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Title: PARTITIONING A GRAPH IN ALLIANCES AND ITS APPLICATION TO DATA CLUSTERING.
Creator: Hassan-Shafique, Khurram, Dutton, Ronald, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Any reasonably large group of individuals, families, states, and parties exhibits the phenomenon of subgroup formations within the group such that the members of each group have a strong connection or bonding between each other. The reasons of the formation of these subgroups that we call alliances differ in different situations, such as, kinship and friendship (in the case of individuals), common economic interests (for both individuals and states), common political interests, and...
Show moreAny reasonably large group of individuals, families, states, and parties exhibits the phenomenon of subgroup formations within the group such that the members of each group have a strong connection or bonding between each other. The reasons of the formation of these subgroups that we call alliances differ in different situations, such as, kinship and friendship (in the case of individuals), common economic interests (for both individuals and states), common political interests, and geographical proximity. This structure of alliances is not only prevalent in social networks, but it is also an important characteristic of similarity networks of natural and unnatural objects. (A similarity network defines the links between two objects based on their similarities). Discovery of such structure in a data set is called clustering or unsupervised learning and the ability to do it automatically is desirable for many applications in the areas of pattern recognition, computer vision, artificial intelligence, behavioral and social sciences, life sciences, earth sciences, medicine, and information theory. In this dissertation, we study a graph theoretical model of alliances where an alliance of the vertices of a graph is a set of vertices in the graph, such that every vertex in the set is adjacent to equal or more vertices inside the set than the vertices outside it. We study the problem of partitioning a graph into alliances and identify classes of graphs that have such a partition. We present results on the relationship between the existence of such a partition and other well known graph parameters, such as connectivity, subgraph structure, and degrees of vertices. We also present results on the computational complexity of finding such a partition. An alliance cover set is a set of vertices in a graph that contains at least one vertex from every alliance of the graph. The complement of an alliance cover set is an alliance free set, that is, a set that does not contain any alliance as a subset. We study the properties of these sets and present tight bounds on their cardinalities. In addition, we also characterize the graphs that can be partitioned into alliance free and alliance cover sets. Finally, we present an approximate algorithm to discover alliances in a given graph. At each step, the algorithm finds a partition of the vertices into two alliances such that the alliances are strongest among all such partitions. The strength of an alliance is defined as a real number p, such that every vertex in the alliance has at least p times more neighbors in the set than its total number of neighbors in the graph). We evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm on standard data sets.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: CFE0000263, ucf:46225
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000263

Title: ALLIANCE PARADOX: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF ALLIANCE PORTFOLIO EFFECTS ON CUSTOMER SERVICE QUALITY IN THE U.S. AIRLINE INDUSTRY.
Creator: zhang, zhe, Barringer, Bruce, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: This dissertation studies the potential paradoxical effects of alliance participation. Over the past two decades, alliance participation has become a popular firm strategy to obtain benefits that are difficult for a firm to obtain on its own. Yet, as firms increasingly participate in alliances, boundedly rational managers may not effectively manage all aspects of alliances to achieve intended alliance outcomes. Paradoxically, alliance participation may cause harm to the participating firms....
Show moreThis dissertation studies the potential paradoxical effects of alliance participation. Over the past two decades, alliance participation has become a popular firm strategy to obtain benefits that are difficult for a firm to obtain on its own. Yet, as firms increasingly participate in alliances, boundedly rational managers may not effectively manage all aspects of alliances to achieve intended alliance outcomes. Paradoxically, alliance participation may cause harm to the participating firms. To unveil an alliance paradox, this dissertation first examined the relationships between alliance portfolio attributes (i.e., alliance portfolio size, multilateral alliances, alliance partner country diversity, and alliance type) and customer service quality in the U.S. airline industry. Further, I examined whether alliance experience moderates the relationships between alliance portfolio attributes and customer service quality. Altogether, five hypotheses were tested. This dissertation relied exclusively on the longitudinal quarterly data of nine U.S. major airlines over a 20-year period between 1988 and 2007 that include Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, America West, Continental, Delta, Northwest, Southwest, United Airlines, and U.S. Airways. Data pertaining to alliance variables were collected from the Securities Data Company (SDC) database. Quarterly service quality data pertaining to customer complaint, mishandled baggage, on-time arrival, and involuntary denied boarding were collected from the Air Travel Consumer Report published by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). To detect the temporal effects of alliance portfolio attributes on service quality, a three-month lag was created between the alliances data and the service quality data. The results show that although the relationship between alliance portfolio attributes and service quality seems to be more complex than initially proposed, the overall finding confirms the existence of an alliance paradox in that increases in alliance portfolio size, partner country diversity and channel-dominated alliances (versus backward competitor-dominated alliances) are associated with decreases in certain key dimensions of service quality. This dissertation seeks to make several important contributions. First, by exploring the alliance paradox, this dissertation attempts to demonstrate that despite the anticipated alliance benefits such as cost reduction or revenue enhancement, managers need to be aware of the cost of alliance participation with respect to customer service quality, which has paramount impact on firm performance. Second, this dissertation also contributes to services marketing literature by investigating alliance portfolio attributes as antecedents of service quality. Third, this dissertation investigates whether firm-level alliance experience moderates the relationship between alliance portfolio attributes and service quality.
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Date Issued: 2009
Identifier: CFE0002505, ucf:47686
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002505

