Foreign policy is the nexus between domestic and international political systems. Studies in Canada have so far produced mixed findings related to the role of political parties in foreign policy. Drawing from campaign promise, issue ownership and foreign policy decision-making literature, this dissertation investigates whether there is a foreign policy domain consistently dominated by a particular political party in the Canadian context. Part I uses data from the Comparative Manifesto Project (CMP) combined with manually coded foreign policy promises to determine the content and scope of foreign policy-related election promises in Canada. Part II follows the well-established pledge approach to measure promise fulfilment of foreign policy promises of Canadian governing parties following elections. This dissertation not only seeks to determine whether parties matter in the context of foreign policy, but also whether one party consistently “owns” the foreign policy domain or specific foreign policy issues. Findings from this research will fill an existing gap in the literature related to policy-specific promise fulfillment in Canada and will bridge existing theoretical assumptions related to political party behaviour and foreign policy decision-making. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Institutional attempts to raise private funds, once limited almost exclusively to private colleges and universities, are now commonplace at public colleges and universities. To increase private support, many public institutions have reorganized and refocused their development efforts to meet these changing needs. Because of the growing importance of private funding, it becomes important to study and better understand fund raising at public institutions of higher learning. It appears that certain institutional characteristics, variables or factors affect fund raising. Variables such as mission, type, age and size of institution along with size, age and management style of development effort and foundation appear to be important factors in fund raising. This study identified and examined several of these variables at four public institutions in the Commonwealth of Virginia and found that several of these factors do indeed affect fund raising results. / Ph. D.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2999-01-01

With the advent of the rifled musket onto Civil War battlefields, the ability of a soldier on the defense to kill his attacking enemy rose dramatically. The former standard weapon had been the smoothbore musket. Such smoothbores had a maximum effective range of seventy-five meters. The new standard weapon, the rifled musket, had an effective range of 300 meters. Defenders, armed with this new weapon, could put attacking enemy soldiers under killing fire at a far greater range that ever before possible. Using the rifled muskets, defenders exacted punishing tolls before attackers closed within bayonet range for the close combat that furnished the cornerstone of contemporary tactical planning. As they made their tactical plans, commanders in the American Civil War seemed to ignore this deadly technological innovation, and Lee, Bragg, Burnside, Hood, Pope, and Jackson make a list of the worst offenders. They continued frontal assaults, assaults that brought their men directly under fire from the rifled musket. Bloody Civil War battles offer a litany of failed assaults: Manassas, Shiloh, Malvern Hill, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and Cold Harbor. Where frontal assaults succeeded, the costs in soldiers’ lives were staggering. As casualties mounted astronomically, Civil War commanders must have realized that something was wrong on the battlefield. Yet, these commanders, with one important exception, rarely varied their battlefield tactics. Only one commander gave evidence of understanding the deadly message of the rifled musket, and the failure of Civil War tactics to silence or mute that message, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman. This thesis examines that understanding and provides Sherman’s rationale for changing contemporary battlefield maneuvers. Sherman came to the conclusion that the tactics of the day could not defeat a defense armed with rifled muskets, so he changed the battlefield rules. In doing so, he defeated a determined and aggressive foe, inflicted more casualties on his enemy than his forces sustained, split the Deep South asunder, and hastened the end of the Civil War. / Master of Arts

Peer bullying is a widespread and longstanding problem in school settings. Teachers, students, administrators, government, and researchers alike have all tried to combat bullying through bullying prevention campaigns. One strategy used in bullying prevention campaigns is to call on bystanders in bullying situations to take responsible action. While many different forms of campaigns, including print and media campaigns, have aimed at trying to reduce the presence of bullying in schools by informing bystanders, there is still a need to find new strategies for reducing bullying behavior. One potential media form that could be used in bullying prevention campaigns is the use of virtual reality. Virtual reality simulations allow for a more immersive environment than other media forms, as the medium is capable of creating feelings of presence, various perspectives, and empathy in its users. This thesis reports results from a one-factor, three-condition laboratory experiment comparing responses to portrayals of a bullying situation in which users (N = 78) were placed in the perspective of a bystander in a bullying scenario across three different media stimulus conditions: a customized virtual reality condition, a non-customized virtual reality condition, and a video condition. The study compared effects of the media stimulus conditions on empathy, attitudes toward bullying victims and bullying, and anticipated future bystander behaviors, as well as presence and other outcomes related to perceptions of bullying. While it was hypothesized that the study would find stronger effects on empathy and anti-bullying bystander attitudes and anticipated behaviors among the VR conditions, and in particular the customized VR condition, the study found no differences between media stimulus conditions for any outcomes except a significant effect on empathy, with participants in the video condition tending to report more feelings of empathy for participants than participants in the other two conditions, and perceptions of bullying as a problem in the participants' school, again with scores highest in the video condition. This pattern of results was further explored in a follow-up qualitative focus group study (N = 10), in which trends from two focus group sessions featuring 10 participants indicated that the quality of the virtual reality graphics effected empathy, a lack of bystander intervention options reduced effectiveness, and customization cues had little effect on participants. Results from the laboratory experiment and follow-up focus group study suggest that in some cases, it may be difficult to use VR simulations to elicit empathy-related prosocial responses. While further study is needed to clarify what features of VR simulations might make them most effective in encouraging certain prosocial behaviors, findings here suggest that photorealistic graphics should be used in VR simulations to evoke empathy, additional intervention capabilities in VR simulations could make them more effective in producing bystander intervention behavior, and that customization cues should be prominent and possibly individually tailored. ' / Master of Arts

