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Increasing Mother and Child Safety: Social Factors Influencing Help Seeking Behaviors amongst Child Welfare-Involved Women Experiencing Family Violence (open access)

Increasing Mother and Child Safety: Social Factors Influencing Help Seeking Behaviors amongst Child Welfare-Involved Women Experiencing Family Violence

The purpose of this study is to determine social factors that influence help seeking behaviors by mothers who are concurrently involved in two social service systems: Child Protective Services (CPS) and family violence advocacy programs. Through the application of the behavioral model (of service use) for vulnerable populations, this study seeks to determine predisposing, enabling and need characteristics that impact help seeking behaviors at a family violence agency after participation in an ADVANCE (Acknowledging Domestic Violence and Navigating Child Protection Effectively) course, a group intervention class developed specifically for women involved with CPS. The research design is a mixed-method approach with an ADVANCE course evaluation embedded within the overall analysis of help seeking behaviors. The analytic strategies include pre-test/post-test means comparisons through paired t-tests, qualitative thematic analysis through arts-based methodology, and ordinary least squares and logistic regression analysis. This study considers six outcome variables related to protective help seeking behaviors: seeking services, seeking protective actions related to children, seeking a safety plan, seeking a protective order, seeking safe housing, and seeking financial independence. Several social factors identified influenced help seeking behaviors amongst child welfare involved women experiencing violence, namely, number of children, age of children, level of interest in services, …
Date: August 2021
Creator: Baker, Cassidy A.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library

Investigation of Porous Ceramic Structure by Freeze-Casting

The design and fabrication of porous ceramic materials with anisotropic properties has, in recent years, gained popularity due to their potential application in various areas that include medical, energy, defense, space, and aerospace. Freeze-casting is an effective, low-cost, and safe method as a wet shaping technique to create these structures. To control the morphology of these materials, many critical factors were found to play an important role. In this dissertation, the processing parameters of the magnetic field-assisted freeze-casting method were optimized with a focus on comparing the structure obtained using vertical and horizontal magnetic fields and understanding the mechanisms that occur under different freezing modes. More specifically, this processing method was used to produce Al2O3 and B4C porous ceramics materials with unidirectionally-aligned pore channels. The effect of the vertical and horizontal magnetic field strength and direction, concentration of magnetic material (Fe3O4), cooling rate, and freezing time were examined. The resulting ceramics with highly aligned pore channels were infiltrated with molten metal to create metal matrix composites. The mechanical properties of these structures were measured and were subsequently correlated to their morphology and composition.
Date: May 2021
Creator: Bakkar, Said Adnan
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
"The Other Half is Mine": Charlotte Moorman as an Architect of the Avant-Garde (open access)

"The Other Half is Mine": Charlotte Moorman as an Architect of the Avant-Garde

Charlotte Moorman (1933–1991) was a Juilliard-trained cellist whose life and work made an indelible mark on the development of the American avant-garde. In her career, Moorman acted as a performer, collaborator, composer, administrator and muse. She solely founded the inaugural New York Avant Garde Festival, and subsequently directed fifteen of these festivals between 1963 and 1980, the feat for which she is most widely acknowledged today. Yet, her revolutionary performance practice, which blurred the lines between her life, her body, and her work, and brought into focus the dynamics of corporeality, the feminine body, female nudity and sexuality, and gendered politics within the contexts of musical performance, has so far escaped serious consideration in the written histories of the American avant-garde. This dissertation describes the nature of Moorman's practice as one that evolved to become inherently and irrevocably embodied, explores how this approach fell at odds with the pervasive avant-garde philosophies of music, and illustrates how her work troubles even a feminist musicological analysis. Further, through a contemporary critique of Moorman's oeuvre which centralizes the social, cultural, and political implications of her body in performance as integral to the work, this project offers a retrospective visibility to the artist which …
Date: August 2021
Creator: Balkcom, Brittney M.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library

A Study of Health-Related Screening Behaviors among Individuals in Texas with Adverse Childhood Experiences

