The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages approximately 245 million acres in the U.S., the majority of which are in the western half of the country. There have been several conflicts in Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Arizona, since 2010 that have resulted in a fatality, armed militias, several incarcerations, and lawsuits facing the federal government. Following a preliminary needs assessment conducted in Box Elder County, Utah, and a comprehensive review of the literature, further research was needed to understand BLM professional (BLM managers or BLM specialists) and rancher perceptions regarding BLM policies and procedures. The study specifically looked at attitudes, perception and knowledge concerning the implementation of range improvement projects to potentially address conflicts and relationship issues between ranchers and BLM professionals. A needs assessment model was used to frame the research. Two similar questionnaires, one for BLM professional and the other for permitees (ranchers) using federal land managed by the BLM, were developed by the researcher. The questionnaire was divided into four sections: participant characteristics; perceptions concerning BLM policies; knowledge questions related to BLM policies; and attitudes concerning federal land ownership and BLM policies. The rancher questionnaire was mailed to 182 ranchers and netted a 37.2% response rate. The BLM questionnaire was emailed to 15 BLM professionals in the Salt Lake Field office and netted an 84.6% response rate. Results were analyzed using descriptive and appropriate correlation statistics. Multiple relationships between rancher and BLM professionals’ perceptions and knowledge were identified. Rancher interventions should include (a) when to submit rangeland improvement projects, (b) what could result in a temporary reduction in AUMs on a grazing allotment, (c) where to access online NEPA documents, and (d) who makes final land management decisions for the BLM. BLM professionals’ interventions could include the steps required for planning a juniper removal project, and when to submit a new waterline or fenceline request. Ranchers’ background has minimal influence on their perception. Rancher age had a medium, positive relationship on ranchers’ attitude regarding the NEPA process working and needing no revisions. Finally, the majority of rancher respondents identified as somewhat agreeing, somewhat disagreeing, or strongly disagreeing with the federal government owning land.

Comment penser l’écologie depuis le monde caribéen ? Quelles sont les spécificités d’une conceptualisation des enjeux écologiques depuis les sociétés postcoloniales caribéennes ? Cette thèse est une réponse à ces questions à partir d’une approche interdisciplinaire. Elle débute par une enquête historique sur les fondations politiques et écologiques du monde colonial caribéen dans son rapport aux humains et aux non-humains. Elle se poursuit par une enquête sociologique de conflits écologiques contemporains dans la Caraïbe. Celle-ci comprend une étude approfondie des enjeux politiques et philosophiques de la contamination de la Martinique et de la Guadeloupe par des pesticides utilisés dans les bananeraies, dont le chlordécone. L’analyse des critiques et des mobilisations collectives locales révèle une pensée de l’écologie qui remet en cause une constitution coloniale du monde caribéen : une écologie décoloniale. Par ailleurs, une attention est portée à certaines politiques de préservation écologique qui exacerbent les discriminations politiques et les inégalités sociales, à l’instar de projets de reforestation en Haïti, et de la réserve naturelle de Vieques à Porto Rico. Enfin, une enquête littéraire montre comment un discours écologique global s’articule à un imaginaire de l’esclavage colonial et ses figures, telles le navire négrier et le Nègre Marron, qui structurent des rapports à la terre, à la nature et au monde. Ces trois approches esquissent les caractéristiques d’une écologie caribéenne cherchant à habiter la terre et à faire monde. Ces expériences me permettent de proposer une pensée de l’écologie qui a le monde comme horizon : une écologie-du-monde. / How can we conceptualize ecological issues from the Caribbean world? What are the specificities of an ecological thought from the postcolonial societies of the Caribbean? This thesis tackles these questions with an interdisciplinary approach. It starts with an historical investigation on the foundation of the colonial Caribbean world and its relations to humans and non-humans. It follows with a sociological study of contemporary ecological conflicts in the Caribbean. This includes an in-depth study of the political and philosophical issues of the contamination of Martinique and Guadeloupe with pesticides used in banana plantations, such as chlordecone. The analysis of the critical discourses and the collective mobilizations shows an ecological thought that challenges the colonial constitution of the Caribbean world: a decolonial ecology. Besides, a focus is put on certain ecological policies that exacerbate political discriminations and social inequalities, as in the case of certain reforestation projects in Haiti, or the Wildlife Refuge of Vieques in Puerto Rico. Finally, a literary study reveals how a global ecological discourse encounters an imaginary of slavery and its main figures, such as the slave ship and the Maroon, that structure relations to the land, to nature and to the world. These three approaches draw the main characteristics of a Caribbean ecology that strives to inhabit the earth and to found a world. These experiences enabled me to propose an ecological thought that has the world as the horizon: a world-ecology.

