Altmetrics: What is it and how is it relevant to librarians?

Presentation for the Cross Timbers Library Collaborative (CTLC) Scholarly Communications and Digital Curation (SCDC) Affinity Group 2013 Winter Meeting. This presentation discusses altmetrics including what it is and how it is relevant to librarians.
Date: December 13, 2013
Creator: Iakovakis, Clarke & Mirza, Rafia
Object Type: Presentation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Altruism and Depression: Exploring This Relationship and the Mechanisms Behind It (open access)

Altruism and Depression: Exploring This Relationship and the Mechanisms Behind It

The impact of environmental influences on depression has been well established by research. In particular, it is known that receiving/perceiving adequate social support has a protective influence on depression. Less is known about the protective benefits of providing support to others, namely in the form of altruistic, empathetic, or prosocial behavior. While research has shown that having altruistic attitudes and engaging in altruistic behaviors has a positive impact on physical health and mental well-being, studies on the association between altruistic attitudes and/or behavior and depression are limited. The present study examined the relationship between altruism and depression, and hypotheses were tested that allow for explanation of why altruism may protect against depression. A sample of 303 participants was recruited from the University of North Texas and the surrounding community. Participants completed an online survey that examined their altruistic activities, details regarding these activities, their prosocial attitudes, and their current level of depression. Results did not support that level of involvement in altruistic activities is directly related to depression severity. However, outcomes from involvement in altruistic activities, including sense of overburden from participating in altruistic activities, level of social interaction with other helpers and those helped during altruistic activities, and sense …
Date: August 2013
Creator: Wright, Brittney, C.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
American Indian Worldviews, Risk Perceptions and Disaster Planning: an Exploratory Study (open access)

American Indian Worldviews, Risk Perceptions and Disaster Planning: an Exploratory Study

It is commonly assumed that when confronted with an imminent hazard that people will react rationally, and prepare for, or at least attempt to avoid, danger from pending disasters. However, this conventional wisdom is not as evident as it appears. People prepare for, react to, or take social action to avoid hazards when they perceive the risk of danger to be threatening enough to warrant action, providing one has the will, insight and resources to do so. However, not all people perceive risks similarly. Risk is perceived differently by different people which affects risk perception and responses to hazards. This dissertation explores the relationships between American Indian worldviews, risk perceptions and disaster planning. To carry out this research 28 American Indians were interviewed. The sample consists of 14 American Indians residing in a rural are on the northern plains and 14 urban American Indians. The results only partially support that worldview is linked to risk perception and subsequent disaster planning. Other factors found to relate to risk perception and disaster planning for this non-representative sample of American Indians include various forms of social vulnerability.
Date: December 2013
Creator: Bales, Rodney A.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Analysis of Pitch Organization in Villa-lobos's Rudepoêma (open access)

An Analysis of Pitch Organization in Villa-lobos's Rudepoêma

Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) stands central to the music history of the Brazilian twentieth century. His music represents a synthesis of the European art influences he absorbed and his quest to find a true Brazilian identity, which was not rooted in the deliberate imitation of Brazilian folk elements, but rather in the natural assimilation of them in his compositional style. His early compositions embody strong post-romantic, impressionistic tendencies, especially in regard to their harmonies and use of tone color, whereas the works from the 1920's and onwards show Villa-Lobos increasingly asserting his unusual and strong voice. Villa-Lobos's large-scale composition for piano, Rudepoêma, was composed between 1921 and 1926, and stands as one of the most significant contributions to the Latin-American piano literature. Despite of its importance in Villa-Lobos's oeuvre, it has largely eluded analytical attention. Discourse on Villa-Lobos is often marked by a somewhat one-dimensional approach that identifies the folk and rhythmic elements as the most important characteristics of his compositional style, and displays a certain reticence with regard to in-depth analysis of other parameters of his works. This study redresses the imbalance in the general approach to analytical assessment of Villa-Lobos's oeuvre by illustrating that pitch organization plays an indispensable …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Kruger, Esthea
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Analysis of the Value-altering Effect of Motivating Operations (open access)

An Analysis of the Value-altering Effect of Motivating Operations

Motivating operations (MOs) may affect behavior in two ways; A) an MO momentarily alters the frequency of behavior for which a particular consequence has served as reinforcement (evocative-effect) and B) an MO momentarily alters the behavioral effects of the relevant consequence (value-altering effect). Many studies have empirically demonstrated the evocative function of MOs, however, few if any studies have attempted to systematically manipulate and measure the value-altering effect. The focus of this study was to investigate the value-altering effect by measuring choice and response allocation across two alternative tasks. Participants were two female girls diagnosed with autism. During conditioning sessions, experimenters created a history for the children in which clicking on a moving square on a computer monitor produced a small piece of edible. Prior to some conditions, the participants were allowed 5 min of free-access to the edibles, and in other sessions, access to edibles prior to session was restricted. During these sessions, the square was either red or blue depending on the condition type (pre-access or restricted-access). During probe sessions, both colored squares were concurrently available and participants were allowed to allocate their responding to whichever square they chose. One participant preferred the square associated with restricted-access, which …
Date: August 2013
Creator: Devine, Bailey
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library

Analysis of URL References in ETDs: A Case Study at the University of North Texas [Presentation]

Presentation for the 2013 International Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) Symposium. The presentation gives an analysis of URL references in ETDs and a case study at the University of North Texas (UNT).
Date: September 2013
Creator: Phillips, Mark Edward; Alemneh, Daniel Gelaw & Reyes Ayala, Brenda
Object Type: Presentation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Analytical Model of Cold-formed Steel Framed Shear Wall with Steel Sheet and Wood-based Sheathing (open access)

Analytical Model of Cold-formed Steel Framed Shear Wall with Steel Sheet and Wood-based Sheathing

The cold-formed steel framed shear walls with steel sheets and wood-based sheathing are both code approved lateral force resisting system in light-framed construction. In the United States, the current design approach for cold-formed steel shear walls is capacity-based and developed from full-scale tests. The available design provisions provide nominal shear strength for only limited wall configurations. This research focused on the development of analytical models of cold-formed steel framed shear walls with steel sheet and wood-based sheathing to predict the nominal shear strength of the walls at their ultimate capacity level. Effective strip model was developed to predict the nominal shear strength of cold-formed steel framed steel sheet shear walls. The proposed design approach is based on a tension field action of the sheathing, shear capacity of sheathing-to-framing fastener connections, fastener spacing, wall aspect ratio, and material properties. A total of 142 full scale test data was used to verify the proposed design method and the supporting design equations. The proposed design approach shows consistent agreement with the test results and the AISI published nominal strength values. Simplified nominal strength model was developed to predict the nominal shear strength of cold-formed steel framed wood-based panel shear walls. The nominal shear …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Yanagi, Noritsugu
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Analyzing Delinquency Among Kurdish Adolescents: a Test of Hirschi’s Social Bonding Theory (open access)

Analyzing Delinquency Among Kurdish Adolescents: a Test of Hirschi’s Social Bonding Theory

This study examines the mediating effect of social bonding on delinquent behavior among Kurdish teens. Major influences to the study of self concept and delinquency based on Hirschi’s social bonding theory are reviewed. The data was collected from a sample of 100 Kurdish teens attending a Gülen affiliated school (Private Çaglayan Murat Anatolian Science High School in Şanlıurfa, Turkey) and 100 Kurdish teens attending a public (non- Gülen) school (The Public High School in Diyarbakır, Turkey). There are two dependent variables for this research project: Involvement in major delinquency and involvement in minor delinquency. The components of social bonding attachment, involvement, commitment, and belief were used as independent variables. Participants’ age ranged between 16 to 18 years. I hypothesize that the relation between the social bonding elements and delinquency should be stronger in the case of Kurdish adolescents who are more attached to conventional Turkish society. Results from binary logistic regression analyses indicate that in the absence of bonding, Kurdish teenagers tend to engage in major and minor delinquent activities. For further exploration and results, the Gülen Movement was examined as an independent variable. Findings suggest a strong relationship between the Gülen Movement and Kurdish adolescents’ probability of involvement in …
Date: December 2013
Creator: Ziyanak, Sebahattin
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Analyzing Patterns Within Academic and Legal Definitions: a Qualitative Content Analysis of the Term "Cyberbullying" (open access)

Analyzing Patterns Within Academic and Legal Definitions: a Qualitative Content Analysis of the Term "Cyberbullying"