Data from this dissertation was obtained from the Texas Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). The Texas BRFSS questionnaire used a cross-sectional retrospective research design while asking questions about individuals' exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and included 11 questions. The sample included 9096 individuals over the age of 18 who had exposure to at least one ACE. An ACE score was calculated for all participants and were divided into two groups (less than 4 ACEs and more than 4 ACEs) to compare whether differences in ACE score would impact participating in routine health screening or not. Additionally, whether different kinds of ACEs would impact health screening was also examined. Logistic regression was used to assess whether different kinds of ACEs impact participation in routine health screening. This study found that individuals with a history of childhood adversities including experiencing childhood emotional abuse, living in a dysfunctional household impeded them from participating in routine health screenings. It is recommended that both primary care physicians and mental health providers to use motivational interviewing while interacting with patients with ACE histories. It is also suggested that using trauma-informed care (TIC) in primary care can help patients talk about their abuse histories and …
Date: August 2021
Creator: Baniya, Ganesh
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
At the Junction of Dissemination and Implementation: Facilitating Access to Behavior Analytic Research (open access)

At the Junction of Dissemination and Implementation: Facilitating Access to Behavior Analytic Research

Research in scholarly communication is usually limited to the use and dissemination of scientific material by scholars. This excludes the transfer of knowledge from research producers to service providers. Some may argue the primary function of science is to investigate the conditions in the lab so everyday interactions with the environment are more effective and efficient. This is the underlying philosophy of the science of behavior analysis. Comprised of a basic science, an applied science and a philosophy the field of behavior analysis relies on research developments to inform effective practice. Guided by dissemination processes studied in information science, this investigation revealed the content layer in behavior analysis is primarily comprised of journal articles. Ninety four percent of the research artifacts cited in the current content layer are from journal articles. Other dissemination channels used to develop the behavior analytic content layer included scientific magazine articles, oral reports, dissertations and theses, and unpublished manuscripts. The information use environment for professionals in this field is very different than that of the scholars; most professionals do not have access to a university library. Therefore, the research producers are disseminating developments via communication channels some service providers cannot access. This investigation reveals the …
Date: May 2021
Creator: Bank, Nicole L.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Power of Images: From Postmodern Art to Memes (open access)

The Power of Images: From Postmodern Art to Memes

This chapter examines the elements of visual grammar used in advertising media and postmodern art that is now used to create powerful memes.
Date: 2021
Creator: Barham, Rebecca; Guo, Xuan & Mikler, Armin R.
Object Type: Book Chapter
System: The UNT Digital Library

Implementing Faceted Application of Subject Terminology (FAST) at the University of North Texas

Presentation on the University of North Texas Libraries’ implementation of Faceted Application of Subject Terminology (FAST) headings in their catalog. It was presented at the American Library Association's (ALA) Core Interest Group Week event which was held virtually on July 26-30, 2021.
Date: July 27, 2021
Creator: Baron, Adam & Thomale, Jason
Object Type: Presentation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Bodies in Motion for Life: A Long-Term Qualitative Evaluation of an ED Prevention Program with Retired Female Athletes (open access)

Bodies in Motion for Life: A Long-Term Qualitative Evaluation of an ED Prevention Program with Retired Female Athletes

Female collegiate athletes have been identified as a group at risk of developing eating disorders (EDs) and unhealthy weight control behaviors. Interventions grounded in cognitive dissonance theory and those that incorporate mindfulness-based interventions have shown improved body image and reductions in internalization and ED symptomatology over time in female non-athletes. However, few studies have examined the efficacy of intervention programs among female athletes, and, despite early promising results, previous research has been limited in several ways (e.g., methodology, small sample size). The purpose of this study was to conduct a long-term (i.e., three years) qualitative follow-up evaluation of Bodies in Motion (BIM), an ED prevention program developed specifically to acknowledge the unique experience and needs of female athletes with respect to their bodies as women and athletes. Results indicate that, similar to their initial experiences, now-retired athletes reported increased awareness of sport and societal messages and their impact on body image, shifted perspectives in their view of themselves and their bodies, and ongoing use of skills to manage body image in their lives. Further, with the passage of time, athletes continued to report a positive experience in the program and the utility of Bodies in Motion as they navigated challenging …
Date: August 2021
Creator: Barrett, Stephanie Leigh
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library

Shifting Into Teams: The Transition to Using Microsoft Teams and Shifts for Managing Student Employees

Poster sharing specific tools and techniques used to help manage a team of over 25 student employees staffing a single service point for access services at the University of North Texas.
Date: November 17, 2021
Creator: Baskett, Pilar; Knox, Briana; Akers, Emily & Keshmiripour, Setareh
Object Type: Poster
System: The UNT Digital Library
Not Just About a Piece of Cloth: Three Content Analysis of an Online Anti-Mandatory Hijab Movement in Iran (open access)