Title: Latin America and the Alliance for progress.
Creator: Aguilar Monteverde, Alonso, Wasserman, Ursula
Date Issued: 1963
Identifier: 2100241, CFDT2100241, ucf:4902
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FCLA/DT/2100241

Title: A CONSUMER-BASED ASSESSMENT OF ALLIANCE PERFORMANCE: AN EXAMINATION OF CONSUMER VALUE, SATISFACTION AND POST-PURCHASE BEHAVIOR.
Creator: Mouri, Nacef, Ganesh, Jai, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Strategic alliances have become a recognized strategy used by firms in the pursuit of their diverse organizational objectives. Consequently, the literature on alliances is replete with research investigating the value strategic alliances generate for participating organizations. Strategic alliances have been shown to contribute to firm value through numerous sources, including scale economies, effective risk management, cost efficient market entries, and learning from partners. Largely...
Show moreStrategic alliances have become a recognized strategy used by firms in the pursuit of their diverse organizational objectives. Consequently, the literature on alliances is replete with research investigating the value strategic alliances generate for participating organizations. Strategic alliances have been shown to contribute to firm value through numerous sources, including scale economies, effective risk management, cost efficient market entries, and learning from partners. Largely overlooked in the literature however, are issues investigating the relationship between strategic alliances and one of the organization's most important constituents, the consumer. Questions such as how the consumer reacts to inter-firm alliances, how strategic alliances impact consumer value, satisfaction, and customer post-purchase behavior have yet to be answered. This lacuna has been recently highlighted by prominent researchers in the discipline (Rindfleisch and Moorman 2003). Focusing on marketing alliances, the present dissertation attempts to address this gap in the alliance literature by advancing and testing a theoretical framework examining consumers' cognitive, affective, and behavioral reactions to organizational strategic alliances. The dissertation also contributes to the satisfaction literature. Scholars in this area have traditionally viewed satisfaction as a cognitive response to the comparison of actual consumption experiences with some comparison standard (confirmation/disconfirmation paradigm). Recently however, there have been increasing calls for satisfaction measures to capture not just how the customer thinks the product performed relative to the comparison standard, but also the resulting customer emotion. The study provides additional support of an affective route to customer satisfaction, particularly when customer hedonic value is enhanced. Moreover, the association between customer satisfaction and behavioral outcomes is also examined. While prior research shows that satisfaction is positively related to loyalty and word of mouth and negatively related to intentions to switch, it was found that these relationships are even stronger in the presence of alliances. The results of this dissertation provide important theoretical and managerial insights. The strategic alliance literature is enhanced insofar as this is the first effort aimed at investigating the impact of strategic alliances on the consumer. The study examines the relationship between marketing alliances and customer value, particularly utilitarian and hedonic value, as well as the moderating role of alliance type (functional or symbolic) in this relationship. From a managerial perspective, engaging in strategic alliances is strategically critical and costly. By providing insight into how alliances enhance consumer value, and how in turn value enhancement is related to customer satisfaction and behavioral outcomes, the present research will help managers make more appropriate and better-informed alliance decisions.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: CFE0000744, ucf:46594
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000744

Title: FINDING DUD VERTICES IN DEFENSIVE ALLIANCES AND SECURE SETS USING COMPUTATIONAL TOOLS.
Creator: Worley, George, Zhao, Yue, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Defensive alliances are a way of using graphs to model the defense of resources (people, buildings, countries, etc.) against attacks where the number of potential attackers against each resource is known. The initial study of defensive alliances focused on questions of minimal defensive alliances in a graph and the minimum possible size of a defensive alliance in a graph, but in order to apply defensive alliances in modeling real-world situations, additional considerations are important. In...
Show moreDefensive alliances are a way of using graphs to model the defense of resources (people, buildings, countries, etc.) against attacks where the number of potential attackers against each resource is known. The initial study of defensive alliances focused on questions of minimal defensive alliances in a graph and the minimum possible size of a defensive alliance in a graph, but in order to apply defensive alliances in modeling real-world situations, additional considerations are important. In particular, since each vertex in a defensive alliance represents some real-world object that has a cost associated with remaining in the defensive alliance, it is important to consider the value each vertex adds to the defensive alliance. In this thesis we consider a method of assessing the efficiency of a defensive alliance, including the special case of secure sets.
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Date Issued: 2011
Identifier: CFE0004010, ucf:49166
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004010