In recent times, West Africa has (once again) gained international attention as a region hit by various crises. Islamic extremism; transnational drug economies; the smuggling of people, cars, arms, et cetera; as well as transnational interventions have come to most visibly represent particular contemporary globalization processes in West Africa. Paired with already widespread cleavages due to socioeconomic hardship affecting vast percentages of the West African population, these dynamics point to the (violent) reordering of space, described as de- and re-territorialization, and are based on different — often conflicting — ways of (re-)imagining space in Africa. Moreover, the implications of these dynamics appear to reach far beyond the confines of West Africa — as most dramatically evidenced in debates on the current European “refugee crisis” and the fear of terrorist attacks in Europe. Hence, Western powers have come to consider the perceived destabilization of the region and in particular the seeming proliferation of “weak” or “failed states” as a threat to the territorial organization of the international state system and, as such, have intervened in various ways in order to counter the trend.

It is clear that at this stage fear has affected the crisis of the citizens of the European Union, with the result that the Schengen Agreement is not characterized as positively as it used to be, citizens feel threatened at all levels, whether it is work or economic and especially in terms of security. In particular, the recent terrorist acts have an even greater impact on the opinion of European citizens as to whether or not the Treaty should be continued. In particular, while the inhabitants of the countries of the E.U. accept the dynamics of the Schengen agreement in terms of economy, on the contrary they express their phobias about immigration and terrorism, considering the treaty as the basis for the development of the two phenomena. What is certain is that in the future, if the phenomenon of migration is not addressed through measures to welcome migrants, which will help them to acclimatize to the new environment, in such a way that the citizens of the countries of entry are not afraid of their future, the reactions will intensify. Security measures also need to be stepped up to reduce fears of terrorism, and at this time in the big capitals, people are fearful, believing that the treaty has opened the borders, allowing fanatics from mainly the Middle East and Africa. enter the Member States to take actions that endanger European citizens. Management is the basis for the successful, established, economic and geographic expansion of each business. Entrepreneurial competition is growing, and the development of the scientific management sector as far as principles, ideas, models and theoretical analysis are concerned. The ultimate aim of this study is, therefore, to study, on a theoretical level, the issue of human resource management and its contribution to improving the quality of services.

To live in a relationship demands hard work with good communications, mutual respect, compromises, empathy and an understanding of your partners feelings and needs. For a person with ADHD all of this can cause difficulties and create a strained relationship, but it can also mean a relationship with thrills, adventure, spontaneity and passion.This study is built on a qualitative method using triangulation, where the studies empirical materials consist of 4 interviews along with observations online. The empirical material is applied on the theories: love, conflict and coping.The purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding of how it is to live in a relationship with a partner who has been diagnosed with ADHD. The questions at issue are: How does everyday life work with a partner who has ADHD? What different aspects (positive and negative) are there to live in a relationship with a partner that has ADHD? How is the possible if any help and support perceived in their relationship and everyday life? The results showed that a relationship with a partner that has ADHD looks like any other relationship, but that it can differ due to the possible difficulties that are at hand. Results also showed that there is a lack of support and aid, both for the partner with ADHD and for the partner without ADHD.