Not Just About a Piece of Cloth: Three Content Analysis of an Online Anti-Mandatory Hijab Movement in Iran

This dissertation investigates the My Stealthy Freedom (MSF) movement, an online movement against mandatory hijab laws in Iran, building on two leading lead social movements' theories, political processes and framing processes theories. Study 1 explores the utility of a tactical approach for explaining the movement's pace of insurgency. I employ a conceptual repertoire focused upon the political process model's core concepts of tactical innovation and tactical adaptations, supplementing these older concepts with the more recently proposed concept of tactical freeze and a newly proposed concept of tactical hashtags that is of particular relevance to online movements. Study 2 focuses on extracting hidden patterns and emotional characteristics in the MSF movement by conducting a topic modeling study on the text appearing in the captions of the main account of the movement on Instagram. It was shown that the actions of Masih Alinejad, the founder of the movement, represented by her online activity and extracted by means of topic modeling, is directly affected by the sequence of important events happening in Iran concluding to a transformation of a social movement to political one. Study 3 models how social movements use social media in the formation of affective publics and apply this model …
Date: May 2021
Creator: Basmechi, Farinaz
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
"Bad Paper" (open access)

"Bad Paper"

Bad Paper follows the lives of former military service members, who have received an other-than-honorable discharge, but also have service-connected post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Due to the "suck it up" culture of the military, many of these veterans would not report any psychological troubles in fear of being labeled "weak" and potentially affecting their promotions. With no outlet for their PTSD, drugs and alcohol became a way of "self-medicating," which led to their dismissal from the service. A dishonorable discharge, commonly called "bad paper," from the military disqualifies veterans from receiving help from the VA. The process to overturn this status is arduous and veterans must navigate the bureaucracy of the Veterans Affairs (VA) administration as well as the individual military branches with virtually no help from either.
Date: August 2021
Creator: Beard, Daniel Lee
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library

A Multi-Proxy Approach to Identifying Marine Overwash Sedimentation and Terrestrial Flood Sedimentation in a Coastal Lake in Southeastern Texas

This research project focuses on using a multiproxy approach to discriminate between overwash and non-hurricane marsh sediments within the bed of a coastal lake. 3 marsh cores were collected in an area of McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge just south of Clam Lake that are known to contain 4 hurricane overwash deposits, Ike, Rita, Carla, and Audrey. LOI and XRF analysis were used to determine the signature of the hurricane overwash layers. 3 more cores were collected from Clam Lake where there are no visible sand layers. The elemental signature of the overwash layers found in the marsh cores was used to run a hierarchical cluster analysis on the lake cores. This was able to determine the effectiveness of XRF's ability to distinguish between hurricane overwash and marsh sediments. The combination of cluster analysis, LOI, and XRF can tentatively identify hurricane overwash deposits in a coastal lake, however, it is more successful in the marsh cores. Results in the lake cores are somewhat inconsistent and uncertain, possibly because there may have not been enough overwash deposits to identity or that the XRF analysis needs more distinct sand layers to distinguish between overwash and marsh.
Date: August 2021
Creator: Beaubouef, Chelsea E.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library

[Giorgio di Sant'Angelo Evening Dress Coloring Page]

Coloring page created from materials housed in the Texas Fashion Collection from the UNT Digital Library. This page is based on an evening dress designed by Giorgio di Sant'Angelo.
Date: 2021
Creator: Becker, Annette
Object Type: Artwork
System: The UNT Digital Library

[Givenchy Evening Dress Coloring Page]

Coloring page created from materials housed in the Texas Fashion Collection from the UNT Digital Library. This page is based on an evening dress designed by Hubert de Givenchy.
Date: 2021
Creator: Becker, Annette
Object Type: Artwork
System: The UNT Digital Library

[Michael Faircloth Evening Dress Coloring Page]

Coloring page created from materials housed in the Texas Fashion Collection from the UNT Digital Library. This page is based on an evening dress designed by Michael Faircloth.
Date: 2021
Creator: Becker, Annette
Object Type: Artwork
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Mind-Body Connection? Athletes' Perceptions of the Impact of Mental Health on Sport Performance (open access)

The Mind-Body Connection? Athletes' Perceptions of the Impact of Mental Health on Sport Performance