Title: MARKETING PARTNERSHIPS: IMPACT OF MONITORING SCHEMES AND COOPERATIVE ADVERTISING AGREEMENTS.
Creator: Chennamaneni, Pavan, Desiraju, Ramarao, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Marketing partnerships may involve either horizontal relationships (e.g., a co-marketing alliance between firms selling different products) or vertical relationships (e.g., between an upstream manufacturer and its downstream retailers). Either type of partnership often includes multiple members and the marketing efforts (e.g., level of advertising) of any member typically affect the profitability of the other members. When selecting their effort levels, however, the individual members of the...
Show moreMarketing partnerships may involve either horizontal relationships (e.g., a co-marketing alliance between firms selling different products) or vertical relationships (e.g., between an upstream manufacturer and its downstream retailers). Either type of partnership often includes multiple members and the marketing efforts (e.g., level of advertising) of any member typically affect the profitability of the other members. When selecting their effort levels, however, the individual members of the partnership do not account for such externalities. Consequently, the overall effort on behalf of the partnership is not optimal. This dissertation investigates the value of contractual mechanisms such as monitoring schemes (for horizontal partnerships) and cooperative advertising programs (for vertical partnerships) that may provide better incentives to the partners to invest into the relationship. The first part of this dissertation focuses on horizontal marketing partnerships and examines the relative effectiveness of outcome- and action-based contracts in providing the alliance partners with the incentives to invest appropriately. A mathematical model is developed in which a focal firm (e.g., Sony) contracts with two partners (e.g., McDonald's and Old Navy), when each of these partners is privately informed about the impact of the alliance on its demand. The analysis evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of outcome- (or output-) and action- (or input-) based contracts in several settings including those with no demand externality, a positive externality and a negative externality. The analysis shows that when there is (a) no externality, (b) negative externality, or (c) a relatively weak positive externality, there is a strict preference for output-based contracts; that preference, however, is reversed with a sufficiently strong positive externality. The rationale for these findings, along with the implications and directions for further work are discussed. The second part of this dissertation focuses on a vertical marketing relationship where multiple retailers sell the products from a common manufacturer. Here, each retailer's level of advertising affects the demand for the other retailers. This positive externality, however, allows any retailer to free-ride on the other retailers' efforts and leads to an overall reduction in the level of advertising by all the retailers. In this context, a manufacturer can use a cooperative advertising contract to reimburse part of the advertising expenses of its retailers in order to induce them to raise their levels of advertising. Observed terms in a cooperative advertising contract include either a participation rate, a participation rate and a variable accrual rate, or a participation rate and a fixed accrual rate. This dissertation analyzes the relative effectiveness of the above three types of cooperative advertising contracts in minimizing or eliminating the free-riding problem. More specifically, a mathematical model is developed to analyze the relative impact of these contractual terms when the downstream retailers face either symmetric or asymmetric demand and cost structures. The analysis shows that with symmetric retailers, the three types of contracts are equally effective. With asymmetric retailers, though, including some form of accrual stipulations typically adds value to a contract that specifies only a participation rate. Further, using a variable accrual stipulation may be preferred to the fixed accrual stipulation under certain conditions and vice versa. The two types of accrual stipulations affect retail prices and efforts in distinct ways and these differences may tip the scale in favor of one contract versus the other under the appropriate circumstances. These conditions and the intuition behind the results are discussed. Overall, this dissertation contributes to the literature on horizontal and vertical marketing relationships and enhances our understanding of distinct contractual mechanisms that can help align the actions of various members involved in such partnerships.
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Date Issued: 2009
Identifier: CFE0002770, ucf:48122
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002770

Title: The Effects of Social Support and Working Alliance on Latino-American Male Combat Veterans.
Creator: Duran, Lloyd, Leon, Ana, Steen, Julie, Molina, Olga, Wan, Thomas, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: The negative effects of traumatic combat experiences on combatants' psychological functioning is well documented in the literature. The Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) has resulted in many veterans returning from deployments with mental health conditions related to trauma exposure, such as posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, general anxiety, and suicidality. Past researchers found significant ethnic differences in psychological functioning, with Latino-American veterans reporting more...
Show moreThe negative effects of traumatic combat experiences on combatants' psychological functioning is well documented in the literature. The Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) has resulted in many veterans returning from deployments with mental health conditions related to trauma exposure, such as posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, general anxiety, and suicidality. Past researchers found significant ethnic differences in psychological functioning, with Latino-American veterans reporting more symptoms of PTSD. Furthermore, Latino-American cultural values place importance on collective orientation and secrecy of mental health concerns which may affect treatment. Thus, this study built on limited research about Latino-American male combat veterans by focusing on the effects of social support and working therapeutic alliance during mental health treatment. Using a cross-sectional design, a sample of 42 GWOT Latino-American Veterans undergoing mental health treatment at a VA Medical Center in the Southeastern U.S. was recruited and surveyed. Participants completed a set of nine questionnaires (Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation, PTSD Checklist (-) Military Version, Beck Depression Inventory (-) 2nd Edition, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Postdeployment Social Support Scale, Combat Exposure Scale, Working Alliance Inventory (-) Short Form. Network Orientation Scale, and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support). Descriptive and bivariate statistics were calculated, and regression models were tested. The results indicate that social support improved overall PTSD and intrusive symptoms, separately, but working therapeutic alliance had a marginal effect on avoidance symptoms. Working alliance was found to exert a negative effect on depressive symptoms. The study did not yield evidence to support significant effects of social support or working alliance on suicidality and generalized anxiety. These results have implications for mental health service systems and for future research. Therapists serving veterans with PTSD should work with the patient/client to increase perceived social support. When serving veterans with depressive symptoms, therapists should place special effort on developing a strong working alliance.?
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Date Issued: 2017
Identifier: CFE0006872, ucf:51749
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006872

