This thesis examines how Saudi Arabia responds to threats posed to its dynastic survival with specific emphasis on the current threat posed by Islamism. Saudi Arabia needs both religious legitimacy and state security in order to ensure the stability and continuity of the Kingdom. These needs produce a recurrent tension within the Saudi foreign policy framework because they pull in opposing directions. These tensions become particularly acute when the Kingdom is faced with a grave threat to either its religious legitimacy or its state security. Two cases studies are used to illustrate the Saudi Arabian response to threat. The Pan-Arab movement of the 1950s and 1960s threatened Saudi Arabia's religious legitimacy, and the 1991 Kuwait War threatened Saudi Arabia's state security. The Kingdom was able to endure these threats by balancing the resulting tensions. Historically, Saudi Arabia has only had to manage one type of threat at a time; however, Islamism represents an unprecedented threat because it simultaneously endangers Saudi Arabia's state security and religious legitimacy and to a greater degree than past threats. Islamism is qualitatively more intense because it combines dimensions that had previously been separate and manageable by the Kingdom. This thesis argues that since Islamism is confining the space for political maneuverability, Saudi Arabia faces its most serious threat to stable continuity--a danger which might undermine the Kingdom if a change to threat response is not made. / Master of Arts

Anxiety is characterized by apprehensive expectation regarding the forecasted outcomes of choice. Decision science and in particular reinforcement learning models provide a quantitative framework to explain how the likelihood and value of such outcomes are estimated, thus allowing the measurement of parameters of decision-making that may differ between high- and low- anxiety groups. However, the role of anxiety in choice allocation is not sufficiently understood, particularly regarding the influence of transient threat on current decisions. The presence of threat appears to alter choice behavior and may differentially influence quantitatively derived parameters of learning among anxious individuals. Regarding the neurobiology of reinforcement learning, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) has been suggested to play a role in temporally integrating experienced outcomes, as well as in coordinating an overall choice action plan, both of which can be described computationally by learning rate and exploration, respectively. Accordingly, it was hypothesized that high trait anxiety would be associated with a lower reward learning rate, a higher loss learning rate, and diminished exploration of available options, and furthermore that threat would increase the magnitude of these parameters in the high anxiety group. We also hypothesized that the magnitude of neural activation (measured by functional near-infrared spectroscopy; FNIRS) across dissociable regions of the left and right dlPFC would be associated with model parameters, and that threat would further increase the magnitude of activation to model parameters. Finally, it was hypothesized that reward and loss outcomes could be differentiated based on FNIRS channel activation, and that a distinct set of channels would differentiate outcomes in high relative to low anxiety groups. To test these hypotheses, a temporal difference learning model was applied to a decision-making (bandit) task to establish differences in learning parameter magnitudes among individuals high (N=26) and low (N=20) in trait anxiety, as well as the impact of threat on learning parameters. Results indicated a positive association between anxiety and both the reward and loss learning rate parameters. However, threat was not found to impact model parameters. Imaging results indicated a positive association between exploration and the left dlPFC. Reward and loss outcomes were successfully differentiated in the high, but not low anxiety group. Results add to a growing literature suggesting anxiety is characterized by differential sensitivity to both losses and rewards in reinforcement learning contexts, and further suggests that the dlPFC plays a role in modulating exploration-based choice strategies. / Doctor of Philosophy / Anxiety is characterized by worry about possible future negative outcomes. Mathematical models in the area of learning theory allow the representation and measurement of individual differences in decision-making tendencies that contribute to negative future apprehension. Currently, the role of anxiety in the allocation of choices, and particularly the influence of threat on decision-making is poorly understood. Threat may influence learning and alter choice behavior, collectively causing negative future apprehension. With regards to how related decision-making is computed in the brain, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) has been suggested to play a role tracking and integrating current and past experienced outcomes, in order to coordinate an overall action plan. Outcome tracking and action plan coordination can be represented mathematically within a learning theory framework by learning rate and exploration parameters, respectively. It was hypothesized that high anxiety would be associated with a lower reward learning rate, a higher loss learning rate, and diminished exploration, and furthermore that threat would increase the magnitude of these tendencies in anxious individuals. We also hypothesized that brain activation in the dlPFC would be associated with these tendencies, and that threat would further increase activation in these brain areas. It was also hypothesized that reward and loss outcomes could be differentiated based on brain activation in the dlPFC. To test these hypotheses, a mathematical model was applied to establish differences in learning within high and low anxiety individuals, as well as to test the impact of threat on these learning tendencies. Results indicated a positive association between anxiety and the rate of learning to reward and loss outcomes. Threat was not found to impact these learning rates. A positive association was found between activation in the dlPFC and the tendency to explore. Reward and loss outcomes were successfully differentiated based on brain activation in high, but not low anxiety individuals. Results add to a growing literature suggesting that anxiety is characterized by differential sensitivity to both losses and rewards, and further adds to our understanding of how the brain computes exploration-based choice strategies.