Yes / This paper uses a leading UK supermarket’s loyalty card database to assess the effectiveness and impact of the 2004 UK reduced salt campaign. We present an econometric analysis of purchase data to assess the effectiveness of the Food Standard Agency’s (FSA) ‘reduced salt campaign’. We adopt a general approach to determining structural breaks in the time series of purchase data, using unit root tests whereby structural breaks are endogenously determined from the data. We find only limited evidence supporting the effectiveness of the FSA’s reduced salt campaign. Our results support existing findings in the literature that have used alternative methodologies to examine the impact of information campaigns on consumer choice of products with high salt content. / UK Food Standards Agency (FSA Project Code: D03008)

No / The Battle of Mantzikert had profound consequences for both Byzantine and Turkish history, yet the historical sources for this campaign contain significant gaps. This book presents the results of a project that seeks to demonstrate the important role computer simulation can play in the analysis of pre-modern military logistics. In AD 1071, the Byzantine Emperor, Romanos IV Diogenes, set out from Constantinople for the eastern borders of his Empire with an army described as “more numerous than the sands of the sea”. His military campaign culminated in defeat by the Seljuk Sultan Alp Arslan at the Battle of Mantzikert. This defeat was to have profound consequences for both Byzantine and Turkish history and is still commemorated in the modern state of Turkey. Yet the historical sources for this campaign contain significant gaps and we know more about the political intrigues surrounding the emperor than we do about how the army moved and fed itself. The ‘Medieval Warfare on the Grid’ project (2007-2011) was funded by an AHRC-EPSRC-Jisc e-Science grant and set out to use computer simulation to shed new light on the Mantzikert campaign. In this book we present the results of the project and demonstrate that computer simulation has an important role to play in the analysis of pre-modern military logistics. It can give new context to historical sources, present new options for the interpretation of past events and enable questions of greater complexity to be asked of historical military campaigns. It can also highlight the similarities that exist across time and space when armies need to be mobilised, moved and fed.

Social media has created new protest spaces and has enabled people to do things differently. The focus of the research is on campaign groups, created before social media was used as a tool for protest. It has been undertaken to achieve the aim of the challenges and opportunities of incorporating new forms of social media into existing protest campaigns through a case study of anti-airport expansion groups in the UK. Social media data was obtained from three anti-airport expansion groups which included the extraction of approximately 9,000 tweets and 8,000 Facebook posts. The data were then analysed using social network analysis, time series analysis and semi-structured interviews. The results of social network analysis and time series analysis informed the development of the questions directed at the social media coordinators of each group. The main findings are that Airport Watch and HACAN Clearskies exhibit very similar Twitter networks and favour interaction with the media, similar anti-airport expansion groups and also pro-airport expansion groups. Transition Heathrow demonstrates more varied interaction patterns. All groups dominate their respective Facebook page and group networks apart from HACAN Clearskies which has non-assigned leaders controlling information dissemination in the group. Time series analysis uncovered variations in social media usage; overall for all three campaign groups Twitter was utilised more than Facebook.

