Master of Science / Department of Computing and Information Sciences / Gurdip Singh / This work is motivated by the OMG’s CORBA Event Service Specification. CORBA is the acronym for Common Object Request Broker Architecture. In this research, we implemented and analyzed an event service using a model similar to the OMG model for sensor networks applications which are written in nesC programming language, an extension of C programming language. This implementation has been tested on a test bed created using Crossbow’s TelosB motes and Crossbow’s Stargate Netbridge modules as gateways. Event service interface implementations, which reside on the motes, are written in nesC. The data routing part, which is done through Stargate Netbridges, is written in the C language. This document contains experimental results obtained by deploying and running the implementation on the test bed.

Reputation is an important asset for organisations worldwide. Many researchers have attempted to develop a measurement construct to assess an organisation’s reputation, with the RepTrak System being recognised to be the world’s first tool that assess reputation across multiple stakeholders and areas of the organisation. Nevertheless, the characteristics, methods and stakeholders to include within an assessment of this intangible asset continues to be widely debated. Organisations are under intense scrutiny by their stakeholders, with reputation being an organisational asset on which many opinions are formed. Universities in the UK are no different, as they compete for students from around the world, with the institutions thought to have the best reputations, attracting more students. Nevertheless, no agreed measure for assessing a university’s reputation exists, with many organisations relying solely on league table rankings. Thus, this thesis evaluated existing reputation measurement characteristics, to determine their applicability in assessing the reputation of a UK university. The antecedents of reputation are also widely debated. Authors suggest that stakeholders’ prior knowledge and experience, and communication they receive from an organisation contributes to their perceptions of that organisation’s reputation. The Media Richness Theory suggests a hierarchy to this communication, with face-to-face communication recognised to be of increasing importance due to its ‘rich’ nature. Consequently, the use of events as a strategic communication tool for marketing and public relations purposes has become increasingly popular. Nevertheless, the impact of these events on an organisation’s reputation has yet to be assessed. Thus, the aim of x this thesis is to evaluate the impact that these events have on stakeholders’ perceptions of a UK university’s reputation. A case study methodology, using mixed methods, and underpinned by a pragmatic philosophical perspective was adopted. Five semi-structured interviews were held with senior managers during the first phase of data collection and analysis. Results from these interviews were used to determine the strategic purpose of events as a communication tool. In phase two of the research, the study’s main variables (Reputation, Event Influence, Knowledge and Familiarity, Future Intentions) are combined into a model to assess their relationships. These are tested using Structural Equation Modelling, and data collected from 23 university events and 592 event attendees, using a quantitative questonniare. This study contributes to our knowledge and understanding of the benefits of using events as a form of communication, and highlights the necessity of using a variety of communication channels to inform different stakeholder groups. Findings within this research contradict existing knowledge within the UK Higher Education Industry, by suggesting that university league tables were not the most frequently used method of assessing a university’s reputation, and that rather stakeholders base their perceptions on their personal experience with the institution. Consequently, attending events is found to have a positive influence on attendees’ perceptions of the university’s reputation, however a threshold level exists for stakeholders with high levels of familiarity with the university. Therefore, evidence of the impact of using events as a communication tool is found with a positive return on investment in terms of reputation gains. Thus, findings can be used to inform communication strategy within the higher education industry within the UK.

Orientador : Eleri Cardozo / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Eletrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-28T22:47:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Bosnardo_RaquelCristina_M.pdf: 5414563 bytes, checksum: 544795dcf9e396a0241a2e0bb1dfee6c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2001 / Resumo: Este trabalho descreve o desenvolvimento de um sistema de videoconferência para redes de alto desempenho, que pode ser integrado em sistemas de educação a distância os quais necessitam desta funcionalidade. O sistema é portável, não proprietário e distribuído e permite a interação entre professor e estudante (em um ambiente de educação a distância) através de transmissões em áudio e vídeo, e através de notificações por eventos. Para a implementação, foram utilizadas a arquitetura CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) e a linguagem Java. Dois serviços CORBA foram empregados: AIV Streams para o transporte da mídia contínua e o Serviço de Eventos para a notificação de eventos. O projeto e desenvolvimento utiliza tecnologias modernas tais como UML (Unified Modeling Language), componentes de software, e orientação a objetos / Abstract:This dissertation deseribes the development of a videoconference system targeted to high speed networks that can be integrated into distance learning systems lacking of this functionality. The system is designed to be portable, open, and distributed, allowing the integration among teacher and students (in a distance Jearning environment) through live audio and video, and event notifications. The impJementation relies on the CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) architecture and the Java language. Two CORBA services were employed: AIV Streams for eontinuous media transport and Event Service for event notification. The design and development employ modem technologies such as UML (Unified Modeling Language), software components, and object-orientation / Mestrado / Engenharia Eletrica / Mestre em Engenharia Elétrica