In the U.S., work-related death is an all too familiar occurrence on farms. Tractor overturns continue to be the most frequent cause of these fatalities. Efforts to alter farming’s ranking as one of the most deadly occupations in the country must provide proven strategies for the elimination of these preventable deaths. In the past, efforts to decrease the rate of overturn fatalities and injuries have largely focused onincreasing the proportion of tractors with a rollover protective structure (ROPS). These devices, in combination with seatbelts, are 99% effective in protecting the tractor operator from death or injury. Unfortunately, only 59% of U.S. tractors are currently equipped with ROPS. Due to the relative lack of political willpower to legislate ROPS installation and the less than encouraging response to education and awareness programs to date, it appeared necessary to explore alternative intervention strategies. The over-arching purpose of this thesis project has been to assess the utility of social marketing as a framework for developing effective health and safety interventions in the farm community. However, our specific objectives included; a more thorough understanding of the perceived barriers and motivators that influence farmer’s safety decisions, the design and evaluation of social marketing incentives developed to encourage safe behaviors and the evaluation of a social marketing campaign designed to positively impact farmer’s intentions and readiness to retrofit unsafe tractors. The research was by and large conducted in New York State and supported by grants from the National Institutes of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Previous research conducted in the New York farm community had indicated that small crop and livestock farmers would be an ideal intervention target for a social marketing tractor overturn intervention as their farms accounted for close to 85% of New York farms which lack or have only one ROPS protected tractor. A qualitative assessment of perceived barriers and motivators regarding retrofitting behaviors was performed with representatives of the small crop and livestock community. Grounded theory analysis of these in-depth interviews revealed several key categories which include: 1) risk becomes “normal”, 2) risk becomes part of a “farming identity”, and 3) risk becomes “cost-effective”. This information was used to design potential intervention incentives, such as toll-free assistance finding and purchasing ROPS, financial rebates, and campaign messages designed to address farmer’s stated concerns. Subsequent research included testing and revising messages and evaluating the effect of the different campaign incentives in a prospective quasirandomized controlled trial conducted in different regions of New York and Pennsylvania. The results indicate that social marketing offers a promising framework for the development of injury or fatality prevention programs in farm communities. Farmers in the social marketing region demonstrated the most significant changes in both behavioral intention and readiness to retrofit compared to farmers from other regions. Data also indicated that social norms strongly influence farmer’s decisions to work safely, as demonstrated by the strong correlations between behavioral intention measures and measures of social norms. As well as providing an assessment of the utility of social marketing as an intervention framework, the thesis provides a cogent example of how behavioral theories can be used in the design and evaluation of intervention programs. Both stages of change theory and the theory of planned behavior proved to be valuable for measuring dispositional and behavioral changes and for finetuning future interventions.

[pt] Game Analytics é uma área que envolve o processamento de dados de videogames com a finalidade de proporcionar uma melhor experiência de jogo para o usuário. Também ajuda a verificar os padrões de comportamento dos jogadores, facilitando a identificação do público-alvo. A coleta de dados dos jogadores ajuda os desenvolvedores de jogos a identificar problemas mais cedo e saber por que os jogadores deixaram o jogo ou continuaram jogando. O comportamento desses jogadores geralmente segue um padrão, fazendo com que se encaixem em diferentes perfis de jogadores. Especialistas em análise de jogos criam e usam modelos de tipos de jogadores, geralmente variantes do modelo de Bartle, para ajudar a identificar perfis de jogadores. Esses especialistas usam algoritmos de agrupamento para separar os jogadores em grupos diferentes e identificáveis, rotulando cada grupo com o tipo de perfil definido pelo modelo proposto. O objetivo principal deste projeto é criar um plugin Unity genérico para ajudar a identificar perfis de jogadores em jogos. Este plugin usa uma API Python, que lida com os dados do jogo armazenados em um banco de dados MongoDB, para agrupar e rotular cada partida ou nível do jogo escolhido enquanto o jogo está em execução. Neste plugin, os desenvolvedores de jogos podem configurar o número de tipos de jogadores que desejam identificar, os rótulos dos jogadores e até os algoritmos que desejam usar. Essa abordagem de agrupamento online não é usual no desenvolvimento de jogos. Até onde sabemos, não há nenhum componente de software na literatura de análise de jogos com a mesma direção e recursos. / [en] Game Analytics is an area that involves the processing of video game data, in order to make a better game experience for the user. It also helps to check the patterns in players behaviour, making it easier to identify the target audience. Gathering player data helps game developers identify problems earlier and know why players left the game or kept playing. These players behavior usually follows a pattern, making them fit in different player profiles. Game analytics experts create and use models of player types, usually variants of Bartle s model, to help identify player profiles. These experts use clustering algorithms to separate players into different and identifiable groups, labeling each group with the profile type defined by the proposed model. The main goal of this project is to create a generic Unity plugin to help identify Player Profiles in games. This plugin uses a Python API, which deals with the game data stored in a MongoDB database, to cluster and label each match or level of the chosen game while the game is running. In this plugin, game developers can configure the number of player types they want to identify, the player labels, and even the algorithms they wish to use. This online clustering approach is not usual in game development. As far as we are aware, there is no software component in the game analytics literature with the same direction and features.

