The Amazonia is the biggest rainforest in the world, home also to probably the largest amount of different bio diversity species in our planet. Notwithstanding these incredible attributes, it is also one of the most threatened regions earth that extends to the whole planet. This thesis analyzes just a small segment of the interrelation of different human actors reacting to environmental problems. Theoretical frame works of different nature are used in this thesis in an effort to combine with synergy the strengths and potential benefits of political ecology, the stakeholder model, local institutionalisms, and the political and economical role of persons just to mention the most significant. This combination of these different scientific and empirical disciplines offers us a chance to apply the full potential for the analysis of the environmental problems related to human actions in the regional settings with the capability of gaining in depth knowledge that can be applied later in the design and implementation of potential alternatives seeking s the welfare of all human and biological stakeholders as our knowledge allows us currently. The thesis is structured on three study cases that cover a vast area of the Amazonia: the first case is located in Bolivia where we analyze the situation of Santa Maria de Maravilla, regarding the problems of land property and land use; the second case is located in Brazil in the Santarém region, where an important intensive production of soybean is affecting the environment as well as confronting the local communities; the third case is located in Ecuador analyzing the situation of the Block 15 region; an area deeply affected by the petroleum companies and the generic concepts of investment in extractive industries as a tool for regional and national development. Local actors are of the highest importance despite the different nature of the case studies, in order find commonalities which might allow us to make hypothetical counteracting models to decrease the devastating of environmental degradation in the Amazonia; some of the external actors (like the NGOs) can play an influential role in order to improve the collaboration and trust with local members.

This thesis focuses on a relatively new manner of looking into the discretionary decisions implemented bypowerful social actors - judges, prosecutors, and police officers- resulting in detremential effects for African Americans in the criminal justice system. While it is common to look into inequality in the system, there has not been much research done on the frame of thinking of these actors when making these decisions. This study will develop the concept of the "white framing model" while simultaneously demanding change.The white framing model will be developed by linking four theoretical concepts the white racial frame, systemic racism, interest convergence, and Eurocentric law. This thesis found the thinking of these actors from this frame has resulted in surmountable amounts of discrimination and a disproportionate amount of African Americans in prison. Seventy percent of African Americans have reported an experience of a discriminatory nature compared to 36% reported by their white counterparts in their lifetimes. These discriminatory acts are often experienced through interaction with law enforcement agencies that are in place to provide social order. Further results show the overall consequences for black men were being imprisoned 11.8 times more than whites. This study provides evidence that uncovers the covert racist nature of the criminal justice system that can be ignored by the untrained eye. Future work will involve change in policies, people holding these positions, and implementation of these solutions. These policy implementations include demanding a critical mass of African Americans to occupy powerful social positions, and the implementation of programs to reflect assistance for people of color. These solutions will not only provide a representative sample in criminal justice positions, but also make a difference in a system that is often unjust to people of color.

This dissertation concerns the development of a new interorganizational vehicle platform in the truck industry. The studied project setting was large, and can be referred to as a mega project. I ask the question How are boundaries organized in an interorganizational vehicle platform project setting, and how can we understand the tensions which arise when such organizing is performed? I assume that tensions arise in relation to questions concerning novelty, interdependencies, and differences.  Tensions should therefore not be seen as something bad, tensions are rather a prerequisite for achieving change.   The overall aim is to create insights in how boundaries in an interorganizational platform project setting are organized between: projects and governing actors, projects and permanent organizations, projects and external organizations, projects and projects, and finally inside projects (between different functions).  A secondary aim is to understand the roles which actors, activities and objects play, and the tensions which are experienced, when boundaries are being challenged and organized.   The study was performed during the concept phase, and a practice approach was used in order to capture the inner life of projects. A project setting with three projects was studied for three months, where I performed 68 interviews and observed 32 meetings. I have used a mix of narrative and alternate templates strategies and induced themes which constitute the base for the analysis.   I assume that boundaries are socially constructed and I argue that traditional normative findings in project management studies should be complemented with findings from organizational theory, and therefore use a multidisciplinary theoretical base. I have combined theories relating to; boundary construction, projects, boundary actors, activities, objects, and coordination/integration.   My analysis consists of two parts, in the first part I analyze value-, mandate-, and structural tensions and finds that actors in the setting; organize a commonality balancing area where decisions are affected by a mandates filter and need to be understood in relation to a coopetitive tensions model. In the second part of the analysis I have found that actors in the setting balance tensions and organize boundaries by performing four major Quality improvement loops based on a fragmented value base where boundary activities should be seen as having three dimensions; administrative, sharing, and political.   The creation of the shared platform is simultaneously affected by strategic, operational, and functional efforts.  This fact in combination with the size and uniqueness of the project setting, leads to the insight that technological innovation must be accompanied by organizational innovation. Therefore I have suggested that organizing of boundaries in interorganizational vehicle project settings should be understood as being performed through Concurrent Boundary Enactment.

