Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2008. / Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 131-141).

2020 was the year a pandemic hit the world. Along with that, media was swamped with information about death numbers, epidemiological facts, and an urge to inform people on the current situation. The information campaigns by the Austrian government were no exception. Highlighted in these campaigns were children, especially when it came to the relationship with grandparents or presenting how to keep distance through the display of a baby elephant. A visual analysis of information campaigns was conducted in order to find out how children were presented in these campaigns and to further identify what messages were conveyed in relation to children. Four themes emerged during the research process that gave answers to the research questions posed. The results show that children were shown in relation to their grandparents or their family. Moreover, they were often used to present innocence and in need of protection, but paradoxically also as socially responsible over the health and well-being of the older generation. Often so, they were used mimicking the voice of the initiators of the campaign “Look after yourself, look after me” and even used in relation to distance keeping where a child in a baby elephant costume “taught” adults how to keep distance. Research on children’s representation in media in relation to a pandemic is rather slim and there is an urgent need to gain more knowledge in this area, since this would broaden the awareness of how children are represented and seen by a society the reside within.

Approved for public release; distribution in unlimited. / Experts estimate that websites maintained by various Islamic extremists have increased to hundreds in recent years. Innovative operational capabilities enabled by Internet technology certainly pose serious challenges to U.S. counter-terrorism efforts. However, greater attention must be given to Islamic organizations that wage information campaigns, perpetuating resentment and discredit against the United States and her allies. While these sites may not openly call for violence, the sharing of common causes and goals with extremist organizations is worrisome. The repudiation of Western systems and global Islamization under the Shariah systems is often a transparent theme. The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the effectiveness of these websites at attracting and engaging audiences to promote their cause by applying a web performance methodology commonly accepted in the commercial industry. / Lieutenant, United States Navy

L’objectif général de cette thèse est d’étudier la prise de décision des individus en situation de catastrophe naturelle, en l’occurrence d’origine volcanique, et d’aboutir à des applications possibles, notamment à une amélioration de la prise de décision des populations exposées. Nous nous sommes intéressés à l’incertitude, dimension essentielle des situations de catastrophe naturelle, qui présente un impact important sur les émotions et la prise de décision des individus. D’une part, l’incertitude situationnelle est déterminante quant aux émotions prospectives comme la peur, et, d’autre part, l’incertitude des conséquences influence l’utilisation des heuristiques émotionnelles (émotions comme éléments pertinents à la décision) dans la prise de décision (système 1). Ce travail de thèse a été traité selon trois axes complémentaires. Dans le premier axe, intitulé Incertitude situationnelle, effet de cadrage et prise de décision, nous avons montré que la simple exposition à l’incertitude situationnelle impliquerait une absence d’effet de cadrage, qui, selon les travaux précédents, pourrait provenir d’une augmentation du traitement systématique (système 2), liée au processus de régulation fronto-amygdalienne. Dans le second axe, Incertitude des conséquences, information à la population et prise de décision, nous avons mis en évidence le fait qu’une réduction de l’incertitude des conséquences dans l’information donnée à la population permettait, dans certains cas précis, d’aboutir à de meilleures prises de décision. L’effet obtenu n’a néanmoins été identifié que dans les situations impliquant de fortes émotions anticipatoires (domicile, dilemmes moraux), situations fréquentes au cours des catastrophes naturelles. Enfin, dans le troisième axe, Création d’une base de stimuli pour l’étude du comportement humain face aux risques naturels, nous avons présenté la construction et la validation d’une base d’images liées aux catastrophes naturelles et au volcanisme, nommée « Natural Disasters Picture System » (NDPS). / The overall aim of this thesis is to examine the decision-making of individuals at risk of natural disaster, specifically related to volcanism, and to achieve potential applications, notably to improve the decision-making of individuals at risk. We focused on the uncertainty, an essential aspect of natural disaster events, which greatly impacts individuals’ emotions and decision-making. On the one hand, the situational uncertainty is an essential component for prospective emotions such as fear, and on the other hand, the uncertainty of consequences determines the use of affect heuristics (emotions used as relevant aspects of the decision) in decision-making (system 1). This doctoral thesis followed three complementary axes. In the first axis, namely Situational Uncertainty, Framing Effect and Decision-Making, we exhibited that the mere exposure to situational uncertainty could negate the framing effect, which could be explained, based on previous works, by an increase of systematic processing (system 2), stemming from the processes of the fronto-amygdala regulation. In the second axis, Uncertainty of Consequences, Information to Population and Decision-Making, we have evidenced that a reduction of the uncertainty of consequences applied to the information to population could improve, under certain circumstances, the individuals’ decisions. This effect was only identified in situations of highly charged anticipatory emotions (home environment, moral dilemmas), which are frequently encountered situations during natural disasters. Lastly, in the third axis, Creation of a Stimuli Dataset for the Study of the Human Behavior Facing Natural Hazard, we detailed the conception and validation of an image dataset dedicated to natural disasters and volcanism, named “Natural Disasters Picture System” (NDPS).

This thesis deals with the communication campaign of the government of the Czech Republic with regard to the possible Czech participation at the project of the US anti-missile defense system. The project was implemented by the Czech government following the official request from the USA on January 19, 2007, consequently the Czech answer to this request on March 28, 2007. From the foundation of the Czech Republic it was the third communication campaign related to the question of the Czech sovereignty and to the position of the Czech Republic within the international community. The previous campaigns referred to the acceptance of the Czech Republic to the EU and NATO. The objective of the thesis is focused on tracing methods and specifics of the Czech governmental communication of that issue towards the Czech public. Content and formal features of the particular communication materials were analyzed by quantitative and qualitative content methods. The governmental information campaign on the radar device, respectively on the issue of the anti-missile defense system can be framed in the time period of May 25, 2007 and March 31, 2008, when the governmental commissioner for the communication of the project, Tomáš Klvaňa, was in charge. The author of the thesis is concentrated particularly on the part of...

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