Regardless of culture or nation, students today are experiencing bullying via technology. With the rise of technology, this abuse has the ability to become more far-reaching, and more pervasive than ever. These students face oppression, and in some cases severe imbalances of power. Current research is being conducted and laws created based on varying operational and conception definitions of the term "cyberbullying." This study aims to analyze and provide a coherent definition for the term "cyberbullying" as it is used in research and legislation, especially in the context of today's educational environments. The results help shed light on the large variances in the term and suggestions are made to clarify the definition as the field continues to move forward.
Date: August 2013
Creator: Winn, Matthew R.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library

APA Review Library Information Sciences End of Program Exam

Presentation for a University of North Texas (UNT) School of Library and Information Sciences (SLIS) 5900 course. This presentation gives instruction for the American Psychological Association (ALA) citation style for electronic journals.
Date: September 2013
Creator: Whitmer, Susan
Object Type: Presentation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Appraising our Digital Investment: Sustainability of Digitized Special Collections in ARL Libraries (open access)

Appraising our Digital Investment: Sustainability of Digitized Special Collections in ARL Libraries

Sponsored by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and conducted by Ithaka S+R, this study provides insight into how ARL libraries are managing and funding the hundreds of digitized special collections they have created and that they believe to be critical to their futures. This is the first survey of ARL institutions that specifically attempts to understand and benchmark the activities and costs of supporting these collections after they are created. By looking at questions of management, costs, funding sources, impact, and outreach, the survey offers data that will deliver insight to all those engaged in sustaining digitized special collections.
Date: February 2013
Creator: Maron, Nancy & Pickle, Sarah
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Arvo Pärt and Three Types of His Tintinnabuli Technique (open access)

Arvo Pärt and Three Types of His Tintinnabuli Technique

Arvo Pärt, an Estonian composer, was born in 1935. Most of the works at the beginning of his career were for piano in the neo-classical style. After that, he turned his interest to serial music and continued creating works with serial techniques throughout the 1960s. After his "self-imposed silence" period (during the years 1968-1976), Pärt emerged with a new musical style, which he called tintinnabuli. Although, this technique was influenced by music from the medieval period, the texture and function of its musical style cannot be described easily in terms of any single musical technique of the past. This study explores the evolution of Arvo Pärt's tintinnabuli technique in its first decade 1976-1985, which is divided into three different types. It provides musical examples from the scores of selected works, Für Alina, Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten, Cantate Domino canticum novum, Missa Sillabica, Stabat Mater and Es sang vor langen Jahren, and their analyses with supporting interpretative sketches. The goal of this thesis is to provide the reader a basis for understanding and recognizing the different types of Pärt's tintinnabuli technique.
Date: May 2013
Creator: Kongwattananon, Oranit
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
ASIS&T SIG-III's 30th Anniversary Commemorative Publication (open access)

ASIS&T SIG-III's 30th Anniversary Commemorative Publication

Book published for the American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) Special Interest Group for International Information Issues (SIG-III). As part of the celebrations for the 75th ASIS&T anniversary and 30th anniversary of SIG-III), this special commemorative publication was created. In this anniversary publication, current and past SIG-III officers attempt to capture some of the SIG-III activities and highlight the challenges as well as the successes that the ASIS&T community has had in the last 30 years.
Date: 2013
Creator: Alemneh, Daniel Gelaw
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Assessing Local Governments’ Debt Financing Strategies (open access)

Assessing Local Governments’ Debt Financing Strategies

This dissertation assesses the importance of a specific debt instrument, the Certifi- cate of Obligation in the state of Texas. It conceptualizes the Certificate of Obligation as a type of contractual debt that enables local governments to finance their capital projects. This dissertation is guided by three research questions: (1) What are the various types of debt instruments employed by local governments and what are their relative advantages? (2) How prevalent is the use of a specific debt instrument such as Certificates of Obligation? And why would some local governments prefer to issue them while others do not? (3) To what extent does the local institutional environment, e.g., the executive authority of city managers in the council-manager form of government, affect debt financing behaviors of local governments? To examine the first research question, we created a typology to represent four ideal types of borrowing methods: (1) Contractual Debt, (2) Voter Approval/Special Tax Debt, (3) Guaranteed, and (4) Non-Guaranteed Debts. The typology examines whether or not the state mandates the referendum requirement for the use of each of these debt instruments, and at the same time determines whether each debt instrument is secured by multiple or single revenue sources. Using data …
Date: December 2013
Creator: Lung, Wei-Liang
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Assessing the Role of Smaller Format Retailers on the Food Desert Landscape in Dallas, Texas (open access)