Titel: The ZAZI campaign’s Facebook page- A field study of the use of Facebook in the ZAZI campaign Level: Bachelor thesis, C-level Area: Media and Communication Studies Author: Alexandra Svedström, V14MKand Supervisor: Associate professor Eva Åsén Ekstrand, Department of Media and Communication Studies Date: The field study will be conducted during March - May in 2014 Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the motives and attitudes of a group of South African women and men (aged between 20 to 30 years) have towards responding to the questions set on the ZAZI campaign’s Facebook page that may involve private and sensitive information. It also seeks to examine whether the questions that ZAZI campaign sets are consistent with the informant’s attitudes and motives. Rationale: The result may be used to improve the campaign whose ultimate goal is to prevent the spread of HIV / AIDS by strengthening women's self-efficacy and confidence. Questions: What are the selected informant’s motives for using Facebook in general? What attitudes and motives do the selected South African Facebook users have toward commenting on the questions on the ZAZI campaigns Facebook page? How are the selected informants’ attitudes and motives consistent with the type of questions the campaign set? Method: Content analysis and focus groups. Result: The study indicate that the motives for writing on the ZAZI campaign's Facebook page differs depending on socio-economic status and that the campaign should vary the content of the questions so all women's motives become satisfied. The page appears, for those groups with a lack of socio-economic status, to serve as a platform that encourages and create conversations about private matters. Keywords: Health campaign, Facebook, Internet, social media, South Africa, focus groups, ZAZI campaign, uses and gratification, self-efficacy, HIV

nÃo hà / Esta pesquisa tem por objetivo compreender as estratÃgias de promoÃÃo da campanha negativa empreendida no Facebook pelos dois principais candidatos à PresidÃncia da RepÃblica no Brasil â Dilma Rousseff (PT) e AÃcio Neves (PSDB) â durante os perÃodos de prÃ-campanha, campanha e pÃs-campanha em 2014. A eleiÃÃo em tela foi marcada por uma disputa acirrada nas urnas e tambÃm por uma postura agressiva entre os presidenciÃveis nos diversos meios de comunicaÃÃo â com especial destaque para os media digitais. Para proceder à pesquisa, foram coletadas todas as postagens publicadas nas fan pages oficiais dos dois postulantes ao PalÃcio do Planalto entre 6 de abril e 2 de novembro de 2014, que corresponde ao perÃodo oficialmente determinado como eleitoral pelo TSE acrescido dos trÃs meses anteriores a ele e da semana imediatamente posterior ao pleito. Por meio das tÃcnicas de AnÃlise de ConteÃdo e de AnÃlise de Discurso, sÃo considerados para investigaÃÃo apenas os posts enquadrados na categoria âcampanha negativaâ, obtidos a partir da verificaÃÃo de quais postagens apresentavam informaÃÃes com objetivo ou potencial de afetar negativamente a imagem dos rivais. Em seguida, as mensagens sÃo classificadas a partir da adaptaÃÃo de categorizaÃÃes de Kaid e Johnston (1991), Klotz (1998), LourenÃo (2007, 2009) e Borba (2012a, 2012c, 2015). A classificaÃÃo verifica a frequÃncia; o autor e o alvo da crÃtica; o tipo de recurso empregado na publicaÃÃo; o foco dos ataques; e o apelo retÃrico utilizado pelos concorrentes. Ao fim da investigaÃÃo, apresenta-se um mapeamento das formas de uso da propaganda negativa no Facebook, tendo como principais resultados que os ataques nesta rede social foram mais frequentes do que no horÃrio gratuito de propaganda eleitoral na TV; que Dilma e AÃcio tiveram um ao outro como alvo preferenciais; que ambos utilizaram recursos multimÃdia em suas crÃticas, cuja natureza foi predominantemente polÃtica e com apelo de credibilidade das fontes. / This research aims to understand the promotion strategies of the negative campaign carried out by the two main candidates running for the Presidency of the Republic in Brazil during the pre-campaign, campaign, and post-campaign periods in 2014 â Dilma Rousseff (PT) and AÃcio Neves (PSDB) â on Facebook. Such election was marked by a fierce dispute in the polls, and also by an aggressive attitude between those candidates in the several communication means â with special emphasis on the digital media. To do the research, all the posts published in the official fan pages of the two candidates running for Planalto Palace were collected between April 6 and November 2, 2014, which corresponds to the period officially established by the Electoral Superior Court (TSE), encompassing three months before the elections and one week immediately after. Through the techniques of content analysis and discourse analysis, only the posts classified under the ânegative campaignâ category are considered for the research, and obtained by checking the posts that presented information with the purpose or potential to negatively affect the image of the rivals. Then, the messages are sorted out based on the adaptation of categorizations of Kaid and Johnston (1991), Klotz (1998), LourenÃo (2007, 2009), and Borba (2012a, 2012c, 2015). The classification checks the frequency; the author and the target of criticism; the type of resource used in the publication; the focus of the attacks; and the rhetoric appeal used by the competitors. At the end of the research, a mapping of the usage forms of the negative ads in such social network site is presented, which indicates as the main results that the attacks on Facebook were more frequent than in the free electoral advertisements on TV; that Dilma and AÃcio had each other as preferred targets; that both of them used multimedia resources in their criticism, which was predominantly of political nature, and the credibility of the sources appeal.