The purpose of this study was to investigate what effect, if any, an outdoor orientation program conducted at a comprehensive public institution in the Northwest school had on first-year students' self-efficacy relative to success in their first year of college, measured as academic and social integration. A random sample of students who registered for the raft/hike option of the FOOTsteps program and a random sample of students not registered for FOOTsteps or for the university's orientation class were sent surveys through campus mail. These surveys asked them to rate their confidence in completing tasks associated with academic and social integration into the college setting. While no statistically significant difference between the groups was found, time was a significant factor in increasing efficacy expectations for both groups. Additionally, the study looked to see if there were any differential effects of the treatment program on participants' self-efficacy depending on the participants' prior outdoor adventure experience. Again, no statistically significant differences were found. Despite these insignificant statistical results, it was found through focus groups and participant journals that the outdoor orientation program aided in the participants ability to develop social connections and make friends, thus moderating the anxiety of the beginning of college. / Graduation date: 2003

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of back and seat rest inclination on the kinematics of manual hand-rim wheelchair propulsion in subjects with spastic type cerebral palsy. Subjects ranged in age from nine to twenty-one and were classified as USCPAA Class III or IV functional ability. Subjects were required to propel a standardized wheelchair at six seat positions from combinations of back rest angles of 0, 3 and -5 degrees from vertical and thigh angles of 0 and 5 degrees from horizontal. Combinations of thigh/seat rest angles were 0/-5, 5/-5, 5/0, 5/3, 0/3, 0/0 constituting the six different conditions. Subjects were filmed while wheeling in each seat position. Wheeling was performed at two and three kilometers per hour on a low friction roller system. It was hypothesized that since individuals with spastic type cerebral palsy have improved functional upper extremity performance as the body center of mass is positioned over the ischial tuberocities and hip flexion angle is maintained at 90 degrees (0/0), that similar results would be found in wheelchair propulsion. Based on the results of kinematic data analyzed in this study there was no indication that the 0/0 seat position was superior for subjects with cerebral palsy under the conditions of this study. Larger elbow flexion/extension range of motion (p = .06) exhibited by the 5/3 and 5/0 seat orientations suggests that these positions provide a more effective wheelchair propulsion orientation for subjects in this study. / Graduation date: 1996

Before corresponding points in images taken with two cameras can be used to recover distances to objects in a scene, one has to determine the position and orientation of one camera relative to the other. This is the classic photogrammetric problem of relative orientation, central to the interpretation of binocular stereo information. Described here is a particularly simple iterative scheme for recovering relative orientation that, unlike existing methods, does not require a good initial guess for the baseline and the rotation.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 2006. / Title from title page screen, viewed on April 27, 2007. Dissertation Committee: Thomas P. Crumpler, Thomas S. Haynes (co-chairs), Aimee D. Adkins, Barbara B. Meyer. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 173-180) and abstract. Also available in print.

In the 1980s, the evolution of engineering methods and techniques yielded the object-oriented approaches. Specifically, object orientation was established in software engineering, gradually relieving structured approaches. In other domains, e.g. systems engineering, object orientation is not well established. As a result, different domains employ different methods and techniques. This makes it difficult to exchange information between the domains, e.g. passing systems engineering information for further refinement to software engineering. This thesis presents a generic principle for bridging the gap between structured and object-oriented specification techniques. The principle enables interoperability of structured and object-oriented analysis and design tools through mutual information exchanges. Therefore, the concepts and elements of representative structured and object-oriented specification techniques are identified and analyzed. Then, a metamodel for each specification technique is created. From the meta-models, a common metamodel is synthesized. Finally, mappings between the meta-models and the common meta-model are created. Used in conjunction, the meta-models, the common meta-model and the mappings enable tool interoperability through transforming specification information under one meta-model via the common meta-model into a representation under another metamodel. Example transformations that illustrate the proposed principle using fragments of an aircraft’s landing gear specification are provided. The work presented in this thesis is based on the achievements of the SEDRES (ESPRIT 20496), SEDEX (NUTEK IPII-98-6292) and SEDRES-2 (IST 11953) projects. The projects strove for integrating different systems engineering tools in the forthcoming ISO-10303-233 (AP-233) standard for systems engineering design data. This thesis is an extension to the SEDRES / SEDEX and AP-233 achievements. It specifically focuses on integrating structured and modern UML based object-oriented specification techniques which was only performed schematically in the SEDRES / SEDEX and AP-233 work.