Title: Client Outcome: An Exploratory Investigation of Multicultural Competence and the Working Alliance.
Creator: Gonzalez, Jessica, Barden, Sejal, Lambie, Glenn, Butler, S. Kent, Bai, Haiyan, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Early termination and low retention of clients is a common problem in counseling, with between 65%-80% of clients terminating treatment before the 10th session (Garfield, 1994; Lambert, 2013). Researchers (Lampropoulous, Schneider, (&) Spengler, 2009; Owen, Smith, (&) Rodolfa, 2009) have found that predictors of early termination include client age, race, socioeconomic status, and level of perceived distress. Furthermore, racial and ethnic minorities underutilize mental health services and...
Show moreEarly termination and low retention of clients is a common problem in counseling, with between 65%-80% of clients terminating treatment before the 10th session (Garfield, 1994; Lambert, 2013). Researchers (Lampropoulous, Schneider, (&) Spengler, 2009; Owen, Smith, (&) Rodolfa, 2009) have found that predictors of early termination include client age, race, socioeconomic status, and level of perceived distress. Furthermore, racial and ethnic minorities underutilize mental health services and have low retention when engaged in services, highlighting the need for counseling professionals to empirically explore factors that may be contributing to client engagement of the counseling process. Exploration of multicultural competence and working alliances may increase understanding of the therapeutic factors that influence client outcomes. The purpose of this research study was to investigate relationships between multicultural competence, working alliance, and client outcomes as perceived by counselors-in-training and their clients (N = 191; n = 72 counselors'-in-training, n = 119 clients). The Tripartite Model of Multicultural Counseling (Arredondo et al., 1996) was used as the primary theoretical framework in which the study is grounded. This investigation explored clients' perceptions of their counselors'-in-training ' multicultural competence as measured by the Cross-Cultural Counseling Inventory ([CCCI-R]; LaFromboise, Coleman, (&) Hernandez, 1991), the working alliance as measured by the Working Alliance Inventory- Short Revision ([WAI-S]; Horvath (&) Greenberg, 1989; Tracey (&) Kovocivic, 1989) and prediction on client outcome as measured by the Outcome Questionnaire 45.2 ([OQ 45.2]; Lambert (&) Burlingame, 1996), after controlling for social desirability (as measured by the (Social Desirability Scale-Short Form [SDS; Reynolds,1982]). This investigation also examined if there were any differences in clients' and counselors'-in-training perceptions on multicultural competence (as measured by the CCCI-R) or the working alliance (as measured by the WAI-S). Results from the investigation indicated that counselors'-in-training perceptions of their multicultural competence was a predictor of client outcomes. However, counselors'-in-training perceptions of the working alliance or clients' perceptions of their counselors'-in-training multicultural competence and the working alliance were not predictors of client outcomes. Positive relationships between clients' and counselors'-in-training perceptions of counselors'-in-training multicultural competence and the working alliance were found. The results of this investigation contribute to a gap in the counseling literature on multicultural competence, the working alliance, and client outcomes. A review of the literature on the constructs of interest, research methodology, data analysis, results and implications are discussed.
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Date Issued: 2015
Identifier: CFE0005622, ucf:50219
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005622

Title: GEORGE LISKA'S REALIST ALLIANCE THEORY, AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF NATO.
Creator: Kireyev, Sergey, Handberg, Roger, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: In many aspects, political theory forms a subjective structure of this abstract science. Perhaps, it is due to the fact that unlike natural sciences or mathematics, social sciences often lack the privilege of testing the theories in absolute and unadulterated conditions. Nonetheless, such nature of the science allows for a certain degree of flexibility, when applying political theories to real-world phenomena. Alliances and coalitions in international relations form the backbone of the theory...
Show moreIn many aspects, political theory forms a subjective structure of this abstract science. Perhaps, it is due to the fact that unlike natural sciences or mathematics, social sciences often lack the privilege of testing the theories in absolute and unadulterated conditions. Nonetheless, such nature of the science allows for a certain degree of flexibility, when applying political theories to real-world phenomena. Alliances and coalitions in international relations form the backbone of the theory, concerning IR scholars with two main questions: Why do alliances and coalitions form? And, what keeps alliances and coalitions together? As the core of my research, I examined NATO, as the most prominent and long-lasting alliance of our time, through the prism of alliance formation and cohesion theory introduced by George Liska. In particular, I explored the evolution of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization over the term of its existence, and sought to determine whether Liska's principles still apply to the contemporary situation, and in particular, how may the variables have altered the application of this scholar's theory to our future understanding of alliances. In its essence, this is a comparative study of the same alliance during the different stages of its existence. In particular, the comparison dissects such aspects of alliance theory as alignment, alliance formation, efficacy, and reasons for possible dissolution. As a result, the study led to a conclusion, that despite the permutations around and within NATO, the basic realist principles that may explain the mechanism of this alliance's formation and cohesion still apply to the contemporary organization.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: CFE0000211, ucf:46247
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000211