No / How have Latin American exporters been affected by the rapid increase in the PRC's exports to the USA and other large markets? Are PRC and Latin American exports complementary or competitive with each other? This paper examines detailed trade data to provide answers to these important questions. It examines the meaning of a "competitive threat" and provides a way of assessing the degree of threat from trade statistics. In general it finds that export structures in PRC and Latin American economies are sufficiently different for trade to be basically complementary with at present only a small portion of Latin American exports under a "direct threat" from PRC exporters. Mexico is the economy that is potentially at greatest risk; but as yet this has not shown up in the data.

COINTELPRO was a formidable and extremely controversial counterintelligence program conducted by the FBI from 1956 to 1971. Its exposure showcased the covert methods in which the FBI targeted US citizens it identified as threats to the internal and domestic security of the United States. Since the program's end, the FBI continues to explore and identify the current and potential threats to the United States. However, what exactly does this program say about the FBI at the time of its inception and what does it say about how it had classified threats? And what could it tell us about how it classifies threats today? This study examines how the FBI treated two identified targets of COINTELPRO, "black extremists" and "white hate groups", and whether the differences found between the treatment of the two targets as threats was a result of internal or external institutional factors. In conducting such study, I seek to determine if the factors that influence the Bureau's threat classification may have either been internal, a result of the Directors' influence or the influence of the organization's structure, culture, and/or function, or external, a result of the President's or Congress' influence. I hypothesize that the differing treatment of these targets, where "black extremists" were identified and prioritized as more of a threat than "white hate groups", was a result of internal institutional factors within the Bureau. Within this study, I examine reports and memos from the FBI database, the Vault, from 1968, to best determine which hypothesis is more accurate. / Master of Arts / COINTELPRO was a domestic counterintelligence conducted by the FBI from 1956 to 1971 that targeted American citizens deemed to be a threat to the internal security of the U.S. that were engaging in, in what the Bureau identified as, subversive activity. This program was controversial as it targeted American citizens using covert methods without the knowledge of the President, Congress, and the American public. Since the program's end, the FBI continues to identify and address domestic threats facing the United States today. However, what can this program tell us about how the FBI identified and classified threats during this time? And what can this tell us about how it addresses threats today? This study seeks to understand how the FBI treated two groups within COINTELPRO, "black extremists" and "white hate groups" and what factors may have influenced the treatment of these targets. In conducting such study, I seek to determine if the factors that influence the Bureau's threat classification may have either been internal, a result of the Directors' influence or the influence of the organization's structure, culture, and/or function, or external, a result of the President's or Congress' influence. I propose these two hypotheses and suggest that it is more likely that internal factors shaped the Bureau's threat classification and differing treatment of these groups. Within this study, I examine reports and memos from the FBI database, the Vault, from 1968 to determine which hypothesis is more accurate.