Assessing the Role of Smaller Format Retailers on the Food Desert Landscape in Dallas, Texas

Many policy and business decisions regarding food deserts in the U.S. are based on the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) definition of a food desert. This definition only includes large/national chain grocery retailers, based on the assumption that these major retailers are the only affordable sources of food contributing to balanced diets. As alternative distribution channels, including smaller stores, start to include groceries in their product offering, the need to consider the role of other businesses in the food retailing environment should be addressed. This thesis assesses the role of smaller format grocery retailers (small local grocers, convenience stores, gas stations, dollar stores, and drug stores) in shaping the food desert landscape in Dallas, Texas. The analysis evaluates the products offered in these stores, and then identifies the difference these stores make when included in the USDA analysis. This was done by collecting in-store data to determine the variety of products offered, the affordability of those products, and the overall healthfulness of the store. In addition, the gaps in supply and demand were identified in the USDA-defined food deserts in order to identify the impact any smaller format retailer may have. The findings suggest that, overall, smaller format retailers …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Regan, Amanda D.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Attention and Metacognition in the Elaborated Intrusion Theory of Desire (open access)

Attention and Metacognition in the Elaborated Intrusion Theory of Desire

The elaborated intrusion (EI) theory of desire is a cognitive model that describes the processes involved in craving as intrusive thoughts that are elaborated upon leading to dissonance when desires are not met. While the theory is based on a wide body of research, certain theoretical predictions have not been fully examined. Specifically, EI theory argues that mental imagery has a central role in craving, and predicts that attempts to suppress substance-related intrusive thoughts and mental imagery is related to increased craving. Further, EI theory suggests that elaboration of craving imagery is related to attention and working memory processes, however, there are questions about whether differential performance in these domains is related to craving. The current study examined the relationship between attention/working memory performance and alcohol craving in a sample of 119 young adult males. Additionally, metacognition was examined to clarify the phenomenological aspects of craving within EI theory. Attention and working memory performance did not significantly predict intrusive thought and mental imagery elaboration. Individuals with high craving reported significantly higher levels of anxiety, thought suppression, and greater strength and frequency of craving-related mental imagery. They were also more likely to try to control their own thoughts and make negative …
Date: August 2013
Creator: Yates, Robert D., III
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Attention Biases Associated with Vulnerability to Bipolar Disorder (open access)

Attention Biases Associated with Vulnerability to Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is associated with significant social and occupational impairments, as well as increased risk for substance abuse and suicide. More research is needed to identify potential mechanisms associated with vulnerability to the disorder. Previous research has identified altered processing of emotional information in bipolar and bipolar-prone individuals, including attentional biases which appear to differ based on the current affective state of the individual. The current study applied a sensitive measure of attention (i.e., eye-tracking) to assess whether vulnerability to bipolar disorder, as indexed by hypomanic personality traits, would be correlated with biases in attention to emotional facial stimuli, independent of mood state. Hypomanic personality traits were hypothesized to be associated with greater attention to happy and angry faces, as indexed by faster initial orientation, more frequent gazes, and longer gaze duration for these stimuli. Participants completed self-report measures assessing current mood symptoms, positive and negative affect, and hypomanic personality traits. They then completed two tasks assessing attention for emotional faces. The first was an eye-tracking task, which measured latency to first fixation, total gaze duration and total number of gazes for each emotional face category. The second was a spatial cueing task which assessed both attentional engagement with emotional …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Bain, Kathleen Marie
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library

Automated NDNP Quality Review

Presentation for the 2013 National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) Awardee Conference in Washington D.C. This presentation discusses automated processes and ensuring quality for the NDNP at the University of North Texas (UNT) Libraries.
Date: September 12, 2013
Creator: Weidner, Andrew
Object Type: Presentation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Automated Real-time Objects Detection in Colonoscopy Videos for Quality Measurements (open access)

Automated Real-time Objects Detection in Colonoscopy Videos for Quality Measurements