Relationships between classes and objects in object-oriented software are necessary in order for the parts of the systems to provide dynamic behavior. These inherent relationships also create dependencies which can give rise to problems for software evolution of object-oriented software systems. Dependencies in software make systems difficult to understand, reuse, change and verify. This thesis presents analytical and empirical investigations of dependency-related problems in software evolution of object-oriented software and on how such problems can be handled with dependency focused techniques, methods and processes. The research presented in this thesis includes: Development of a programming language construct for controlling dependencies; formal experiments on code inspection techniques; exploring change strategies' effects on test suites; an industrial case study of regression test selection techniques for object-oriented software; proving the efficiency and defect detection capabilities of a novel regression test selection technique. The thesis contributes to increased knowledge on the role of dependencies in software evolution of object-oriented software. Specific contributions are a programming language construct that can control access to dependencies in software. Other main contributions are insights on the efficiency of dependency focused code inspection techniques and contribution to the knowledge on dependency-based regression test selection techniques for large scale software. Another contribution is a novel change-based regression test selection technique.

The purpose of this thesis is to present and analyze the innovations in the home video game industry and their impact on the competitive strategies of the companies in the indus-try. The existing literature about business cycles and business dynamics is scarce from busi-ness administrative perspective. This thesis contributes to fill the gap in the academic literature. The choice of the home video game industry has been done, due to its fast growing economic nature and the rapid changes that can be noticed, especially for the last decade. A qualitative research method with secondary qualitative and quantitative data and primary qualitative data through interviews has been used for this thesis. The home video game industry is highly driven by technological product innovations. Incremental innovations do not affect in a significant way the dynamics within the industry. Radical innovations create a competitive advantage through differentiation and they increase market share for the company which followed this strategy. Disruptive innovations open new markets, change the business environment for every firm and generate a shift in consumer preferences. Hence, the company which implements a disruptive innovation gains extensive market share. Innovations are possible due to the strategic orientation a company aims to pursue. If a company pursues a high market orientation and a low inno-vation orientation it manufactures an upgraded product to keep customers satisfied. When the firm pursues a high market and innovation orientation, the final product includes cha-racteristics that the customers desire. While at the same time the product created offers services and features hard to be matched by the competition. Finally, if a firm pursues a high innovation orientation and a low market orientation strategy, it creates an easier and more convenient alternative on the existing products while being cheaper. At the same time this strategic orientation disregards the established customers' desires.The purpose of this thesis is to present and analyze the innovations in the home video game industry and their impact on the competitive strategies of the companies in the indus-try. The existing literature about business cycles and business dynamics is scarce from busi-ness administrative perspective. This thesis contributes to fill the gap in the academic litera-ture. The choice of the home video game industry has been done, due to its fast growing economic nature and the rapid changes that can be noticed, especially for the last decade. A qualitative research method with secondary qualitative and quantitative data and primary qualitative data through interviews has been used for this thesis.The home video game industry is highly driven by technological product innovations. Incremental innovations do not affect in a significant way the dynamics within the industry. Radical innovations create a competitive advantage through differentiation and they increase market share for the company which followed this strategy. Disruptive innovations open new markets, change the business environment for every firm and generate a shift in consumer preferences. Hence, the company which implements a disruptive innovation gains extensive market share. Innovations are possible due to the strategic orientation a company aims to pursue. If a company pursues a high market orientation and a low inno-vation orientation it manufactures an upgraded product to keep customers satisfied. When the firm pursues a high market and innovation orientation, the final product includes cha-racteristics that the customers desire. While at the same time the product created offers services and features hard to be matched by the competition. Finally, if a firm pursues a high innovation orientation and a low market orientation strategy, it creates an easier and more convenient alternative on the existing products while being cheaper. At the same time this strategic orientation disregards the established customers' desires.