How could citizens trust a new regime after being oppressed by the previous one? How could citizens forgive their neighbors who yesterday were executioners, used by the previous government, to commit atrocities (Halpern and Weinstein, 2004)? How could people ever feel safe in their own country after being traumatized by civil wars and human rights violations? Is there a political process that could help countries transition from an authoritarian regime to a democratic one and consolidate that democracy? This thesis argues that reconciliation commissions are the answer to all these questions. It also argues that they could be the middle step between peace and democracy-building. However, there are some necessary and sufficient conditions that need to be satisfied.

Climate change is a global and slow process that affects humans all over the world. Climate adaption within agriculture is important to reduce the risks that agricultures are exposed to because of climate change.  Through climate adaption you can improve the positive effects and take advantage of them optimally. How the climate change affects agricultures varies depending on regions and societies. The purposes of the study are to examine how different actors experience the impacts of climate change on the agriculture in Värmland. And what different actors think about climate adaption within the agriculture.    Through a survey and structured interviews with open-ended questions the purpose was to document experienced affects and opinions from different actors. Altogether nine respondents have been interviewed to answer the research questions and they represent farmers, organizations and authorities. The study show that actors experience fluctuations in the weather and the climate, they think climate adaption within the agriculture is important. Rain and moisture are observed to affect the agriculture in larger scales than before, but climate change can also have positive effects like longer growing seasons and the ability to grow new crops.  Some respondents perceive that there are uncertainties about climate change which obstruct climate adaption in the agriculture. According to several respondents information is important to improve the climate adaption, but at the same time other factors like economics, politics and laws influence how climate adaption are administered within agricultures.      Keywords: Climate change, climate adaption, agriculture, actors / Klimatförändringarna är en global och långsam process som påverkar människor världen över. Klimatanpassning inom lantbruket är därmed viktigt för att reducera de risker som lantbruket utsätts för. Genom att tillämpa klimatanpassning kan man främja de positiva effekterna av klimatförändringarna och utnyttja dem optimalt. Hur lantbruket påverkas av klimatförändringarna varierar beroende på region och samhälle. Syftena med studien är att undersöka hur olika aktörer upplever att klimatförändringarna påverkar lantbruket i Värmland. Och vad olika aktörer anser om klimatanpassning inom lantbruket Genom en survey med strukturerade intervjuer och öppna svar är avseendet att kartlägga och dokumentera upplevda effekter och åsikter från olika aktörer. Sammanlagt har nio respondenter intervjuats för att besvara frågeställningarna, varav de representerar lantbrukare, organisationer och myndigheter. Undersökningen visar att flera aktörer upplever förändringar i vädret och klimatet, de tycker det är viktigt med klimatanpassning inom lantbruket. Regn och fukt upplevs påverka lantbruket i större omfattning nu jämfört med tidigare. Men klimatförändringarna kan också medföra positiva effekter som längre växtsäsonger och möjligheter att odla nya grödor. Några respondenter upplever dock att det finns en osäkerhet kring klimatförändringarna vilket försvårar klimatanpassningen inom lantbruket. Enligt flera respondenter är information viktigt för att förbättra arbetet samtidigt som ekonomiska, politiska och juridiska aspekter influerar hur klimatanpassning tillämpas inom lantbruket.   Nyckelord: Klimatförändringar, klimatanpassning, lantbruk, aktörer

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Managing solid waste effectively has become a burden for many countries especially thedeveloping and the least developed ones. Policies are made as guidelines for various actorsin the waste management sector to implement, but implementation also comes withresource availability and the capacity of the actors to ensure their roles in the policy areachieved. This research focuses on the actors in the solid waste management in twoassemblies of Ghana: the New Juaben Municipal Assembly and the Accra MetropolitanAssembly. The study explores the capacity of the stakeholders in these two study areas inrelation to their roles in the Environmental Sanitation Policy of Ghana, looking at theircurrent practices in solid waste management. A seven weeks field research in Ghanainvolving the use of semi‐structured interviews, informal interviews, snow‐ball sampling,participant observation and focus group discussion with actors within the solid wastemanagement sector, provided for the data of the study. The study identifies somechallenges of these actors and gives recommendation of some issues which would requirefurther research.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--York University, 2007. Graduate Programme in Theatre. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 34-35). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR29313

Thesis (M.A. in communication)--Washington State University, December 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Feb. 12, 2010). "Edward R. Murrow College of Communication." Includes bibliographical references (p. 107-115).

Thesis (M.A.)--Florida State University, 2003. / Title from PDF title page (viewed Apr. 12, 2005). Includes bibliographical references.