Prevalence of mental health concerns among young adults is high and continues to increase. As a specific subset of young adults, NCAA student-athletes seem to experience these concerns at a similar or greater prevalence than their non-athlete, age-matched peers. Despite the number of college student-athletes who are experiencing mental health concerns, understanding how mental health impacts sport performance has not been robustly studied and has not included the diversity of identities present in the athlete population. Thus, I explored the beliefs of 266 college student-athletes who represented diverse identities and sports regarding how mental health impacts sport performance. Responses were collected using an on-line survey and analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Overall, as well as by gender, race/ethnicity, and sport type, 96.4% to 100.0% of participants believed that mental health impacts sport performance. From thematic analysis emerged three themes and various subthemes: (a) cognitive disruptions (concentration, confidence, self-talk, motivation, mindset, and decision-making), (b) the stress of being a student-athlete (life impact sport, team factors, sport impacts mental health), and (c) a mind-body connection (mind correlates with body, and mental health symptoms impact sport performance). Post-hoc cluster analysis by demographic and sport-type variables did not reveal clustering; these variables …
Date: August 2021
Creator: Beebe, Kelzie E.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Survival Psi and Somatic Psi: Exploratory Quantitative Phenomenological Analyses of Blinded Mediums' Experiences of Communication with the Deceased and Psychic Readings for the Living (open access)

Survival Psi and Somatic Psi: Exploratory Quantitative Phenomenological Analyses of Blinded Mediums' Experiences of Communication with the Deceased and Psychic Readings for the Living

Article describing the results of a quantitative assessment regarding the phenomenology of mediums using "survival psi" to telepathically communicate with physically deceased targets and also psychic readings for living targets.
Date: Summer 2021
Creator: Beischel, Julie; Rock, Adam J.; Pekala, Ronald J. & Boccuzzi, Mark
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library

The Impact Coaches Behaviors have on Student-Athlete Sportsmanship Actions and the Translation of Athlete Character into the Classroom

Administrators and coaches in universities and colleges have focused on their students' moral development since the beginning of the higher education system. Students who participate in sports activities have acknowledged that they develop many life skills, including ethical behaviors, that can translate to non-sport environments, such as the classroom. Students who participate in organized sports programs in college often acknowledge their coach as a significant source of their development, due to the amount of time athletes and coaches spend with each other. Recently, instances of cheating have become widespread throughout American higher education. In this dissertation, I seek to evaluate the role that coaches, and overall sports participation has on the development of students' ethical behaviors both within sports and outside of the sport environment. I conducted three quantitative studies to evaluate the role that coaches play in the development of ethical behaviors in sports (as measured through sportsmanship), the similarities and differences in sportsmanship between participation in varsity or club sports, and the role that sports participation has on self-reported instances of cheating. I find that coaching behaviors that instill sportsmanship behaviors are similar to behaviors identified in youth sports and that the coaching behaviors are more predictive of …
Date: August 2021
Creator: Beldon, Zachary David
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library

In the Way of Family

A novel about intergenerational sexual violence.
Date: August 2021
Creator: Bernard, Rebecca, 1984-
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library

Three Essays on Social Media Use and Information Sharing Behavior

Social media platforms create rich social structures, expand users' boundaries of social networks and revolutionize traditional forms of communications, social interactions and social relationships. These platforms not only facilitate the creation and sharing of news and information, but they also drive various kinds of businesses models, processes and operations, knowledge sharing, marketing strategies for brand management and socio-political discourses essential for healthy and democratic functions. As such, social media has greater implications on organizations and society brought about by individuals' social media usage patterns, and therefore, calls for further investigations. The main objective of this dissertation is to explore and offer insights into such social media usage and information sharing behaviors via data driven examination of various theories. This dissertation involves three studies that focus on factors that explain individuals' three different social media usage behaviors. Essay 1 investigates individuals' perceived importance of online affiliation, self-esteem, self-regulation and risk-benefit structure as antecedents of users' geo-tagging behavior on social media. Essay 2 examines the role of online news quality, source credibility, individuals' perception towards online civic engagement, attitude towards news sharing and social influences to understand users' news sharing behavior on social media platforms. Essay 3 seeks to examine the individuals' …
Date: May 2021
Creator: Bhagat, Sarbottam
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library

