Conflicts surrounding newly proposed land-uses can have profound and lasting effects on all stakeholders in the land development process. While considerable attention has been directed toward finding ways to mediate land-use conflict, little is known about why such conflict develops: What are the key factors that produce negative perceptions of land-use change? What are the key dimensions that may effect a response to such changes? What is the nature of that response? This study explores these questions focusing on a case study of a newly-proposed land-use change in the Town of Paradise Valley, Arizona. Two separate questionnaire surveys are employed in the study. The first is used to assess conditions prior to widespread knowledge of the proposed change, and the second to evaluate residents' perceptions and responses once the change is widely known and its full impact has been appreciated. Perceptions and responses to the newly-proposed use are modeled using two stepwise multiple regression models. Residents' land-use expectations, community-level activism, as well as their tie to community and location, are found to be significant predictors in both the perception and response models. A general conceptual framework of necessary and sufficient conditions is advanced that captures a series of threshold effects observed between significant predictor and criterion variables.

Diversity within a habitat is determined largely by ecology and species interactions. Studies to date, however, rarely examined the role of intraspecific aggression in promoting coexistence and diversity. This is especially true in cities, where community ecology is poorly understood. This knowledge is important for basic understanding of how ecological principals come into play in our newly created habitats, as well as for reconciling human-dominated areas for wildlife.I studied the effect of human-made habitats on hummingbird abundance and diversity in Tucson, Arizona. To do that, I examined community organization and competitive interactions among four hummingbird species. I answer the questions: What is the community organization of hummingbirds in Tucson? How do characteristics of human habitats (e.g., landscaping and artificial resources) affect diversity? What mechanism underlies this pattern? And how can we apply this knowledge to conservation?To perform this study, I established a citizen science project - the Tucson Hummingbird Project (http://hummingbirds.arizona.edu). Trained participants reported abundance and behavior of hummingbirds in their backyards. Landscaping and resources (feeders and nectar plants) varied between yards.Results show that the distribution of hummingbirds in Tucson varies by species. Diversity, rather than merely abundance, increased with higher habitat heterogeneity and with more resources. Competitive interactions differ between species. Notably, intraspecific competition takes precedence over interspecific competition in the dominant and most common species, Anna's hummingbird.Based on the data, I suggest that Aggressive Resource Neglect (ARN) promotes coexistence and results in higher diversity when resources are augmented. When there are more feeders, they are distributed over a larger area. This reduces the ability of a territory-owner to defend these resources. While the territory-owner chases intruders, other individuals gain access to feeding opportunities. When dominant individuals prefer chasing conspecifics (as with Anna's hummingbird), this results in higher diversity.Besides discussing theoretical aspects, I apply this knowledge to conservation. Information on the community ecology enabled me to suggest ecologically-based ways to reconcile the city for native hummingbirds. By adding resources following an ecological protocol, we can promote biodiversity and surround ourselves with native wildlife, such as hummingbirds.

Over the course of the last few decades the debate over culture and its relationship to language has remained heated and one can argue, unresolved. It has been underscored that it is not necessarily the question of culture teaching per-se but rather the methods and content of such teaching that remain controversial. Today's world demands that learners are not simply linguistically but also interculturally competent. It has been argued that high levels of intercultural awareness can be achieved with the help of experiential lessons taught in a formal setting that focus on the exploration of self as a cultural being.In this study, three groups of the intermediate learners of German and Russian were invited to participate in a number of cultural lessons based on either culture box highlights or experiential activities. The pre-posttests measured changes in learners' cognitive, behavioral and affective measures of intercultural competence. Results revealed that experiential activities tend to better facilitate the development of learners' intercultural skills and attitudes. Students written responses to critical incidents were analyzed with the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (Bennett, 1993) to assess changes in learners' perspectives and intercultural disposition over the course of the semester. Additionally, learners' experiences with foreign and local cultures were quantified and correlated with cognitive, behavioral and affective measures of intercultural competence. Results showed that not all measures of intercultural competence may be broadened by the individuals' firsthand experiences with other cultures. The relevance of one's previous experiences with `sub-cultures' (states, cities, towns, and communities), i.e. his `mobility' must also be acknowledged.

Community participation is relevant to every sector of development, for example, education, health, housing, water and sanitation, agricultural development and conservation. The assumption is that public participation is positive in that it can contribute to making programmes more sustainable. Public participation in local government processes, especially in the Integrated Development Plan, is imperative to the promotion of institutional democracy. The Integrated Development Plan as a development tool promotes participatory democracy. This public participation study of the Integrated Development Plan in the City of Cape Town was conducted in four sub-council areas of the city to determine whether public participation was successful and whether the objectives of local government are being met.