Title: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SELF-DISCLOSURE, SELF-EFFICACY, AND THE SUPERVISORY WORKING ALLIANCE OF COUNSELOR EDUCATION PRACTICUM AND INTERNSHIP STUDENTS.
Creator: March, David, Young, Mark, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: A primary goal of clinical supervision in counselor education programs is to develop trainees who express a level of self-awareness, competence, and self-efficacy from which to further develop as a counselor. A vital component of this process is for supervisees to disclose their thoughts and feelings about their clients, their self as a person, their work as a counselor, and experiences with their supervisor. However, current research suggests that it is common for supervisees to hold back...
Show moreA primary goal of clinical supervision in counselor education programs is to develop trainees who express a level of self-awareness, competence, and self-efficacy from which to further develop as a counselor. A vital component of this process is for supervisees to disclose their thoughts and feelings about their clients, their self as a person, their work as a counselor, and experiences with their supervisor. However, current research suggests that it is common for supervisees to hold back personal and professional information from their supervisor leading to missed learning and growth opportunities. Through self-disclosure, trainees receive positive and negative supervisor feedback. It is important to examine how this may influence trainee confidence. It is hypothesized that self-efficacy will be threatened by low levels of supervisee self-disclosure. This study explored the relationship that exists between supervisee self-disclosure and supervisee self-efficacy, and what role the working alliance plays in the relationship. A total of 71counselor education students at three CACREP accredited institutions in Florida participate in the study. All participants had experienced at least one full semester of practicum or internship. A sub-sample of the 71, comprised of 32 participants, was also selected based on their responses to an abridged version of one of the three instruments used in the study. Both samples received equal statistical analyses. Overall, the results suggest that counselor education practicum or internship student self-disclosure was not able to explain their self-efficacy. Furthermore, when the participants' perception of the supervisory working alliance was added to their level of self-disclosure, the statistical results were mixed depending on the sample used.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: CFE0000509, ucf:46450
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000509

Title: LEGITIMIZING THE "REPUBLICAN MONARCH": A REEXAMINATION OF FRENCH FOREIGN POLICY IN THE ATLANTIC ALLIANCE, 1958-1960.
Creator: Fedorka, Drew, Lyons, Amelia, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: This thesis focuses on the role foreign policy played in legitimizing the early French Fifth Republic from 1958 to 1960. I argue that President Charles de Gaulle employed foreign policy in the service of gaining public support for his new government and the new republic. Many historians have argued previously that his foreign policy of grandeur, as it came to be called, was used to recast international politics and France's role in them. My work diverges from these previous interpretations by...
Show moreThis thesis focuses on the role foreign policy played in legitimizing the early French Fifth Republic from 1958 to 1960. I argue that President Charles de Gaulle employed foreign policy in the service of gaining public support for his new government and the new republic. Many historians have argued previously that his foreign policy of grandeur, as it came to be called, was used to recast international politics and France's role in them. My work diverges from these previous interpretations by arguing that Gaullist foreign policy served, in many instances, overarching domestic goals, not French international interests. I see foreign policy as inseparable from the broader domestic ambition to craft a persuasive narrative of renewal and national unity under Gaullist stewardship. In the process, my study puts de Gaulle's foreign policy into the context of his larger aspiration to precipitate constitutional reform and, thereafter, ensure popular support. De Gaulle exploited opportunities to use foreign policy in order to shape public opinion, both domestically and internationally. These efforts, as my research reflects, helped foster public support for the new regime and, by portraying national renewal, further discredited the preceding Fourth Republic.
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Date Issued: 2012
Identifier: CFH0004236, ucf:44906
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004236

