the World," "Persephone," and "Extradition." This creative thesis includes a blend of science fiction and literary realism short stories, which are collectively concerned with questions of time, narration, and the use of language. As well, the preface discusses science fiction theory, narrative strategies such as the use of the first person perspective, and the author's theory of composition.
Date: May 2011
Creator: Ledbetter, Kelly
System: The UNT Digital Library
Effects of Using Logic and Spatial Cybergames to Improve Student Success Rates in Lower-Division Chemistry Courses (open access)

Effects of Using Logic and Spatial Cybergames to Improve Student Success Rates in Lower-Division Chemistry Courses

A study was conducted to investigate the relationships between cybergaming treatment groups and the control group (N = 99: ncontrol = 8; nlogic = 29; nspatial = 30; ncombination = 32) with success in the organic chemistry I course as measured by achievement over a 10-week period. The treatment groups included logic training, spatial training, and combination logic-spatial training. Students' ability was measured by pre/post exams using the Group Assessment of Logical Thinking (GALT) to measure logic ability, Purdue Visualizations of Rotations (ROT) test to measure spatial skills, and the General-Organic-Biochemistry (GOB) Exam to measure content attainment. Finally, students' responses about participation in this experience were evaluated using open- and closed-ended questions on a self-developed survey. A second study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between the cybergaming treatment and control groups (N = 88: nexperimental = 27; ncontrol = 61) with success in the general chemistry I course as measured by achievement and final course averages and grades. The cybergaming treatment group underwent intensive combination logic-spatial training for 10 weeks. Students' progress was measured using three pre/post instruments: Group Assessment of Logical Thinking (GALT) measured logic ability, Purdue Visualizations of Rotations (ROT) Test measured spatial skills, and the California …
Date: May 2011
Creator: Manrique, Carissa Janice
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Corpus-Based Approach to Gerundial and Infinitival Complementation in Spanish ESL Writing (open access)

A Corpus-Based Approach to Gerundial and Infinitival Complementation in Spanish ESL Writing

This paper examines the use of infinitival and gerundial constructions by intermediate Spanish learners. The use of those two patterns creates problems for second language learners at intermediate and advanced levels. However, there are only few studies on their second language acquisition, and fewer focus on Spanish learners. This study tries to resolve this and to this end, I retrieved all hits of the two constructions from the Spanish component of the International Learner Corpus of English (SP-ICLE). I run a distinctive collexeme analysis (DCA) to identify the verbs that are associated with either pattern. The results are discussed at three different levels: (i) the identification of verbs that Spanish learners associate with each construction; (ii) a systematic comparison with previous studies on native speakers to show possible similarities/discrepancies; and (iii) a comparison of the results with findings on German learners to discuss possible effects of language similarity and transfer.
Date: May 2011
Creator: Martinez-Garcia, Maria Teresa
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Federal Judiciary and Establishment Clause Jurisprudence:  Application of the Lemon Test since Mitchell v. Helms (open access)

The Federal Judiciary and Establishment Clause Jurisprudence: Application of the Lemon Test since Mitchell v. Helms

The issue of religion and its place in society has been a topic of controversy and debate since long before the creation of our constitutional republic. The relationship between religion and government has witnessed some of its most intense conflicts when the governmental entity in question involves public education. As our country moved into the 20th century, legal challenges in the field of public education began to emerge calling into question the constitutionality of various policies and practices at both the state and local levels. This dissertation examined the legal methodology that was initially developed and then subsequently modified as the judicial branch has interpreted how the Establishment Clause delineates the relationship between religion and public education. Because the United States Supreme Court has not overturned its decision in Lemon v. Kurtzman, the tri-partite test it established still remains the law of the land. Subsequent decisions by the Court leading up to their ruling in Mitchell v. Helms, however, have continued to modify the judiciary's approach toward the use of the Lemon test in Establishment Clause jurisprudence. This research analyzed the decisions of the various federal courts subsequent to the ruling issued in Mitchell to discern both the present position …
Date: May 2011
Creator: Sanders, Russell Scott
System: The UNT Digital Library
"The Long Goodbye": Uncertainty Management in Alzheimer's Caregivers (open access)

"The Long Goodbye": Uncertainty Management in Alzheimer's Caregivers

Caregivers for individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (AD) shoulder a remarkably complex burden as compared to other caregivers of elderly individuals. For long distance caregivers, geographical separation further compounds the problems experienced by AD caregivers, as they are isolated from family members and support networks. Both on-site and long-distance AD caregivers experience uncertainty; the findings from this study illustrate how AD caregivers manage the uncertainty of the disease and primary care, as well as how uncertainty differs between on-site and long-distance caregivers. AD caregiver (N = 13) interviews were transcribed and qualitatively analyzed using uncertainty management theory as a thematic lens. The analysis revealed that AD caregivers experience overwhelming feelings of burden, guilt, and doubt; however, these feelings manifest differently depending on caregiver type. The findings of this study demonstrate that sources for obtaining information regarding AD and caregiving were useful for on-site caregivers; however, the sources did not account for the needs of long-distance caregivers or the psychosocial needs of on-site caregivers. Furthermore, AD caregivers did not seek support or information about AD and caregiving from health care professionals. Implications for future research regarding long-distance and on-site AD caregiving are discussed.
Date: May 2011
Creator: Shaunfield, Sara
System: The UNT Digital Library
Techniques for Improving Uniformity in Direct Mapped Caches (open access)

Techniques for Improving Uniformity in Direct Mapped Caches

Directly mapped caches are an attractive option for processor designers as they combine fast lookup times with reduced complexity and area. However, directly-mapped caches are prone to higher miss-rates as there are no candidates for replacement on a cache miss, hence data residing in a cache set would have to be evicted to the next level cache. Another issue that inhibits cache performance is the non-uniformity of accesses exhibited by most applications: some sets are under-utilized while others receive the majority of accesses. This implies that increasing the size of caches may not lead to proportionally improved cache hit rates. Several solutions that address cache non-uniformity have been proposed in the literature. These techniques have been proposed over the past decade and each proposal independently claims the benefit of reduced conflict misses. However, because the published results use different benchmarks and different experimental setups, (there is no established frame of reference for comparing these results) it is not easy to compare them. In this work we report a side-by-side comparison of these techniques. Finally, we propose and Adaptive-Partitioned cache for multi-threaded applications. This design limits inter-thread thrashing while dynamically reducing traffic to heavily accessed sets.
Date: May 2011
Creator: Nwachukwu, Izuchukwu Udochi
System: The UNT Digital Library