Thesis (Ph. D. in Computer Science)--Vanderbilt University, May 2006. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Canterbury, 2006. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (p. 75-79). Also available via the World Wide Web.

No description available.

This thesis is about the cultural bargain; the balancing relationship between author monopoly and user affect desires, as applying to the ambiguity of characters. Character culture is a hybrid of the characters that are created and sold by authors with artistic and legal concerns, and the character-affect-relationship of the audience users of those characters. This study examines the law and industry practices in the United States and Canada as it relates to character and the limited scope of the law in defining just what exactly a character is. Also, I examine the major issues in the cultural bargain between the ownership of characters of authors, and the appropriation of characters by audiences, through the dominate arguments for both authors and audiences and the issue of privileged accessibility to characters. By "appropriate", I am referring to any act of an audience member, utilizing a character they do not own, in new ways, that the original author of the character did not give permission for, or approve. Finally, I present my analysis of how the cultural bargain may experience a balance between both authors and audience, by defining characters using the audience affect interpretation as criteria.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2009. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 34).

Childhood obesity is a major public health issue. Canada has one of the highest childhood obesity rates in the world. Food advertising and marketing have contributed to the rapid rise in childhood obesity. High energy and low nutrient foods have been promoted directly to children through attractive imagery on packages, including the use of popular cartoon characters. Children’s food packaging also features a range of nutrition information targeted at parents, including nutrition claims; however, there is relatively little research on the impact of these nutrition claims and the extent to which they may interact with child-friendly imagery to influence parents’ perception of food quality. The current study used a 2 x 2 experimental design to examine the effect of four front-of-package (FOP) nutrition information and four cartoon characters on parental perceptions of children’s food products. Participants consisted of 897 parents recruited across Canada through GMI, a market research company. Participants were over 18, had at least one child between ages 4-10 and the primary shopper of their household. Participants completed an online survey in July 2011. Participants were shown images of food products with or without cartoon characters and with or without FOP nutrition information and were asked to rate the food product on appeal, nutritional quality, intention to buy and willingness to pay. Participants were also asked to rate the FOP nutrition information on believability, ease of understanding and perceived effectiveness. Linear mixed modelling examined the influence of cartoon characters, FOP nutrition information and socio-demographic factors on these outcomes. Results indicated that cartoon characters increased product appeal and FOP nutrition information increased the perceived nutritional quality of food products with low nutritional value. No significant differences were observed for intention to buy or willingness to pay. There was no consistent pattern between socio-demographic factors and product rating outcomes. For FOP nutrition information ratings, Health Check and Source of Fibre were rated more believable, easier to understand and more effective overall than Sensible Solution and Given the Thumbs Up by Kids. Overall, the findings indicate that cartoon characters can increase the perceived appeal and FOP nutrition information can increase the perceived nutritional quality of food products with low nutritional value.

Childhood obesity is a major public health issue. Canada has one of the highest childhood obesity rates in the world. Food advertising and marketing have contributed to the rapid rise in childhood obesity. High energy and low nutrient foods have been promoted directly to children through attractive imagery on packages, including the use of popular cartoon characters. Children’s food packaging also features a range of nutrition information targeted at parents, including nutrition claims; however, there is relatively little research on the impact of these nutrition claims and the extent to which they may interact with child-friendly imagery to influence parents’ perception of food quality. The current study used a 2 x 2 experimental design to examine the effect of four front-of-package (FOP) nutrition information and four cartoon characters on parental perceptions of children’s food products. Participants consisted of 897 parents recruited across Canada through GMI, a market research company. Participants were over 18, had at least one child between ages 4-10 and the primary shopper of their household. Participants completed an online survey in July 2011. Participants were shown images of food products with or without cartoon characters and with or without FOP nutrition information and were asked to rate the food product on appeal, nutritional quality, intention to buy and willingness to pay. Participants were also asked to rate the FOP nutrition information on believability, ease of understanding and perceived effectiveness. Linear mixed modelling examined the influence of cartoon characters, FOP nutrition information and socio-demographic factors on these outcomes. Results indicated that cartoon characters increased product appeal and FOP nutrition information increased the perceived nutritional quality of food products with low nutritional value. No significant differences were observed for intention to buy or willingness to pay. There was no consistent pattern between socio-demographic factors and product rating outcomes. For FOP nutrition information ratings, Health Check and Source of Fibre were rated more believable, easier to understand and more effective overall than Sensible Solution and Given the Thumbs Up by Kids. Overall, the findings indicate that cartoon characters can increase the perceived appeal and FOP nutrition information can increase the perceived nutritional quality of food products with low nutritional value.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2009. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 45).

Thesis (B.A.)--Haverford College, Dept. of English, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

À travers une séries d'études de cas éclairées par l'apport de l'éthologie, l'histoire de l'art, la psychologie cognitive et les neurosciences, cette thèse tente de répondre au paradoxe apparent du cinéma d'animation qui rend les personnages stylisés et caricaturaux sont plus à même de faire oublier leurs artificialité que les personnages visant au plus grand réalisme. / Through a series of case studies, supported by reasearch in art history, ethology, cognitive psychology and neuroscience, this dissertation aims at explaining the strange animated film paradox that makes stylised and caricatural characters more efficient than characters tending towards strong realism at overcoming their artificialit / Doctorat en Information et communication / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished