Matching Items (3)
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- All Subjects: competition
- Creators: Angilletta, Michael
- Status: Published
Description
In competitive Taekwondo, Electronic Body Protectors (EBPs) are used to register hits made by players during sparring. EBPs are comprised of three main components: chest guard, foot sock, and headgear. This equipment interacts with each other through the use of magnets, electric sensors, transmitters, and a receiver. The receiver is connected to a computer programmed with software to process signals from the transmitter and determine whether or not a competitor scored a point. The current design of EBPs, however, have numerous shortcomings, including sensing false positives, failing to register hits, costing too much, and relying on human judgment. This thesis will thoroughly delineate the operation of the current EBPs used and discuss research performed in order to eliminate these weaknesses.
ContributorsSpell, Valerie Anne (Author) / Kozicki, Michael (Thesis director) / Kitchen, Jennifer (Committee member) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The traditional action-response perspective has largely ignored the role of language in competitive dynamics. In this study, I treat language (i.e., word response) as an alternative way to react to rivals when a firm is attacked, in addition to no reaction and action-based reaction. Word response is a specific and public announcement of a focal firm’s potential move in reaction to a competitor’s word or action attack. To explore the underlying mechanism behind word responses, I aim to answer two major questions. The first question is under what situations are responders motivated to use words as competitive responses? For this question I emphasize characteristics of the action, the market, and the actor, using measures such as action type, market dependence of the responder, multimarket contact of the responder in the market, and the competitive aggressiveness of the actor. The second question is what kinds of responders are more likely to use words as competitive responses? For this question, I focus on responder characteristics, such as firm reputation, CEO tenure, and CEO duality. According to Porter’s competitive signaling theory, I argue that responders can use words in reaction to an attack in order to test the waters, deter rivalry, and demonstrate toughness because word responses require few resources, can be accomplished quickly, are reversible, while at the same time still carrying some commitment. Besides incorporating language into the action-response perspective, my dissertation also further integrates the upper-echelons perspective with competitive dynamics research, providing a more realistic and complete understanding of competitive engagement. I test my theory in the consumer electronics (CE) industry with 20 major global CE manufacturers between 2007 and 2014.
ContributorsGao, He (Author) / Cannella, Albert A. (Thesis advisor) / Yu, Tieying (Committee member) / Mesquita, Luiz (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Many animals thermoregulate to maximize performance. However, interactions with other animals, such as competitors or predators, limit access to preferred microclimates. For instance, an animal may thermoregulate poorly when fighting rivals or avoiding predators. However, the distribution of thermal resources should influence how animals perceive and respond to risk. When thermal resources are concentrated in space, individuals compete for access, which presumably reduces the thermoregulatory performance while making their location more predictable to predators. Conversely, when thermal resources are dispersed, several individuals can thermoregulate effectively without occupying the same area. Nevertheless, interactions with competitors or predators impose a potent stress, often resulting in both behavioral and physiological changes that influence thermoregulation. To assess the costs of intraspecific competition and predation risk during thermoregulation, I measured thermoregulation, movement, and hormones of male lizards (Sceloporus jarrovi) in experiment landscapes, with clumped to patchy distributions of microclimates. I found lizards aggressively competed for access to microclimates, with larger males gaining priority access when thermal resources were aggregated. Competition reduced thermoregulatory performance, increased movements, and elevated plasma corticosterone in large and small males. However, the magnitude of these responses decreased as the patchiness of the thermal environment increased. Similarly, under simulated predation risk, lizards reduced thermoregulatory performance, decreased movements, and elevated plasma corticosterone. Again, with the magnitude of these responses decreased with increasing thermal patchiness. Interestingly, even without competitors or predators, lizards in clumped arenas moved greater distances and circulated more corticosterone than did lizards in patchy arenas, indicating the thermal quality of the thermal landscape affected the energetic demands on lizards. Thus, biologists should consider species interactions and spatial structure when modeling impacts of climate change on thermoregulation.
ContributorsRusch, Travis W (Author) / Angilletta, Michael (Thesis advisor) / Sears, Mike (Committee member) / DeNardo, Dale (Committee member) / Deviche, Pierre (Committee member) / McGraw, Kevin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017