Denna studie grundar sig i ett uppdrag från Trafikverket med avsikten att undersöka hur enmångfaldsstrategi kan få ökad effekt i organisationen. Utgångspunkten för denna studie är attdet tycks krävas mer forskning kring hur HR strategiskt kan arbeta med mångfaldsfrågor ochintegrera dem i organisationens alla delar. Syftet med denna studie är således att identifiera hurHR strategiskt kan arbeta med mångfaldsfrågor. Vidare är syftet att visa hur ett strategiskamångfaldsarbete kan bli mer effektivt.Teorier som belyser begreppet mångfald, effekterna av mångfald, strategi, Human ResourceManagement och Strategic Human Resource management kan ses ligga till grund för ettframgångsrikt HRM-arbete med mångfald. Ledarskap, kommunikation, kunskap och att se tillorganisationskulturen belyser teorin som viktiga komponenter för att ett strategiskt arbete skabli mer effektivt och ge effekt i organisationen.Studien bygger på en deduktiv ansats och en kvalitativ metod har genomförts utifrån treindividuella intervjuer och två fokusgrupper. De individuella intervjuernas syfte var att belysaorganisationens nutida arbete med mångfald, framtida perspektiv för hur ett strategisktmångfaldsarbete kan utformas och en målbild för vad arbetet ska resultera i. Den enafokusgruppen bestod av medarbetare från HR från olika regionkontor i landet och hade somsyfte att klargöra hur HR strategiskt kan arbeta med mångfald. Den andra fokusgruppen bestodav chefer från olika regionkontor i landet och hade som syfte att belysa chefers roll och vad deeftersöker i ett strategiskt mångfaldsarbete.Resultatet från intervjuerna har analyserats utifrån den teoretiska referensramen och i dennastudie har vi kommit fram till och identifierat flera betydelsefulla faktorer som för HR är viktigai utformandet av en mångfaldsstrategi. Det är viktigt att definiera begreppet mångfald, klargöraansvarsfrågan, visa på varför organisationen bör arbeta med månglad och kommuniceraeffekterna. Vidare är det viktigt att koppla mångfaldsstrategin till övriga HRM-aktiviteter ochorganisationens övriga strategier och mål för att det strategiska arbetet ska ge effekt. Kunskapom mångfald och att se arbetet som ett förändringsarbete där ledningen utgör en viktig roll harvisat sig vara väsentliga faktorer för att arbetet ska få värde i organisationen. / This study is based on an assignment from the Swedish Transport Administration with the intention to examine how a diversity strategy can be more efficient in the organization. The starting point for this study is that it seems to require more research on how HR can strategically work with diversity issues and integrate them with the rest of the organization. The purpose of this study is to identify how Human Resources strategically can work with diversity. An additional purpose is to show how a strategic diversity work can be more effective.Theories that highlight the concept of diversity, the effects of diversity, strategy, Human Resource Management and Strategic Human Resource Management can be seen as a basis for a successful strategic HRM with diversity. Leadership, communication, knowledge and organizational culture highlight the theory as important components to strategic efforts to become more efficient and provide the power in the organization.The study is based on a deductive approach and a qualitative method has been used on the basis of three individual interviews and two focus groups. With the individual interview, the purpose was to highlight the organization's contemporary work with diversity, future perspectives on how strategic diversity efforts can be designed and a vision for results. One focus group consisted of employees from HR from various regional offices in the country and were intended to clarify how HR can work strategically with diversity. The other focus groups consisted of executives from various regional offices in the country and were intended to highlight the role of managers and what they are seeking in a strategic diversity effortThe result of the interviews were analyzed based on the theoretical framework. In this study we have come up with and identified several significant factors for HR that are important in the design of a diversity strategy. It is important to define the concept of diversity, to clarify the issue of responsibility, to show why the organization should work with diversity, and communicate the impact. Furthermore, it is important to link diversity strategy to other HRM-activities and the organization's other strategies and objectives for the strategic work to effect. Knowledge of diversity and to see the work as a process of change, where management is an important role, have proved to be essential factors for the work to get the value of the organization.

