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Title: Identifying Influential Agents in Social Systems.
Creator: Maghami, Mahsa, Sukthankar, Gita, Turgut, Damla, Wu, Annie, Boloni, Ladislau, Garibay, Ivan, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: This dissertation addresses the problem of influence maximization in social networks. Influence maximization is applicable to many types of real-world problems, including modeling contagion, technology adoption, and viral marketing. Here we examine an advertisement domain in which the overarching goal is to find the influential nodes in a social network, based on the network structure and the interactions, as targets of advertisement. The assumption is that advertisement budget limits prevent...
Show moreThis dissertation addresses the problem of influence maximization in social networks. Influence maximization is applicable to many types of real-world problems, including modeling contagion, technology adoption, and viral marketing. Here we examine an advertisement domain in which the overarching goal is to find the influential nodes in a social network, based on the network structure and the interactions, as targets of advertisement. The assumption is that advertisement budget limits prevent us from sending the advertisement to everybody in the network. Therefore, a wise selection of the people can be beneficial in increasing the product adoption. To model these social systems, agent-based modeling, a powerful tool for the study of phenomena that are difficult to observe within the confines of the laboratory, is used.To analyze marketing scenarios, this dissertation proposes a new method for propagating information through a social system and demonstrates how it can be used to develop a product advertisement strategy in a simulated market. We consider the desire of agents toward purchasing an item as a random variable and solve the influence maximization problem in steady state using an optimization method to assign the advertisement of available products to appropriate messenger agents. Our market simulation 1) accounts for the effects of group membership on agent attitudes 2) has a network structure that is similar to realistic human systems 3) models inter-product preference correlations that can be learned from market data. The results on synthetic data show that this method is significantly better than network analysis methods based on centrality measures.The optimized influence maximization (OIM) described above, has some limitations. For instance, it relies on a global estimation of the interaction among agents in the network, rendering it incapable of handling large networks. Although OIM is capable of finding the influential nodes in the social network in an optimized way and targeting them for advertising, in large networks, performing the matrix operations required to find the optimized solution is intractable.To overcome this limitation, we then propose a hierarchical influence maximization (HIM) algorithm for scaling influence maximization to larger networks. In the hierarchical method the network is partitioned into multiple smaller networks that can be solved exactly with optimization techniques, assuming a generalized IC model, to identify a candidate set of seed nodes. The candidate nodes are used to create a distance-preserving abstract version of the network that maintains an aggregate influence model between partitions. The budget limitation for the advertising dictates the algorithm's stopping point. On synthetic datasets, we show that our method comes close to the optimal node selection, at substantially lower runtime costs.We present results from applying the HIM algorithm to real-world datasets collected from social media sites with large numbers of users (Epinions, SlashDot, and WikiVote) and compare it with two benchmarks, PMIA and DegreeDiscount, to examine the scalability and performance.Our experimental results reveal that HIM scales to larger networks but is outperformed by degree-based algorithms in highly-connected networks. However, HIM performs well in modular networks where the communities are clearly separable with small number of cross-community edges. This finding suggests that for practical applications it is useful to account for network properties when selecting an influence maximization method.
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Date Issued: 2014
Identifier: CFE0005205, ucf:50647
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005205

Title: Advertising Risk: A Comparative Content Analysis of Contraceptive Advertisements Targeting Black and White Women.
Creator: Rogers, Tiffany, Carter, Shannon, Grauerholz, Liz, Broome, Amy, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: This research compared contraceptive advertisements in two top-circulated publications for white and African American female subscribers, Cosmopolitan and Essence. Data consisted of a sample of 172 contraceptive advertisements from the two magazines published between 1992 and 2012. Quantitative analysis focused on the model(s)' race, age, marital status, and socioeconomic status; the type of contraceptive being advertised; and the reason stated in the ad for using the product. This analysis...
Show moreThis research compared contraceptive advertisements in two top-circulated publications for white and African American female subscribers, Cosmopolitan and Essence. Data consisted of a sample of 172 contraceptive advertisements from the two magazines published between 1992 and 2012. Quantitative analysis focused on the model(s)' race, age, marital status, and socioeconomic status; the type of contraceptive being advertised; and the reason stated in the ad for using the product. This analysis determined a disparity in the rate of advertisement of doctor-administered contraceptives for the publications of 25.4 percent in Essence magazine and 9.5 percent in Cosmopolitan magazine. Black women were targeted with long-term, doctor-administered birth control ads more frequently than white women over a twenty-year period, which correlates with findings of previous studies suggesting minority women receive these types of birth control more often than their white counterparts. Qualitative analysis focused on the written messages in the advertisements. This analysis identified the theme of risk as a prominent message of advertisements, appealing to concerns surrounding health, desirability, freedom and pregnancy.
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Date Issued: 2014
Identifier: CFE0005406, ucf:50408
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005406