The effectiveness of colonoscopy depends on the quality of the inspection of the colon. There was no automated measurement method to evaluate the quality of the inspection. This thesis addresses this issue by investigating an automated post-procedure quality measurement technique and proposing a novel approach automatically deciding a percentage of stool areas in images of digitized colonoscopy video files. It involves the classification of image pixels based on their color features using a new method of planes on RGB (red, green and blue) color space. The limitation of post-procedure quality measurement is that quality measurements are available long after the procedure was done and the patient was released. A better approach is to inform any sub-optimal inspection immediately so that the endoscopist can improve the quality in real-time during the procedure. This thesis also proposes an extension to post-procedure method to detect stool, bite-block, and blood regions in real-time using color features in HSV color space. These three objects play a major role in quality measurements in colonoscopy. The proposed method partitions very large positive examples of each of these objects into a number of groups. These groups are formed by taking intersection of positive examples with a hyper plane. …
Date: August 2013
Creator: Kumara, Muthukudage Jayantha
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Automated Treetop Detection and Tree Crown Identification Using Discrete-return Lidar Data (open access)

Automated Treetop Detection and Tree Crown Identification Using Discrete-return Lidar Data

Accurate estimates of tree and forest biomass are essential for a wide range of applications. Automated treetop detection and tree crown discrimination using LiDAR data can greatly facilitate forest biomass estimation. Previous work has focused on homogenous or single-species forests, while few studies have focused on mixed forests. In this study, a new method for treetop detection is proposed in which the treetop is the cluster center of selected points rather than the highest point. Based on treetop detection, tree crowns are discriminated through comparison of three-dimensional shape signatures. The methods are first tested using simulated LiDAR point clouds for trees, and then applied to real LiDAR data from the Soquel Demonstration State Forest, California, USA. Results from both simulated and real LiDAR data show that the proposed method has great potential for effective detection of treetops and discrimination of tree crowns.
Date: May 2013
Creator: Liu, Haijian
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library

Balancing Scholarly Activities, Primary Assignments and Service to the Community

Presentation for the University of North Texas (UNT) Libraries as part of the career development program. This presentation discusses getting started on a research project and balancing scholarly activities, primary assignments, and service to the community.
Date: November 19, 2013
Creator: Alemneh, Daniel Gelaw; Avery, Elizabeth Fuseler & Wahl, Diane
Object Type: Presentation
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Beliefs and Expectations of Effective Secondary Choral Teachers in Culturally Diverse Schools (open access)

The Beliefs and Expectations of Effective Secondary Choral Teachers in Culturally Diverse Schools

Through the years, educational theorists and researchers have been interested in a possible relationship between teachers' effectiveness and their beliefs and expectations. Three concepts underpinned this work: teacher effectiveness, cultural diversity, and teachers' beliefs and expectations. The premise of the study was that the beliefs and expectations of effective secondary choral teachers are related to the social-cultural contexts in which they teach. The study implemented critical discourse analysis as the theoretical framework and the in-depth phenomenological long interview for data collection. Three secondary choral teachers were selected to participate in the study based on the researcher's criteria. The study revealed how each teacher conceptualized student cultural diversity during the teaching experience. Teacher beliefs about effective teaching in culturally diverse settings were described as developing over time in phases along a continuum. The study also confirmed that teachers' beliefs about students can be changed through experiences and reflection. The study revealed effective teachers focused on three different types of expectations in the teaching and learning context and affirmed diverse cultural identities and backgrounds. Recommendations included the development of stronger mentorship programs to increase effective teaching strategies for the secondary choral classroom. The findings of this study support my previous work, which …
Date: May 2013
Creator: Spradley, Mackie V.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library

Beyond Google: Promoting Digitized Primary Sources in First-Year Writing

This presentation discusses promoting digitized primary sources in research. Topics include the background and interest in the subject, key term definitions, examples of items and usage, National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) K-12 teaching resources, and FYC application.
Date: March 15, 2013
Creator: Krahmer, Ana
Object Type: Presentation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Bibliography for "Encouraging Research and Publication among Academic Librarians" (open access)

Bibliography for "Encouraging Research and Publication among Academic Librarians"

This bibliography accompanies a presentation for the 2013 Library Management Institute Summer Conference. This bibliography contains citations for information related to encouraging research and publication among academic librarians.
Date: June 2013
Creator: Sassen, Catherine
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library