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Project
coordinator Bruce Hunter (right) gathers information on Texas
watersheds. |
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Watershed
databases
Researchers
in UNTs Center for Spatial Analysis and Mapping are creating
a watershed atlas that will benefit the people of the Metroplex.
Bruce Hunter,
director of the center, is coordinating efforts to create a set
of databases that integrates information from federal, state and
local agencies into one common format. It will provide a comprehensive
picture of water quality and quantity for Lakes Lewisville, Ray
Roberts and Grapevine.
Valuable
information about land use over time, oil and gas wells, landfills
and hazardous waste sites, storm water run-off and urban growth
will be provided in the atlas.
Teaming
up for less turnover
Having self-managed
work teams, or SMWTs, in nursing homes could increase employee morale,
leading to less staff turnover and better work performance and care
for the elderly residents, says Dale Yeatts, chair of the Department
of Sociology.
Yeatts compared
two different SMWTs in a midsized nursing home. Each team consisted
of three certified nurses aides. One of the teams was judged
by the nursing home administrator and director of nursing as performing
at a particularly high level, based on the high level of care that
residents were receiving. The other team was judged to be performing
at a particularly low level.
Yeatts says
members of the high-performing team were making decisions about
resident care based on their own experiences in working with the
residents, as well as on feedback from their supervisor.
In the low-performing
team, however, the supervising registered nurse was making most
of the decisions for the team without consulting team members.
Members
of the high-performing team had more job satisfaction than those
in the low-performing team, Yeatts says.
Sensing
metallic impurities
M.R. Chyan,
associate professor of chemistry, and his research group have developed
an ultra-sensitive chemical sensor that can detect metallic impurities
as low as the parts-per-trillion level in a whole range of semiconductor
processing chemicals. A U.S. patent was recently granted for Chyans
invention.
The silicon-based
sensor can have immediate applications in non-stop, online monitoring
of wet-chemical baths used in integrated circuit production to prevent
losses due to unpredictable contamination.
In a study
funded by Eastman Kodak Co., the sensor has also been successfully
applied to detect traces of silver ions and solve environmental
toxicology issues.
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Craig Neumann,
assistant professor of psychology, is studying the effects that
the time of day may have on treatment of patients with schizophrenia. |
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Research
like clockwork
Teenagers
and young adults tend to be the most alert and have their best work
performances in the afternoon, since their changes in body temperature,
hormones and other functions related to circadian rhythms
those daily metabolic, glandular and sleep cycles contribute
to morning sleepiness, says Craig Neumann, assistant professor of
psychology. Senior
citizens, however, are most alert and have peak performances in
the morning, he says.
Neumann
says understanding the time-of-day effect on performances
caused by circadian rhythms could be particularly helpful in the
treatment of patients with schizophrenia, who tend to have attention
deficits with and without medication and who have cognitive defects
that cannot be fully explained by their other symptoms. He recently
received a $60,000 Young Investigator Award from the National Alliance
for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression to conduct time-of-day
tests on 50 schizophrenia patients at the Dallas Veterans Affairs
Hospital.
The research,
which focuses on both visual and verbal memory, may result in therapists
scheduling therapy for schizophrenia patients during the time of
day they perform the best and offering therapy that is more visual
than verbal, or vice versa, Neumann says.
Avoiding
back alleyways
According
to a UNT real estate study, prices have shrunk for homes with rear-entry
alleyways because of increased crime and headaches. Randall S. Guttery,
associate professor of real estate, looked at home sales for 1,672
houses in Denton some with rear-entry alleyways and others
without from July 1989 to December 1995. The sample included
real estate agents comments about the sales.
He found
that due to news of abductions, assaults and robberies of families
living in rear alleyway homes, buyers have steadily grown leery.
Homes with rear alleyways sold for 5-1/2 percent less than homes
without alleyways.
According
to the research, other contributing factors to this decrease in
value are that back alleys take up more of the homeowners
land, and they typically are not cleaned.
Training
and alcohol
Weight
training and intoxication dont mix, says Perry Koziris, assistant
professor of kinesiology. Koziris (left) is conducting research
to determine to what degree intoxication interferes with the expected
improvements of weight training. The delayed effect of intoxication
after a workout decreases muscular endurance, he says, and drinkers
who place high demands on the muscular system in the weight room
should have some concern.
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