Title: White and Black Womanhoods and Their Representations in 1920s American Advertising.
Creator: Turnbull, Lindsey, Lester, Connie, Sacher, John, Dandrow, Edward, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: The 1920s represented a time of tension in America. Throughout the decade, marginalized groups created competing versions of a proper citizen. African-Americans sought to be included in the national fabric. Racism encouraged solidarity, but black Americans did not agree upon one method for coping with, and hopefully ending, antiblack racism. White women enjoyed new privileges and took on more roles in the public sphere. Reactionary groups like the Ku Klux Klan found these new voices...
Show moreThe 1920s represented a time of tension in America. Throughout the decade, marginalized groups created competing versions of a proper citizen. African-Americans sought to be included in the national fabric. Racism encouraged solidarity, but black Americans did not agree upon one method for coping with, and hopefully ending, antiblack racism. White women enjoyed new privileges and took on more roles in the public sphere. Reactionary groups like the Ku Klux Klan found these new voices unsettling and worrisome and celebrated a white, native-born, Protestant and male vision of the American citizen. Simultaneously, technological innovations allowed for advertising to flourish and spread homogenizing information regarding race, gender, values and consumption across the nation. These advertisements selectively represented these changes by channeling them into pre-existing prescriptive ideology. Mainstream ads, which were created by whites for white audiences, reinforced traditional ideas regarding black men and women and white women's roles. Even if white women were featured using technology or wearing cosmetics, they were still featured in prescribed roles as housekeepers, wives and mothers who deferred to and relied on their husbands. Black women were featured in secondary roles, as servants or mammies, if at all. Concurrently, the black press created its own representations of women. Although these representations were complex and sometimes contradictory and had to reach multiple audiences, black-created ads featured women in a variety of roles, such as entertainers, mothers and business women, but never as mammies. Then, in a decade of increased tensions, white-created ads relied on traditional portrayals of women and African-Americans while black-designed ads offered more positive, although complicated, visions of womanhood.
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Date Issued: 2012
Identifier: CFE0004612, ucf:49939
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004612

Title: INTERNET ADVERTISING: ARE WE BREAKING GROUND OR MOVING DIRT?.
Creator: Marshall, Jaime, Collins, Steven, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Seeking to validate the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) of Persuasion for the online advertising context, a laboratory experiment utilizing 240 undergraduates was conducted at a southeastern university. The quality of banner advertisement contents--product endorser (spokesperson) and arguments (headlines)--were manipulated testing the variables' effect on click-through and attitude toward the advertisement for groups with high and low levels of product category involvement. Exploring a...
Show moreSeeking to validate the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) of Persuasion for the online advertising context, a laboratory experiment utilizing 240 undergraduates was conducted at a southeastern university. The quality of banner advertisement contents--product endorser (spokesperson) and arguments (headlines)--were manipulated testing the variables' effect on click-through and attitude toward the advertisement for groups with high and low levels of product category involvement. Exploring a replica of a popular music website, participants were exposed to the test banners on the site's homepage. Due to the limited number of click-throughs, the relationship between the independent variables and click-through could not be established. However, as hypothesized for the low involvement condition, source liking predicted participants' attitude toward the banner advertisements. In the high involvement condition, neither source liking nor argument strength was associated with attitude. Because the test product category--sport drinks--skewed low involvement, a follow-up study should select a high involvement product category to explore such condition more effectively.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: CFE0000406, ucf:46348
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000406

Title: I'M EVERY WOMAN: COLLEGE WOMEN'S PERCEPTIONS OF "REAL WOMEN" IN PRINT ADVERTISEMENTS.
Creator: Gualtieri, Marie, Carter, Dr. Shannon, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: In the American capitalist society, the media is often an agent used to perpetuate ideals and to inform consumers of products that they can purchase by using multiple advertising techniques. In an attempt to counter the thin body ideal for women, some companies have begun advertising their products by using plus size models, such as the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. The purpose of this research is to examine college women's perceptions of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, an advertising...
Show moreIn the American capitalist society, the media is often an agent used to perpetuate ideals and to inform consumers of products that they can purchase by using multiple advertising techniques. In an attempt to counter the thin body ideal for women, some companies have begun advertising their products by using plus size models, such as the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. The purpose of this research is to examine college women's perceptions of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, an advertising campaign whose goal is to reverse the stereotypical body ideal for women and broaden the definition of beauty. Some sociologists have criticized Dove for sending conflicting messages. This study is the first that focuses on women's perceptions about this potential conflict. Through the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods, this study examined if, how, and when women changed their initial perceptions toward the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty based on two separate scenarios brought to their attention. This is important because the findings suggest how consumers can change their perceptions regarding a company, in this case one that is a part of a multi-million dollar parent company, based on how a company advertises its products.
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Date Issued: 2012
Identifier: CFH0004144, ucf:44822
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004144

Title: Topsy's matchbook.
Date Created: 1930s-1950s
Identifier: DP0015369
Format: Set of related objects
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/DP0015369

Title: Snow Ball.
Date Created: 1930s
Identifier: DP0015357
Format: Image (JPEG)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/DP0015357

Title: Old plantation coffee.
Date Created: 1940s
Identifier: DP0015366
Format: Set of related objects
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/DP0015366

Title: MAMMY.
Date Created: 1930s
Identifier: DP0015356
Format: Image (JPEG)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/DP0015356

Title: Knox's gelatine.
Date Created: 1920s?
Identifier: DP0015493
Format: Set of related objects
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/DP0015493

Title: Durham tobacco.
Date Created: 1840-1880
Identifier: DP0015391
Format: Image (JPEG)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/DP0015391

Title: Dixieland brand christian and cockrill.
Date Created: 1940s
Identifier: DP0015353
Format: Image (JPEG)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/DP0015353

Title: Aunty.
Date Created: 1940s
Identifier: DP0015368
Format: Image (JPEG)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/DP0015368

Title: "Topsies" and "Evas".
Creator: Woody, Elizabeth, Muray, Nickolas
Date Created: 1940
Identifier: DP0015370
Format: Set of related objects
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/DP0015370

Title: "Dis sho' am good".
Identifier: DP0015342
Format: Image (JPEG)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/DP0015342

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