The impact of the September 11th, 2001 World Trade Center attacks was expansive in nature, and so many people were deeply affected by this disaster. In the years following this attack, many researchers attempted to assess this level of impact. Data point to increased prevalence rates of posttraumatic stress and depressive symptomatology among adults and a variety of difficulties among children following trauma. Additionally, research has shown that geographic proximity to a traumatic event plays a role in identifying those with increased psychological distress. One's subjective experience of a traumatic event, and in particular, one's perception of threat to life, also appears to be important in the identification of those in need. Moreover, understanding the psychological effects of individuals who have experienced a traumatic event is essential to the effective screening and identification of those in need of mental health services. As such, the purpose of this study was to examine the ability of geographic exposure and the perceived life threat to predict psychological outcomes in parents and their young children following the World Trade Center attacks in New York City. Additionally, the moderational roles of race/ethnicity and socio-economic status were also examined. Neither maternal geographic exposure nor perception of life threat significantly predicted mental health outcomes in mothers or their young children. However, socio-economic status significantly moderated the relationship between maternal geographic exposure and children's externalizing behaviors. Finally, the effect of race/ethnicity approached significance for maternal PTSD symptoms; however, no significant moderation was found. / Master of Science

By some accounts, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (9/11) created a paradigm shift in American foreign policy whereby terrorist organizations receive a lot more attention than they did prior to 9/11, especially in terms of U.S. military intervention. Moreover, some argue that this represents a shift in international politics whereby non-state actors have more power than they did before 9/11. However, others maintain that terrorism in the post-9/11 era is indicative of continuity in international politics. They argue that despite any of the immediate consequences of using military force to respond to the 9/11 attacks, the distribution of capabilities among states in the international system has not changed from the pre-9/11 era. This thesis empirically tests the notion of continuity in international politics through a case study of U.S. military intervention and threat perception. This research analyzes how these two concepts evolve from the post-Cold War era into the post-9/11 era. To the extent that U.S. military intervention and threat perception are comparable before and after 9/11, this is indicative of continuity in international politics. Conversely, contrast across 9/11 indicates change in international politics. Though this thesis finds considerable empirical evidence supporting continuity in international politics in the post-9/11 world, it also finds empirical evidence for change which cannot be ignored. / Master of Arts / On September 11, 2001 (9/11), the United States was attacked on its own territory for the first time since Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941. The difference on 9/11 was that the aggressors were stateless terrorists and not uniformed military members of a rival nation state. The United States is the most powerful country in the world, and it could not stop a small band of religious extremists from destroying the symbolic World Trade Center towers, causing major harm to the Pentagon, and claiming thousands of innocent American lives. As a result, the U.S. launched two of its largest military interventions in history by sending tens of thousands of troops to Afghanistan in 2001 and then to Iraq in 2003. These interventions were also two of the longest interventions in U.S. history. Does this mean that the U.S. perceives threats to its national security— especially those from non-state actors—to be greater after 9/11? And does this mean that the U.S. will use military intervention more in the post-9/11 era than it did before 9/11? This thesis empirically measures U.S. military intervention and threat perception from the end of the Cold War to the end of President Obama’s first term to determine how they compare before and after 9/11. This research then draws some conclusions from this analysis to determine to what extent the U.S.’s behavior after 9/11 indicates that non-state actors have acquired meaningful power in a way that causes nation-states to worry. This thesis finds ample support for the idea that the U.S.—and all nation states—still retain the overwhelming majority of the political power to be had by all actors, whether state or non-state. However, it also finds support for the notion that non-state actors have wielded real power as measured by the U.S.’s increased threat perception and use of military intervention after 9/11.

This dissertation examines the identity threats perceived by individuals and organizations in Online Social Networks (OSNs). The research constitutes two major studies. Using the concepts of Value Focused Thinking and the related methodology of Multiple Objectives Decision Analysis, the first research study develops the qualitative and quantitative value models to explain the social identity threats perceived by individuals in Online Social Networks. The qualitative value model defines value hierarchy i.e. the fundamental objectives to prevent social identity threats and taxonomy of user responses, referred to as Social Identity Protection Responses (SIPR), to avert the social identity threats. The quantitative value model describes the utility of the current social networking sites and SIPR to achieve the fundamental objectives for averting social identity threats in OSNs. The second research study examines the threats to the external identity of organizations i.e. Information Security Reputation (ISR) in the aftermath of a data breach. The threat analysis is undertaken by examining the discourses related to the data breach at Home Depot and JPMorgan Chase in the popular microblogging website, Twitter, to identify: 1) the dimensions of information security discussed in the Twitter postings; 2) the attribution of data breach responsibility and the related sentiments expressed in the Twitter postings; and 3) the subsequent diffusion of the tweets that threaten organizational reputation.