There is consensus in the development communication field about community participation being a holistic approach required to address social development challenges. Participatory development, also known as another development, is considered invaluable in the social change process. While participatory principles have enjoyed increasing influence over the work of development organisations, there is still confusion as to what participation really is and how it must be applied as an approach to social change. As a result, development in (marginalized) communities has remained what I would call a Sisyphean task despite tremendous funding and effort that is being put towards development. This study is motivated by three factors relating to the practical and theoretical issues characterising participation. First is the acknowledged lack of a consistent definition as well as inconsistencies characterising the application of participation. The second factor is the contention that participation has remained under theorised and the third is what can be arguably conceived as the influence of stakeholder theory on development communication discourse. The focus of this study is how a theory commonly used in the strategic communication field, the stakeholder theory, applies to deliberate development communication efforts, particularly how the theory sheds light on the concept of participation. It introduces and examines the relevance of Edward Freeman‘s (1984) stakeholder theory in defining and applying participation in social change initiatives. Three development agents namely OneVoice South Africa (OVSA), The Valley Trust (TVT) and Drama for Aids Education (DramAidE) are used as a case study of the concept of participation. The study begins with a critical exploration of the complex participatory communication for social change narrative discussing key ontological and epistemological assumptions as well as a pastiche of approaches often reified as participation. It goes on to present a comprehensive review of the stakeholder theory and its critique, followed by an exploration of how the three development agents develop, implement and manage their respective participatory programmes. It concludes by applying stakeholder theory to the analysis of these programmes to determine whether the theory can be conceived as an accurate descriptive tool of the participation process and if its normative tenets are valid to the process. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

Community based targeting mechanism has been widely utilized in the delivery of relief interventions and safety nets. In developing countries like Malawi the approach has been championed as the most effective and efficient way of reaching the most vulnerable. However, very little is known on how community based targeting mechanism actually works. Using the Agriculture Input Subsidy programme as a case study, the thesis attempts to explore whether community based targeting lives to its billing of enhancing social capital. The purpose of the study was to examine community perceptions and experiences about community based targeting approach and how it affects social relations and collective actions in the community. The results demonstrate that while communities have the knowledge and capacity to target the most vulnerable, the approach is largely a top down process. The choice on whether to target or not is a delicate balance of social, economic and political factors. Communities largely participate to fulfil or comply with official requirements so that they can cash in from the benefits. However, given a choice communities would largely share resources equally to prevent social costs. Consequently, a targeted programme at national level becomes a universal programme at community level since benefits are largely shared to all community members. The role and influence of social factors in the community based targeting has been largely underestimated in the targeting literature. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

The behaviour of zoo animals can come to anticipate temporally predictable feeding times. However, there is a lack of consensus over the effects of such routines on behaviour and welfare. Few studies have been published in this area, perhaps in part due to methodological challenges. The current programme of work therefore aimed to extend knowledge on the effect of predictable feeding routines, and to develop a suitable methodology to overcome challenges. Prior to predictable feeding, tigers showed patterns of increased ‘active’ behaviours such as locomotion and pacing, and decreased inactivity. Geckos also showed increased ‘active’ behaviours such as locomotion and ‘stationary but moving head’ prior to predictable, compared to unpredictable feeding times, with significant differences between conditions (RSS = 0.059 and 0.047, p < .05). However, anticipatory patterns were not demonstrated for meerkats, which highlighted that other environmental factors may affect an animal’s response to temporal predictability (such as obtaining other food during the day, or signalled predictability). Studying patterns of behavioural change over time requires long periods of observation which is often not possible for researchers. The current programme of work argues that a measure which can be reliably used by many, relatively untrained observers is necessary to study predictability. The measure of ‘busyness’, a subjective rating of animal behaviour, was tested for reliability and validity. Busyness ratings showed good inter-observer reliability (ICC > .72) and correlated with traditional measures of behaviour. Busyness ratings demonstrated clear patterns related to feeding time and gave a useful compound measure of behavioural change. The use of multiple observers was extended to a citizen science approach, where useful data on anticipation in fish were obtained from aquarium visitors using a touch screen. The current programme of work successfully investigated the effects of predictable feeding routines on patterns of animal behaviour, alongside the development of suitable methods. The qualitative techniques developed here offer potential to increase the data obtained in future research into predictability and many other topics.

Many tools have been developed to assess global, national or regional sustainable development policies. However, as governments develop sustainable policies, individuals must also feel empowered to affect their personal impact on the planet. This thesis integrates three sustainability concepts that lend themselves to individual sustainability: The natural step, life cycle assessment, and the ecological footprint. TNS serves to provide the meaning and substance toward sustainable development. LCA helps provide the framework for assessing sustainability. The EF calculator determines the driving components and measures the qualitative decisions made through TNS and LCA. From the analysis of the household footprint calculator a simplified footprint calculator was developed to assist individuals and communities in setting benchmarks and goals as they move away from over-consumption and towards a sustainable lifestyle.

CHDS State/Local / The VI is under-prepared for major natural disasters and terrorism. Many emergency plans are incomplete, based on inaccurate information, wrongly optimistic and assume an infrastructure that does not exist. The VI is at risk to a direct terrorist attack and also subject to whatever secondary consequences result from a stateside attack, because virtually one hundred percent of food, fuel, medicine, and oil used to make electricity and potable water - and tourists, the economy's lifeblood -- are imported. Also, (1) geographically, help is not readily available from any neighboring city or state; (2) the VI's first responders are likely to be affected by the same disaster they are responding to and unable to assist; (3) the VI must assume more of the emergency preparedness functions that would typically be shared between neighboring communities; (4) the VI must have more funding than similar communities on the mainland; and (5) preparedness planning must include the importing of mainland resources. The purpose of this thesis is to point out how the VI is different from the mainland U.S. This thesis documents vulnerabilities and shows how the Government's existing infrastructure is inadequate. Included is discussion of how the police, social issues, and existing VI Government leadership affect the vulnerabilities. It examines existing preparedness plans. One chapter discusses how management can harm Homeland Security while another chapter deals with change and proposes a Terrorism and Natural Disasters Planning Group. Lastly is an Action Plan listing things that can be done immediately. / Assistant Attorney General / Chief of Asset Forfeiture, Virgin Islands Department of Justice

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.