Title: A FRAMEWORK FOR EFFICIENT DATA DISTRIBUTION IN PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKS.
Creator: Purandare, Darshan, Guha, Ratan, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Peer to Peer (P2P) models are based on user altruism, wherein a user shares its content with other users in the pool and it also has an interest in the content of the other nodes. Most P2P systems in their current form are not fair in terms of the content served by a peer and the service obtained from swarm. Most systems suffer from free rider's problem where many high uplink capacity peers contribute much more than they should while many others get a free ride for downloading the content...
Show morePeer to Peer (P2P) models are based on user altruism, wherein a user shares its content with other users in the pool and it also has an interest in the content of the other nodes. Most P2P systems in their current form are not fair in terms of the content served by a peer and the service obtained from swarm. Most systems suffer from free rider's problem where many high uplink capacity peers contribute much more than they should while many others get a free ride for downloading the content. This leaves high capacity nodes with very little or no motivation to contribute. Many times such resourceful nodes exit the swarm or don't even participate. The whole scenario is unfavorable and disappointing for P2P networks in general, where participation is a must and a very important feature. As the number of users increases in the swarm, the swarm becomes robust and scalable. Other important issues in the present day P2P system are below optimal Quality of Service (QoS) in terms of download time, end-to-end latency and jitter rate, uplink utilization, excessive cross ISP traffic, security and cheating threats etc. These current day problems in P2P networks serve as a motivation for present work. To this end, we present an efficient data distribution framework in Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks for media streaming and file sharing domain. The experiments with our model, an alliance based peering scheme for media streaming, show that such a scheme distributes data to the swarm members in a near-optimal way. Alliances are small groups of nodes that share data and other vital information for symbiotic association. We show that alliance formation is a loosely coupled and an effective way to organize the peers and our model maps to a small world network, which form efficient overlay structures and are robust to network perturbations such as churn. We present a comparative simulation based study of our model with CoolStreaming/DONet (a popular model) and present a quantitative performance evaluation. Simulation results show that our model scales well under varying workloads and conditions, delivers near optimal levels of QoS, reduces cross ISP traffic considerably and for most cases, performs at par or even better than Cool-Streaming/DONet. In the next phase of our work, we focussed on BitTorrent P2P model as it the most widely used file sharing protocol. Many studies in academia and industry have shown that though BitTorrent scales very well but is far from optimal in terms of fairness to end users, download time and uplink utilization. Furthermore, random peering and data distribution in such model lead to suboptimal performance. Lately, new breed of BitTorrent clients like BitTyrant have shown successful strategic attacks against BitTorrent. Strategic peers configure the BitTorrent client software such that for very less or no contribution, they can obtain good download speeds. Such strategic nodes exploit the altruism in the swarm and consume resources at the expense of other honest nodes and create an unfair swarm. More unfairness is generated in the swarm with the presence of heterogeneous bandwidth nodes. We investigate and propose a new token-based anti-strategic policy that could be used in BitTorrent to minimize the free-riding by strategic clients. We also proposed other policies against strategic attacks that include using a smart tracker that denies the request of strategic clients for peer listmultiple times, and black listing the non-behaving nodes that do not follow the protocol policies. These policies help to stop the strategic behavior of peers to a large extent and improve overall system performance. We also quantify and validate the benefits of using bandwidth peer matching policy. Our simulations results show that with the above proposed changes, uplink utilization and mean download time in BitTorrent network improves considerably. It leaves strategic clients with little or no incentive to behave greedily. This reduces free riding and creates fairer swarm with very little computational overhead. Finally, we show that our model is self healing model where user behavior changes from selfish to altruistic in the presence of the aforementioned policies.
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Date Issued: 2008
Identifier: CFE0002260, ucf:47864
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002260

Title: Understanding Gender and Sexuality in a Gay/Straight Alliance.
Creator: Duesterhaus, Megan, Grauerholz, Elizabeth, Lynxwiler, John, Carter, James, Schippert, Claudia, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Gay/Straight Alliances aimed at providing sexual minority youth and their allies with support, social events, and activism and education opportunities have proliferated in high schools in the United States over the past two decades. This study employs a qualitative, grounded theory approach to examine how sexual minority youth and their allies navigate gender, sexuality, and social movement participation. A year and a half of observation and 16 semi-structured individual interviews were...
Show moreGay/Straight Alliances aimed at providing sexual minority youth and their allies with support, social events, and activism and education opportunities have proliferated in high schools in the United States over the past two decades. This study employs a qualitative, grounded theory approach to examine how sexual minority youth and their allies navigate gender, sexuality, and social movement participation. A year and a half of observation and 16 semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with Gay/Straight Alliance members in a high school setting in the southeastern United States. The study reveals that, through the lens of frame analysis, the G/SA is analogous to larger and more organized social movement organizations. The findings also suggest members often struggle and engage with issues surrounding sexuality, including its origins, coming out as a process, and judgments and evaluations surrounding sex and desire. Additionally, the findings address elements of gender conformity and non-conformity.
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Date Issued: 2012
Identifier: CFE0004228, ucf:49008
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004228