[Truncated abstract] Over the past several decades substantial research has been conducted investigating the association between attentional bias to emotionally threatening material and anxiety. Tasks such as the emotional Stroop, the dichotic listening task and the visual probe task have been used to document this association, with the visual probe task providing the most direct means of assessing this bias. That this association exists stands beyond contention, however relatively little research has been conducted directly examining the causal nature of this relationship. By using predictive and recovery approaches it is possible to determine how attentional bias and anxiety co vary but not the exact causal nature of this relationship. However, when the visual probe methodology is used attentional bias to threat can be directly manipulated and as such it is possible to determine if attentional bias to threat causally underpins the development and maintenance of anxiety. The purpose of the current research was to deliver an extended attentional training task to anxious individuals by capitalising upon the ability to directly manipulate attentional bias using the visual probe task methodology and assessing the possible therapeutic benefits of such an approach. ...Nevertheless these results provided support for the validity of the causal hypothesis and the technological difficulties associated with administering the task online were ameliorated. Due to the fact that characteristics of both situational and dispositional anxiety are present in a clinical population a revised version of the attentional training task was administered to two groups of non-clinically anxious individuals to determine the impact that avoid threat attentional training has on each of these types of anxiety. High trait anxious students and pregnant women were chosen for this purpose but due to substantial attrition these two experiments failed to provide sufficient evidence to evaluate the causal hypothesis. Two main reasons for this attrition were identified, the motivation of participants and the procedures that were in place to monitor their progress. To ensure that attrition would not compromise future experiments a series of modifications were made and the attentional training program was then readministered to a sample of individuals characterised by dispositional or situational anxiety. A group of self labelled worriers and a sample of Immigrating Singaporean students respectively, were chosen for this purpose. There was no significant influence of avoid threat training on attentional bias for the self labelled worriers, nor any evidence of an attenuation of emotional vulnerability. For the Immigrating Singaporean students, however; there was evidence of a significant reversal of attentional bias to threat post attentional training compared to the control group and a corresponding attenuation of emotional vulnerability and a trend towards a significant attenuation of emotional reactivity. The implications for the causal hypothesis and the therapeutic applicability are discussed as well as several avenues for future research.

IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is the next generation of telecommunication systems. The system is based on an IP network and uses technologies from the Internet. The IMS system is designed to evolve from a telephone system into a general information and communication system. It is meant to include television, Video on Demand (VoD), interactive services etc, etc. It is designed to simplify the implementation of newservices in telecom networks. This report investigates security aspects of VoD services when merging an IP Television (IPTV) system with IMS. The investigation covers security functions in IMS, transitionsolutions for authentication of the Set-Top-Box (STB) in IMS, and identifies problems inthe integration of IPTV and IMS. The report concludes that IMS has good solid Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) functions that will provide security and billing functionality. One problemis found in the media control between the STB and the streaming server. This interface lacked specification at the time of investigation, and some problems have been identified. These problems have to be solved before a system can be brought into service and beregarded as secure.

Mature female students encounter a range of challenges, including stereotype threat, which may affect their persistence in academic programs. Research has been conducted on stereotype threat in adult learners, but little research has been done on the impact of stereotype threat on mature female students in higher education. The purpose of this qualitative study using the experience sampling method (ESM) was to investigate how role conflict and social isolation due to age differences affected the learning experiences of mature female students (ages 45-54). The study used a conceptual framework incorporating Steele and Aronson’s stereotype threat theory and the concept of perceived belonging. The research questions explored participants’ use of time and interactions with others to determine the extent to which they may have experienced role conflict and social isolation due to age differences. Using ESM in conjunction with interval-contingent diaries, the study collected data on 5 mature female students enrolled at a national, for-profit undergraduate institution 5 days per week for 4 weeks. Data were analyzed, codes and categories were developed, and themes were identified according to the research questions and diary prompts. Analysis of themes suggested that participants experienced role conflict, struggled with time management, and often felt overwhelmed and exhausted. The themes also indicated that participants interacted favorably with staff and professors but found themselves in conflict with classmates, often as a result of age differences. This study may lead to the development of interventions that can be used to address the unique, diverse needs of mature female students in higher education.