MARKETING DE RELACIONAMENTO NAS INSTITUIÇÕES DE ENSINO SUPERIOR: Estudo de caso da Universidade Metodista de São Paulo e da Universidade Metodista de Piracicaba

O marketing de relacionamento como ferramenta para atrair e fidelizar os alunos do ensino superior privado é o tema desta pesquisa. Trata-se de um estudo de caso múltiplo incorporado enfocando a Universidade Metodista de São Paulo (UMESP) e a Universidade Metodista de Piracicaba (UNIMEP) e que tem como objetivos principais apontar fatores que motivam os estudantes a escolher determinadas instituições de ensino superior, identificar a maneira como elas atuam na tarefa de atraí-los com vistas a estabelecer um relacionamento e uma comunicação eficientes com esses públicos de interesse e fidelizálos, bem como analisar a real efetividade das ações desenvolvidas pelas IESs. Propõe-se uma incursão teórica para abordar motivações psicológicas, culturais, econômicas e sociais relacionadas ao ato de consumir e estabelecer uma correlação com o consumidor-aluno . Discutem-se também características do marketing de relacionamento associadas ao contexto educacional e apontam-se dificuldades/desafios vivenciados pelas instituições nos esforços de criar e estreitar os laços com os estudantes com vistas a tornar tais laços duradouros. Foram aplicados 1.400 questionários em ambas as universidades a fim de identificar, entre outros aspectos, atributos desejáveis de uma IES, fatores influenciadores para o abandono dela e características associadas a processos comunicacionais que representam diferenciais. O estudo apontou que, apesar de as dificuldades financeiras serem um componente que interfere na atração e na fidelização dos alunos, outros também são determinantes, como o nível de excelência de ensino, o corpo docente e a qualidade do relacionamento que as instituições de ensino estabelecem com tais públicos. Tal qualidade passa, obrigatoriamente, por atributos como liberdade para expressar ideias, espaço de diálogo e transparência na comunicação, elementos desafiadores ao modelo vigente e estimuladores a um novo fazer educacional.

Mixture density network training by computation in parameter space

Training Mixture Density Network (MDN) configurations within the NETLAB framework takes time due to the nature of the computation of the error function and the gradient of the error function. By optimising the computation of these functions, so that gradient information is computed in parameter space, training time is decreased by at least a factor of sixty for the example given. Decreased training time increases the spectrum of problems to which MDNs can be practically applied making the MDN framework an attractive method to the applied problem solver.

Packet switching in wide area broadband private networks

B-ISDN is a universal network which supports diverse mixes of service, applications and traffic. ATM has been accepted world-wide as the transport technique for future use in B-ISDN. ATM, being a simple packet oriented transfer technique, provides a flexible means for supporting a continuum of transport rates and is efficient due to possible statistical sharing of network resources by multiple users. In order to fully exploit the potential statistical gain, while at the same time provide diverse service and traffic mixes, an efficient traffic control must be designed. Traffic controls which include congestion and flow control are a fundamental necessity to the success and viability of future B-ISDN. Congestion and flow control is difficult in the broadband environment due to the high speed link, the wide area distance, diverse service requirements and diverse traffic characteristics. Most congestion and flow control approaches in conventional packet switched networks are reactive in nature and are not applicable in the B-ISDN environment. In this research, traffic control procedures mainly based on preventive measures for a private ATM-based network are proposed and their performance evaluated. The various traffic controls include CAC, traffic flow enforcement, priority control and an explicit feedback mechanism. These functions operate at call level and cell level. They are carried out distributively by the end terminals, the network access points and the internal elements of the network. During the connection set-up phase, the CAC decides the acceptance or denial of a connection request and allocates bandwidth to the new connection according to three schemes; peak bit rate, statistical rate and average bit rate. The statistical multiplexing rate is based on a `bufferless fluid flow model' which is simple and robust. The allocation of an average bit rate to data traffic at the expense of delay obviously improves the network bandwidth utilisation.