Title: MARKET-BASED ASSET MANAGEMENT AND SHAREHOLDER VALUE: INVESTIGATING THE ROLES OF HUMAN CAPITAL AND FACTOR MARKETS IN MAXIMIZING RETURNS ON CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS.
Creator: Milewicz, Chad, Echambadi, Raj, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: The accountability of marketing investments continues to be a key area of concern for researchers and practitioners (MSI Research Priorities, 2008). In particular, market-based assets, specifically customer relationships, and their potential impact on firm performance are a significant source of interest. Though research in this area continues to grow, little is understood about how investments in human capital and the acquisition of alliance partners through factor markets relate to customer...
Show moreThe accountability of marketing investments continues to be a key area of concern for researchers and practitioners (MSI Research Priorities, 2008). In particular, market-based assets, specifically customer relationships, and their potential impact on firm performance are a significant source of interest. Though research in this area continues to grow, little is understood about how investments in human capital and the acquisition of alliance partners through factor markets relate to customer relationship management and the impact of customer relationships on performance. This dissertation presents two studies which, together, investigate how investments in market-based assets influence on abnormal stock returns. In the first study, the resource-based view of the firm (Barney 1991) is used to posit several hypotheses related to investments in human capital. The hypotheses are tested using ten years of data from the U.S. airline industry and analyzed using a mixed-effects methodology. Results indicate that investments in customer service personnel impact abnormal stock returns through their impact on customer relationships. Moreover, these investments tend to have decreasing returns in terms of their impact on customer relationships, and the relative strength of this relationship is shown to be contingent upon a firm's service delivery capabilities, advertising expenditures, and operating focus. This study helps clarify how market-based assets are managed, how investments in specific resources used to manage them relate to stock returns, and why the same dollar invested in human capital by different firms can lead to different levels of returns. The second study also takes a resource-based view of the firm and the management of market-based assets. From this perspective, alliances are considered as external resources acquired in strategic factor markets (Barney 1986) for the purpose of complimenting a focal firm's strategy and performance. This study investigates the long-term impact of alternative types of alliances and the potential impact of alliance partners' customer relationship management capabilities on a focal firms' performance. Just as in study one, ten years of U.S. airline data are used, and a mixed-effects methodology is implemented to test hypotheses. Results indicate that the direct benefits of horizontal marketing alliances tend to be positive, but dependent upon the extensiveness of the alliance. Furthermore, it is revealed that the impact of a partner's customer relationship management capabilities on a focal firm's performance is contingent upon whether the partner's capabilities are similar or dissimilar relative to the focal firm. In short, results indicate that when differences exist, the positive impact of a focal firm's customer relationship management capabilities can be reduced to almost zero if that firm allies with a less competent partner. Taken together, these studies tend to suggest that firms which learn to successfully manage investments in customer relationships may risk nullifying expected positive returns if they simultaneously select alliance partners which are less successful at managing such investments. Similarly, firms which are not able to improve their own management of customer relationships can potentially limit the potential negative consequences by allying with more able firms. In all, this dissertation helps address the accountability issue for marketers.
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Date Issued: 2009
Identifier: CFE0002769, ucf:48119
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002769

Title: Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation of United Launch Alliance Delta IV Hydrogen Plume Mitigation Strategies.
Creator: Guimond, Stephen, Kassab, Alain, Divo, Eduardo, Vasu Sumathi, Subith, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: During the launch sequence of the United Launch Alliance Delta IV launch vehicle, large amounts of pure hydrogen are introduced into the launch table and ignited by Radial-Outward-Firing-Igniters (ROFIs). This ignition results in a significant flame, or plume, that rises upwards out of the launch table due to buoyancy. The presence of the plume causes increased and unwanted heat loads on the surface of the vehicle. A proposed solution is to add a series of fans and structures to the existing...
Show moreDuring the launch sequence of the United Launch Alliance Delta IV launch vehicle, large amounts of pure hydrogen are introduced into the launch table and ignited by Radial-Outward-Firing-Igniters (ROFIs). This ignition results in a significant flame, or plume, that rises upwards out of the launch table due to buoyancy. The presence of the plume causes increased and unwanted heat loads on the surface of the vehicle. A proposed solution is to add a series of fans and structures to the existing launch table configuration that are designed to inject ambient air in the immediate vicinity of the launch vehicle's nozzles to suppress the plume rise. In addition to the air injection, secondary fan systems can be added around the launch table openings to further suppress the hydrogen plume. The proposed air injection solution is validated by computational fluid dynamics simulations that capture the combustion and compressible flow observed during the Delta IV launch sequence. A solution to the hydrogen plume problem will have direct influence on the efficiency of the launch vehicle: lower heat loads result in thinner vehicle insulation and thus allow for a larger payload mass. Current results show that air injection around the launch vehicle nozzles and air suppression around the launch table openings significantly reduces the size of the plume around the launch vehicle prior to liftoff.
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Date Issued: 2014
Identifier: CFE0005500, ucf:50345
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005500