Why victimize civilians during civil war? Inspired by my survival of two civil wars in Liberia, I offer a theory of violence against noncombatants during armed conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa. Civil wars in post-colonial sub-Saharan Africa have a typical pattern that can be distinguished with three distinct stages: the "onset" period at the start of conflicts; the "intervention" period, marked by third-party involvement and negotiations; and the "settlement" stage, marked by an interim government with cabinet positions rationed among belligerents. I argue that the causes and motives for violence against civilians vary across these three stages of civil war. In the first "onset" stage, violence against civilians is mainly perpetuated by foreign recruits who lack ties with local populations. Principle-agent and moral hazard problems emerge as foreign recruits, young of age and disconnected from local populations, want to loot and rape civilian populations. In contrast, commanders responsible for these populations have difficulty monitoring and controlling these recruits. The second stage of "intervention" changes the calculus for combating groups, as the bargaining power of each depends on its control of strategic territory, such as ports and airports. Groups with minor territories and weak capacities are incentivized to attack the soft targets of noncombatants, who are sometimes forced to take sides at this stage. At the third "settlement" stage, the distribution of cabinet positions creates rivalries within groups, with disgruntled factions breaking away and resuming conflict. Civilians are caught in the middle, frequently accused of collaborating with the other side, leading to violence against noncombatants, including hostage-taking, as part of the bargaining process. To examine the stage theory of civilian victimization in sub-Saharan Africa's civil wars, I surveyed Liberia's two civil wars that occurred from 1989 to 1996 and 1999 to 2003. I drew on three sources of data to triangulate the causes and motives of violence against civilians: (a) archives, (b) intensive interviews of combatants and civilian victims of these wars, and (c) witnesses' testimonies from the Liberia Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) hearings. These data are used to qualitatively study Liberia's two civil wars, which may be generalizable to other parts of sub-Saharan Africa. It is found that foreign recruits, strategic territories, and political positions in a power-sharing government may have contributed to violence against civilians during the onset, intervention, and settlement phases of Liberia's two civil wars. The research contributes to the general literature regarding violence against civilians during armed conflicts. According to popular opinion, violence against noncombatants is a natural outcome, but this research points out that the causes and motives of violence against civilians can vary in identifiable ways. It shows how civil wars in post-colonial sub-Saharan Africa have a unique pattern associated with foreign intervention and settlements, and these phases may account for varying motives for violence against civilians. Knowing the motivating factors for violence against civilians can help protect vulnerable populations during armed conflicts, including refugees, internally displaced persons, migrants, and victims of human trafficking. Intervening governments can make more significant efforts to protect civilian populations during the intervention phases and be more sensitive to the dangers sub-group actors pose in distributing government positions during the settlement phases of these wars.

<p>  </p> <p>The major concern about vehicle crashes has led to a great amount of research on the topic in the road safety area. Nevertheless, real-world crash data collection periods are often extensive and they result in a great delay in improving safety. Therefore, surrogate measures of safety, such as traffic conflicts, are considered for safety management.</p> <p>The definition of a traffic conflict has evolved over the course of half a century. One of the current definitions encompasses a failure-based road event that inevitably results in a crash if no evasive action is taken by involved road users. This counterfactual concept was validated with specific road events datasets, including rear-end events and vehicle-bicycle encounters. However, observing conflicts for an extended period is still a major difficulty. For example, a LIDAR-based technique applicable to intersections can collect conflict data for a relatively short period of several days. The LiDAR-collected data are then converted to the corresponding expected crash frequency during the observation period, which eventually must be expanded to the corresponding annual value. The conversion step has not been sufficiently addressed in the past research. Thus, an important task of estimating the annual expected crash frequency based on a short-term estimate remains unanswered. Addressing this need is the research objectives and contribution of this study.</p> <p>Advanced statistical methods allow developing models to estimate expected crash frequencies for annual and short periods. The ratio of such two estimates is defined as an expansion factor in this study. This thesis presents the modeling effort and its results for different types of crashes at signalized and unsignalized intersections in Indiana. Traditional and emerging data, such as traffic volume, speed, road characteristics, weather, and other features were collected and assembled at randomly selected 194 intersections. Then, they were used to estimate the logistic models of hourly crash probability. The models were then utilized to calculate expansion factors for a specific intersection.to evaluate the method.</p>