This thesis argues that the FCB (Foote, Cone and Belding) grid can not only be used by advertising students to write strategy, but also to write superior strategies. To demonstrate this, the research in this study identifies two versions of the FCB grid that can serve as guidelines for students when writing advertising strategy. The argument is substantiated by the results of a statistical analysis of strategies written according to the FCB grid and the Bendinger formula. A discussion of the areas which were researched and led to the introduction of the FCB grid, as well as an explanation of the FCB grid, provide the context in which the grid should be viewed as a guideline for writing advertising strategy. Thereafter, a summative overview of what advertising strategy and the Bendinger formula encompass, identifies the complexed nature of advertising strategy, as well as the minimum areas which need to be addressed when attempting to write strategy. A detailed discussion of the method which was employed and the instrument developed to evaluate the effectiveness of strategies, precedes the experimental results. A critical discussion of the results obtained from the statistical analysis and the literature on advertising strategy provide a theoretical foundation on which a model, to be used in conjunction with the FCB grid to write strategy, is designed. The model is then explained to illustrate how students can, in conjunction with the FCB grid, apply it to write advertising strategy. This thesis recommends that, in order to improve on the suggested method of evaluating strategies, the measurement scale developed in this study could be considered as a starting point. A further recommendation is that the experiment comparing strategies written according to the FCB sextant grid to those written according to the FCB quadrant grid, could provide the need for further research. The thesis concludes that as far as could be determined, this was the first time that a study of this nature was undertaken and that the need for future research to validate this study and its results, exists. / Communication Science / D. Litt et Phil. (Communication)

This thesis argues that the FCB (Foote, Cone and Belding) grid can not only be used by advertising students to write strategy, but also to write superior strategies. To demonstrate this, the research in this study identifies two versions of the FCB grid that can serve as guidelines for students when writing advertising strategy. The argument is substantiated by the results of a statistical analysis of strategies written according to the FCB grid and the Bendinger formula. A discussion of the areas which were researched and led to the introduction of the FCB grid, as well as an explanation of the FCB grid, provide the context in which the grid should be viewed as a guideline for writing advertising strategy. Thereafter, a summative overview of what advertising strategy and the Bendinger formula encompass, identifies the complexed nature of advertising strategy, as well as the minimum areas which need to be addressed when attempting to write strategy. A detailed discussion of the method which was employed and the instrument developed to evaluate the effectiveness of strategies, precedes the experimental results. A critical discussion of the results obtained from the statistical analysis and the literature on advertising strategy provide a theoretical foundation on which a model, to be used in conjunction with the FCB grid to write strategy, is designed. The model is then explained to illustrate how students can, in conjunction with the FCB grid, apply it to write advertising strategy. This thesis recommends that, in order to improve on the suggested method of evaluating strategies, the measurement scale developed in this study could be considered as a starting point. A further recommendation is that the experiment comparing strategies written according to the FCB sextant grid to those written according to the FCB quadrant grid, could provide the need for further research. The thesis concludes that as far as could be determined, this was the first time that a study of this nature was undertaken and that the need for future research to validate this study and its results, exists. / Communication Science / D. Litt et Phil. (Communication)

This Master's Thesis deals with the possibilities for the practical usage of traffic simulations as tools for seeking solutions to various kinds of problems such as road traffic flow, the environmental impact of traffic, etc. It contains a description of the basic terms in the area of traffic simulation models, advantages of their practical usage, and furthermore, it describes the basic general methods of and attitudes to the most commonly used traffic simulations. In the second part, the analysis and the design of an original micro traffic simulator are included. Finally, the traffic simulator is implemented and tested on a real traffic situation.

В данной работе проводится научное обоснование теоретических положений и разработка практических рекомендаций по созданию и использованию маркетингового интернет-инструментария для формирования и развития отношений со студенческой молодёжью. / This dissertation provides scientific substantiation of theoretical provisions and development of practical recommendations for the creation and use of Internet marketing tools for the formation and development of relations with students.