Public ownership and control in the private sector

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A survey of urban open space using colour infra-red aerial photographs

There has been a dramatic change in the U.K. government policy regarding the establishment of new towns. The emphasis is now on the redevelopment of existing cities rather than on building new ones. This has created an urgent need to carry out detailed surveys and inventories of many aspects of urban land use in metropolitan areas: this study concentrates on just one aspect - urban open space. In the first stage a comparison was made between 1:10,000 scale black and white and 1:10,000 scale colour infra-red aerial photographs, to compare the type and amount of open space information which could be obtained from these two sources. The advantages of using colour infra-red photography were clearly demonstrated in this comparison. The second stage was the use of colour infra-red photography as the sole source of data to survey and map the urban open space of a sample area in Merseyside Metropolitan County. This sample area comprised eleven 1/4km2 squares, on each of which a 20m x 20m grid cell was placed to record, directly from the photography, 625 sets of data. Each set of data recorded the type and amount of open space, its surface cover, maintenance status and management. The data recorded were fed into a computer and a suite of programs was developed to provide output in both computer map and statistical form, for each of the eleven -1/4km2 -sample areas. The third stage involved a comparison of open space data with socio-economic status. Merseyside County Planning Authority had previously conducted a socio-economic survey of the county, and this information was used to identify ' the socio-economic status of the population in the eleven ilkm2 areas of this project. This comparison revealed many interesting and useful relationships between the provision of urban open space and socio-economic status.

A temporary connection for an aluminium space frame

This thesis examines theoretically and experimentally the behaviour of a temporary end plate connection for an aluminium space frame structure, subjected to static loading conditions. Theoretical weld failure criterions are derived from basic fundamentals for both tensile and shear fillet welds. Direct account of weld penetration is taken by incorporating it into a more exact poposed weld model. Theoretical relationships between weld penetration and weld failure loads, failure planes and failure lengths are derived. Also, the variation in strength between tensile and shear fillet welds is shown to be dependent upon the extent of weld penetration achieved/ The proposed tensile weld failure theory is extended to predict the theoretical failure of the welds in the end plate space frame connection. A finite element analysis is conducted to verify the assumptions made for this theory. Experimental hardness and tensile tests are conducted to substantiate the extent and severity of the heat affected zone in aluminium alloy 6082-T6. Simple transverse and longitudinal fillet welded specimens of the same alloy, are tested to failure. These results together with those of other authors are compared to the theoretical predictions made by the proposed weld failure theories and by those made using Kamtekar's and Kato and Morita's failure equations, the -formula and BS 8118. Experimental tests are also conducted on the temporary space frame connection. The maximum stresses and displacements recorded are checked against results obtained from a finite element analysis of the connection. Failure predictions made by the proposed extended weld failure theory, are compared against the experimental results.

How do public private partnerships influence business school performance in English-speaking Caribbean?

This thesis addresses the question of how business schoolsestablished as public privatepartnerships (PPPs) within a regional university in the English-speaking Caribbean survived for over twenty-one years and achieved legitimacy in their environment. The aim of the study was to examine how public and private sector actors contributed to the evolution of the PPPs. A social network perspective provided a broad relational focus from which to explore the phenomenon and engage disciplinary and middle-rangetheories to develop explanations. Legitimacy theory provided an appropriate performance dimension from which to assess PPP success. An embedded multiple-case research design, with three case sites analysed at three levels including the country and university environment, the PPP as a firm and the subgroup level constituted the methodological framing of the research process. The analysis techniques included four methods but relied primarily on discourse and social network analysis of interview data from 40 respondents across the three sites. A staged analysis of the evolution of the firm provided the ‘time and effects’ antecedents which formed the basis for sense-making to arrive at explanations of the public-private relationship-influenced change. A conceptual model guided the study and explanations from the cross-case analysis were used to refine the process model and develop a dynamic framework and set of theoretical propositions that would underpin explanations of PPP success and legitimacy in matched contexts through analytical generalisation. The study found that PPP success was based on different models of collaboration and partner resource contribution that arose from a confluence of variables including the development of shared purpose, private voluntary control in corporate governance mechanisms and boundary spanning leadership. The study contributes a contextual theory that explains how PPPs work and a research agenda of ‘corporate governance as inspiration’ from a sociological perspective of ‘liquid modernity’. Recommendations for policy and management practice were developed.

Ownership concentration:'Private benefits of control' and debt financing

Building on the ‘law and economics’ literature, this paper analyses corporate governance implications of debt financing in an environment where a dominant owner is able to extract ex ante ‘private benefits of control’. Ownership concentration may result in lower efficiency, measured as a ratio of a firm’s debt to investment, and this effect depends on the identity of the largest shareholder. Moreover, entrenched dominant shareholder(s) may be colluding with fixed-claim holders in extracting ‘control premium’. One of possible outcomes is a ‘crowding out’ of entrepreneurial firms from the debt market, and this is supported by evidence from the transition economies.

Space and time modelling of clouds

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Corporate governance and the central factors influencing the roles of public and private sector board directors in the United Kingdom

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Constructing their own space: British Asians explore cultural identity, women, gender differences and feminism within multicultural society.

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