Title: Dual Branding: An Investigative Look into Dual Branding's Position within the Concept of Brand Alliance in the Hotel Industry.
Creator: Ronzoni, Giulio, Fyall, Alan, Torres Areizaga, Edwin, Singh, Dipendra, Weinland, Jeffrey, Smith, Scott, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate, in an exploratory way, the state of the art of the application of brand alliances, with a particular focus on the practice of dual branding, in the field of lodging. More precisely, this research aimed at identifying and evaluating the determinants of industry adoption of, and customer satisfaction with, intra-company dual branding strategies in the US lodging industry.The primary purpose of this study is to determine the efficacy of dual...
Show moreThe purpose of this dissertation was to investigate, in an exploratory way, the state of the art of the application of brand alliances, with a particular focus on the practice of dual branding, in the field of lodging. More precisely, this research aimed at identifying and evaluating the determinants of industry adoption of, and customer satisfaction with, intra-company dual branding strategies in the US lodging industry.The primary purpose of this study is to determine the efficacy of dual branding in the field of the lodging industry, a phenomenon that is still insufficiently explored in the literature. In fact, the scarcity of literature pertaining to the lodging industry has forced this study to consider the research related to other segments and industries where dual branding strategies have been studied. Therefore, this study intended to expand the existing body of knowledge, advancing the theory of brand alliance from an industry and consumer perspective, as well as adapt, refine, and utilize a scale suitable for the measurement of dual branded hotels' customer satisfaction. This dissertation used an exploratory sequential mixed method approach. In the first qualitative phase, face-to-face and telephone interviews with operational hotel managers, corporate hotel managers, real estate development and management companies' managers, owners, and presidents, as well as hotel and lodging associations' professionals have been conducted. In addition to relevant and significant findings and results obtained through the hotel industry professionals interviewed, themes, constructs, and variables useful in the refinement and adaptation of a dual branding customer satisfaction scale were attained. Consequently, the second quantitative phase consisted of an online administration of a scenario-based questionnaire to dual branded hotels' customers of a dual branded lodging property aimed at identifying and evaluating the determinants of customer satisfaction.The ultimate purpose of this research has been to understand the main issues of implementation of dual branding practices and strategies in the lodging context. In particular, it has been to highlight and provide managerial, theoretical, methodological, and practical implications and recommendations for the US lodging industry, in the adoption of intra-company dual branding strategies. The suggestions offered in the study are relevantly timed to what is happening within the lodging industry, offering implications for both academia and industry.
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Date Issued: 2019
Identifier: CFE0007716, ucf:52411
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007716

Title: interACTionZ: Engaging LGBTQ+ Youth Using Theatre For Social Change.
Creator: Jackson, Jonathan, Weaver, Earl, StClaire, Sybil, Scott, Hubert, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Theatre for social change is a term used to describe a wide range of theatre-based techniques and methods. Through implementation of performance techniques, participants are encouraged to creatively explore and communicate various ideas with the specific intention of eliciting a societal or political shift within a given community. Through this thesis, I will explore the impact of applying theatre for social change in a youth-centered environment. I will discuss my journey as creator,...
Show moreTheatre for social change is a term used to describe a wide range of theatre-based techniques and methods. Through implementation of performance techniques, participants are encouraged to creatively explore and communicate various ideas with the specific intention of eliciting a societal or political shift within a given community. Through this thesis, I will explore the impact of applying theatre for social change in a youth-centered environment. I will discuss my journey as creator, facilitator, and project director of interACTionZ, a queer youth theatre program in Orlando, FL formed through a partnership between Theatre UCF at the University of Central Florida and the Zebra Coalition(&)#174;. I will give specific focus throughout this project to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ+) youth and straight advocates for the LGBTQ+ community.
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Date Issued: 2013
Identifier: CFE0005007, ucf:49989
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005007

Alliance (2)	+ -
NATO (2)	+ -
counselor education (2)	+ -
defensive alliances (2)	+ -
satisfaction (2)	+ -

working alliance (2)	+ -
Alliance for Progress (1)	+ -
Amenities (1)	+ -
Atlantic Alliance (1)	+ -
Brand (1)	+ -
Brand alliance (1)	+ -
Brand management (1)	+ -
Branding practices (1)	+ -
Branding theory (1)	+ -
Charles de Gaulle (1)	+ -
Co-Marketing Alliances (1)	+ -
Co-branding (1)	+ -
Combat (1)	+ -
Community Building (1)	+ -
Competitive advantage (1)	+ -
Computer Networks (1)	+ -
Computer Science (1)	+ -
Cooperative Advertising (1)	+ -
Customer expectation (1)	+ -
Devising (1)	+ -
Diplomacy (1)	+ -
Dual branding (1)	+ -
Economic policy (1)	+ -
Economies of scale (1)	+ -
Fifth Republic (1)	+ -

ETD Collection (15)	+ -
Honors Collection (1)	+ -
PRISM: Political & Rights Issues & Social Movements (1)	+ -

University of Central Florida (16)	+ -
Aguilar Monteverde, Alonso (1)	+ -
Bai, Haiyan (1)	+ -
Barden, Sejal (1)	+ -
Barringer, Bruce (1)	+ -

Butler, S. Kent (1)	+ -
Carter, James (1)	+ -
Chennamaneni, Pavan (1)	+ -
Desiraju, Ramarao (1)	+ -
Divo, Eduardo (1)	+ -
Duesterhaus, Megan (1)	+ -
Duran, Lloyd (1)	+ -
Dutton, Ronald (1)	+ -
Echambadi, Raj (1)	+ -
Fedorka, Drew (1)	+ -
Fyall, Alan (1)	+ -
Ganesh, Jai (1)	+ -
Gonzalez, Jessica (1)	+ -
Grauerholz, Elizabeth (1)	+ -
Guha, Ratan (1)	+ -
Guimond, Stephen (1)	+ -
Handberg, Roger (1)	+ -
Hassan-Shafique, Khurram (1)	+ -
Jackson, Jonathan (1)	+ -
Kassab, Alain (1)	+ -
Kireyev, Sergey (1)	+ -
Lambie, Glenn (1)	+ -
Leon, Ana (1)	+ -
Lynxwiler, John (1)	+ -
Lyons, Amelia (1)	+ -

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