lululemon athletica is a yoga inspired athletic clothing company. Since lululemon’s retail inception in 2000, the company has been quite successful; it has grown to sixty- four store and showrooms locations and has doubled revenue every year for the last four years. A lululemon core value is entrepreneurship. This thesis explores this entrepreneurial value focusing primarily on an individual retail location manager perspective. The entrepreneurial concepts utilized to explore entrepreneurship are: entrepreneurial ori- entation (EO), entrepreneurial management, company growth, entrepreneurship preservation, and corporate entrepreneurship. Three empirical instruments assessing entrepreneurial concepts are employed in this thesis: Entrepreneurial Orientation, Stevenson’s Entrepreneurship, and a presented recombination of Stevenson’s Entrepreneurship concept. The EO instrument considers the dimensions pioneered by Miller (1983) and Dess and Lumpkin (1996) and includes: innovation, risk-taking, proactiveness, competitive aggressiveness, and autonomy. Stevenson’s Entrepreneurship is assessed by the Operationalization of Stevenson’s Entrepreneurship scale developed by Brown et al. (2001) which determines management style proclivity between an entrepreneurial or administrative style. The third empirical study recombines the Brown et al. (2001) instrument in an attempt to explore a possible ambidextrous management function of Stevenson’s Entrepreneurship concept. Results from the empirical studies depict lululemon as an entrepreneurial organisation. The EO study results show that lululemon emphasizes innovative and proactive behaviours. The Operationalization of Stevenson’s Entrepreneurship scale determined that lululemon slightly favours an entrepreneurial management style. The presented ambidexterity instrument reveals individual location managers to be capable of ambidextrous management. Two possible contributions to entrepreneurship study are proposed in this thesis. Analysis of the entrepreneurial orientation concept within lululemon realized a need for a communication and coordination EO dimension to be added to the existing dimensions. Also, the recombination of the Brown et al. (2001) instrument provides an alternate measurement scale assessing management ambidexterity.

Marketing not merely refers to selling, advertising, sales promotion and public relation, but also includes various perspectives which shows solid knowledge and sturdy ability. Marketing relates to corporate operation and public daily lives intensively as well. However, it is difficult for corporation to implement diversified marketing activities due to confined product features. Marketing programs are particularly restricted to narrower scopes within the boundary of market characteristic and industry common practices for conventional industry. In virtue of the price fluctuation of international steel products in recent years, how to increase market share with more innovative marketing programs is an important strategic concern of steel industries. Hence, marketing innovation has become the breakthrough point that conventional industry needs to pursuit. This study profoundly analyzes the H-company, which has carried out its traditional sales practices for more than thirty years, by literature review and case study methodology. After recognizing the target market and focusing on meeting customers¡¦ needs, we developed the innovative marketing strategies containing product, price, place and promotion aspects. Next, we integrated marketing techniques of horizontal and vertical alliances, financial instruments as well as marketing concepts. Then, by thoroughly executing ISO quality policy ¡§ pragmatic quality, customer satisfaction¡¨ which H-company has exercised to build its new competition strategies and target of growth and profit. Based on these integrated concepts, we constructed an innovative marketing model. Finally, the in-depth interviews were made to verify the feasibility of this innovative marketing model from customers¡¦ perspective. The sample comprised two direct clients and two intermediary agents, were selected from customers of H-company. The research reached the conclusions that the innovative marketing model proposed by this study has not only verified its market feasibility through clients¡¦ in-depth interview, but also modified from customer¡¦s perspective to fit customer needs. The ultimate target of the modified model is creating high customer value through high quality consistency, pricing based on customer value, forming closer partnership relationship, delivery reservation system, trustworthy business image, integrated service combining constructional reinforced steel bar forming industry or concrete industry, and marketing-finance integration service. The verification via deep customer interviews also demonstrates that the revised innovative marketing model can best approach customer needs and acquire high marketing achievements. Last but not least, the study was done in research methodology and provided some strategic implications, making up its contributions to both academic and practical aspects.

The objective of my dissertation work was to provide a better understanding of consumer choices related to these two important tradeoffs that consumers are often confronted with in the marketplace. Drawing upon regulatory focus theory, I investigated how consumers choose between price and quality or price and quantity, in each of two essays, thereby shedding light on the role of consumer goals in purchase decisions. In the first essay, I propose that quality is predominantly a promotion feature whereas price is predominantly a prevention feature. Therefore, promotion oriented consumers should be more attentive to differences in product quality whereas prevention oriented consumers should be more attentive to differences in product price. Three studies demonstrate that quality (price) is more strongly associated with a promotion (prevention) orientation, that promotion (prevention) oriented consumers prefer products with higher quality (cheaper prices), and that these preferences are mitigated when consumers do not need to prioritize between price and quality and are mediated by relative attention to quality versus price. In the second essay, I investigate the manner in which consumers' goal orientations affect their preferences for monetary versus nonmonetary promotional offers, such as bonus packs and price discounts. I propose that consumers with a promotion (vs. prevention) orientation are more likely to prefer a bonus pack offer over an economically equivalent price discount offer. Two pretests and one study provide empirical support for this key prediction. I also identify theoretically defensible and managerially actionable boundary conditions for this effect that are related to price levels and product types.