Advanced Cathodes for High Energy Density Lithium Sulfur Battery

A systematic development of 2D alloy catalyst with synergistic performance of high lithium polysulfide (LiPS) binding energy and efficient Li+ ion/electron conduction is presented. The first section of work found that Li+ ions can flow through the percolated ion transport pathway in polycrystalline MoS2, while Na+ and K+ ions can easily flow through the percolated 1D ion channel near the grain boundaries. An unusually high ionic conductivity of extrinsic Li+, Na+, and K+ ions in 2D MoS2 film exceeding 1 S/cm was measured that is more than two orders of magnitude higher than those of conventional solid ionic materials, including 2D ionic materials. The second section of this dissertation focus on catalyzing the transformation of LiPSs to prevent the shuttle effect during the battery cycling by synthesizing 2H (semiconducting) – 1T (metallic) mixed phase 2D Mo0.5W0.5S2 alloy on CNF paper, using two step sputtering and sulfurization method. The lithium sulfur (Li-S) battery cell assembled with the 2D Mo0.5W0.5S2/CNF/S cathode shows a high specific capacity of 1228 mAh g-1 at 0.1C and much higher cyclic stability over 4 times as compared to the pristine cathodes. The high LiPSs binding energy of catalyst efficiently prevents the shuttling effect and corrosion of Li …
Date: December 2021
Creator: Bhoyate, Sanket
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library

Proud Warriors: African American Combat Units in World War II

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
During World War II, tens of thousands of African Americans served in segregated combat units in U.S. armed forces. The majority of these units were found in the U.S. Army, and African Americans served in every one of the combat arms. They found opportunities for leadership unparalleled in the rest of American society at the time. Several reached the field grade officer ranks, and one officer reached the rank of brigadier general. Beyond the Army, the Marine Corps refused to enlist African Americans until ordered to do so by the president in June 1942, and two African American combat units were formed and did see service during the war. While the U.S. Navy initially resisted extending the role of African American sailors beyond kitchens, eventually the crew of two ships was composed exclusively of African Americans. The Coast Guard became the first service to integrate—initially with two shipboard experiments and then with the integration of most of their fleet. Finally, the famous Tuskegee airmen are covered in the chapter on air warfare. Proud Warriors makes the case that the wartime experiences of combat units such as the Tank Battalions and the Tuskegee Airmen ultimately convinced President Truman to desegregate the …
Date: October 2021
Creator: Bielakowski, Alexander M.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Early Intervention Referral and Service Frequency for Children with Visual Impairments: Experiences from the Field (open access)

Early Intervention Referral and Service Frequency for Children with Visual Impairments: Experiences from the Field

The purpose of this study was to examine differences in early intervention (EI) referral and service frequency for children with blindness or visual impairment (BVI) and gather information about the practices and experiences of vision professionals across the United States. The study focused on obtaining data from certified teachers of students with visual impairment (CTVI) and certified orientation and mobility specialists (COMS) in the United States. Information collected included descriptive statistics and professional information about EI for children with BVI, and information about the referral process and service frequency for children with BVI during EI. Thirty-three states were represented in the collected data. Of these states, 26 had responses from four or more professionals, the criteria for inclusion in the analyses. Participants provided information based on a researcher-developed survey requesting information related to the procedures used to provide EI services for children with BVI. Questions were adapted from established instruments where possible. Across states, there were some statistically significant differences in CTVIs and COMS reports of procedures regarding the role of professional collaboration, parent/caregiver participation in IFSP meetings, strengths/resources utilized by vision professionals, and challenges parents/families encountered when accessing EI services for their child with BVI. No statistically significant differences …
Date: May 2021
Creator: Bishop, Audra Lea
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Organizational Identity Change: Interpreting Change in Private Liberal Arts Colleges (open access)

Organizational Identity Change: Interpreting Change in Private Liberal Arts Colleges

This study aimed at filling in the gap in the literature by examining the organizational identity (OI) of a group of private not-for-profit liberal arts colleges (LACs) and their change and/or stability over time. The OIs were investigated by employing a qualitative content analysis for the strategic plans of eleven LACs over time. The selected colleges represented the distinctive characteristics of a LAC though they have made a critical organizational change by adding vocational programs to their curriculum. Findings indicated that the colleges have developed more complex dynamic OIs over time where both change and stability were interacting. Internal and external pressures shaped the organizational identities of the colleges. The colleges could remain some of their distinctive features while other markers of distinctiveness were less pronounced. OI, as a means to combine insights from the classic and new versions of institutional theory, could offer a fruitful link between the normative and the intraorganizational elements of this theory.
Date: August 2021
Creator: Bokhari, Neefen Fuad
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library