Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / William J. Adams / Using focus group this study found that forms of computer-mediated communication combined play a positive role in the acculturation process of the international students from China, India, and the Republic of Korea. Participants from different cultures reached general agreements that computer, the Internet, and other computer-facilitated devices and services have become functional displacements to older media in their daily life in the United States. While mass communication promotes behavior, psychological, and sociocultural adaptations of the international students, interpersonal communication is still of central importance in acculturation process and outcomes. Findings suggested that computer-mediated communication could become a major key to the formation and perfection of a pluralist American society, because (1) the computerized mediums serve as both the host and native media, and (2) forms of computer-mediated communication facilitate the cooperation between subgroups and individuals in different social arenas in American life.

All'inizio del xxi secolo la crescita economica e politica della repubblica popolare cinese è la più dinamica nel sistema internazionale. Mediante un'analisi della transizione che il sistema stesso sta attraversando, e utilizzando una varietà di indicatori (relazioni multilaterali/bilaterali, comportamento di voto in sede gnu, influenza nella periferia del sistema, evoluzione interna), questo lavoro tenta di cartografare il nuovo ruolo giocato dalla Cina sulla scena politica globale. / At the dawn of the xxi century, the people's republic of China's growth in economic and political influence is the most striking phenomenon in the international system. coupling an analysis of the changes that the system itself is undergoing with a variety of country-specific indicators (multilateral/bilateral relations, voting behaviour at the UN, activities in the periphery of the system, internal dynamics), this work aims at mapping the new role played by China in the international system.