No / `In this creative study Anand applies environmental economic tools and concepts to analyze water issues in developing countries... The author carefully integrates the poverty, inequality, and development issues of water; and he meticulously discusses the intertwined rivalrous and excludable public good characteristics of water supply... Contents: Preface 1. Introduction 2. Investigating Water 'Scarcity' 3. Access to Water Supply: Achieving the Millennium Development Goal 4. Sharing Water Peacefully: Understanding Transboundary Water-Resource Conflicts 5. An Analysis of a River Dispute: Interaction of Politics and Economics 6. Improving Access to Water: Institutions, Entitlements and Inequality 7. Consumer Preferences and Public Policy 8. Justice, Rights and Sustainability: Access to Water and the Capability Approach 9. Conclusions and a Research Agenda Bibliography Index.

As the climate-related impact increases in frequency and severity, there is growing attention from academics, policymakers and peacebuilders on the relationship between climate variability and conflict. Little attention has been paid to understanding the uneven impact of climate variability on intercommunal conflicts. This study aims to examine this discourse by exploring why climate variability contributes to inter-communal conflicts in some areas but not in others. It seeks to answer the research question: Why does climate variability contribute to the onset of inter-communal conflict in some countries and not in others? The independent variable measured was climate variability, and the dependent variable was inter-communal conflict. The assembled causal mechanism outlines how climate variability contributes to deepened existing community vulnerabilities and can lead to grievances and, consequently, mobilisation in the form of bandits. The hypothesis is derived from the proposed theory. The hypothesis reads: "Time period of Elnino is associated with high levels of intercommunal conflict". The study applied a Structured, Focused Comparison method and analysed two cases within a specific timeframe from 2016 to 2017. These cases, derived from Kenya, are Laikipia and Isiolo Counties. The results indicate a positive hypothesized relationship. Undertaking this study contributed to the empirics and causal mechanism through which climate variability triggered by Elnino contributes to inter-communal conflict.

The location of utilities buried beneath the built environment has always been a concern for those conducting work that involves excavation or the placement of items into the ground. Whether physically removing material or driving piles, posts, and more, the potential for accidental utility strikes is increasing with the movement of more traditional utilities from above ground to below. Also, the addition of utilities and new technology in underground spaces that hasn't existed in the past, such as fiber optics and more highspeed telecommunication lines, is occupying more space. Traditional methods of surveying, in combination with surface geophysics and the development and improvement of processes and technologies to track the location of buried assets led to the engineering services category termed Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE). In order to aid utility engineers and consultants who are responsible for the collection of utility data this research aimed to help identify a way to compare the various technologies and incorporate information about the individual project in order to choose the most appropriate locating method for a project with a defined set of parameters. The result was the development of standard evaluation forms that can be sent to technology vendors and consultants to evaluate the performance and limitations of a technology. This data can then be compiled into a database located within an Excel-based program created to compare the technologies. The program, VT PALMS (Virginia Tech Program for Asset Locating Method Selection), consists of the performance and economic databases, a project information Page sheet, and the results of the comparison of each technology in the database to the information on the project information sheet. The results are presented in three ways; 1) a speedometer chart with a needle that indicates the percentage of the parameters used in the database that are compatible - also referred to as the Reliability Factor, 2) a matrix view that indicates the parameters where a potential conflict may exist, and 3) an economic indicator that shows the comparable cost of using each technology listed in the database. / Master of Science