<p> Helping someone maximizes the interaction that takes place between individuals because it provides a purpose for communication. The unique experience of exchanging information and support also results in the gratification of being able to impact another person&rsquo;s life. Mentoring relationships support Buber&rsquo;s I-Thou relationship of respectfully helping others when the opportunity exists. The cost and benefits shared while learning from each other also expand on Homans&rsquo; (1961) social exchange theory that suggests that the purpose behind human behavior is based from the exchange between each other. With more motivation to engage in a collaborative relationship, aspiring leaders have advanced personally and professionally from the result of a relationship with a mentor. This project strives to bring awareness of the need to develop Latina leaders through the support of a mentoring relationship. After expanding from the applied research, this project engages the use of computer mediated communication (CMC) to educate and inspire future Latina leaders to be involved in a mentoring relationship to increase their presence in top leadership roles. Project website: Mentoring Latina Leaders: Establishing and nourishing a positive mentoring relationship www.jresende1.wix.com/mentoringlatinas </p>

<p> California Department of Water Resources (DWR) Snow Surveys Section has recently explored the potential use of recently developed hydrologic models to estimate snow water equivalent (SWE) for the Sierra Nevada mountain range. DWR Snow Surveys Section&rsquo;s initial step is to determine how well these hydrologic models compare to the trusted regression equations, currently used by DWR Snow Surveys Section. A comparison scheme was ultimately developed between estimation measures for SWE by interpreting model results for the Feather River Basin from: a) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) gridded SWE reconstruction product, b) United States Geological Survey (USGS) Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS), and c) DWR Snow Surveys Section regression equations. Daily SWE estimates were extracted from gridded results by computing an average SWE based on 1,000 ft elevation band increments from 3,000 to 10,000 ft (i.e. an elevation band would be from 3,000 to 4,000 ft). The dates used for processing average SWE estimates were cloud-free satellite image dates during snow ablation months, March to August, for years 2000&ndash;2012. The average SWE for each elevation band was linearly interpolated for each snow sensor elevation. The model SWE estimates were then compared to the snow sensor readings used to produce the snow index in DWR&rsquo;s regression equations. In addition to comparing JPL&rsquo;s SWE estimate to snow sensor readings, PRMS SWE variable for select hydrologic response units (HRU) were also compared to snow sensor readings. Research concluded with the application of statistical methods to determine the reliability in the JPL products and PRMS simulated SWE variable, with results varying depending on time duration being analyzed and elevation range.</p>

<p> Since 1865 California has practiced underground water storage through artificial recharge; however, in many parts of the state these efforts have been insufficient to meet its growing water demands, particularly for irrigated agriculture. During dry periods, vast agricultural areas depend upon groundwater for irrigation. In these areas, groundwater banking (GB) should be an essential strategy of their water management operations. GB is the practice of using surface water for percolation or injection into aquifers for later recovery. One variation of GB currently being studied in California is the use of agricultural lands for this practice (Ag-GB). Economic implications of Ag-GB need to be analyzed to inform water agencies and farmers interested in implementing this practice. This study proposes a conceptual model for determining the economic feasibility of Ag-GB at the irrigation district level. The Orland-Artois Water District (OAWD) in Glenn County is considered as the case study, and alfalfa as the test crop due to its tolerance to flooding and low use of pesticides and fertilizers which could leach into the aquifer. The proposed model consists of four components. The first component, the agricultural water demand calculator, calculates agricultural water demands based on historic land use, monthly reference evapotranspiration (ETo), monthly average precipitation, and average crop coefficient (Kc) values for the region. The second component, the aquifer mass balance model, is a one-bucket mass balance model that quantifies inflows and outflows to the simplified aquifer. The third component, the agronomic model, estimates costs and benefits of Ag-GB in terms of energy savings from pumping and crop production. The fourth component, the economic feasibility output, evaluates costs and benefits are evaluated to determine economic feasibility. The period of analysis is from 1993 through 2013. </p><p> Two policies (A and B) for implementation of Ag-GB are proposed and tested. Policy A proposes that all growers in OAWD pay for the implementation of the Ag-GB program. Policy B proposes that alfalfa growers using their lands for Ag-GB (Ag-GB alfalfa growers) are exempted from paying for Ag-GB implementation and the rest of the growers (non Ag-GB growers) pay for it. The economic analysis suggests that Policy A brings more costs than benefits to the Ag-GB alfalfa growers and hence is rejected as feasible. Policy B seems to bring more benefits than costs to all growers in OAWD and therefore it has potential to be economically feasible under the assumptions and limitations of the model. </p>

<p> Nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in hydrologic ecosystems is a costly environmental problem. Low Impact Development measures, such as bioretention, can help prevent nutrient pollution. Bioretention is a type of green stormwater infrastructure and landscaping feature that collects, stores and treats stormwater runoff. Bioretention media is composed of sand, soil and an organic material such as compost or wood fines. While bioretention in itself is a sustainable practice, there is an ever growing demand for more sustainable solutions to the world's environmental problems. The St. Louis Metropolitan Sewer District's Lemay Waste Water Treatment (WWTP) incinerates biosolids, which creates a non-hazardous byproduct referred to as bottom ash. Incinerator bottom ash from the Lemay WWTP is mostly composed of silica and is very similar to sand. So, if incinerator bottom ash from the Lemay WWTP can be used in bioretention media as a substitute for sand, it will make a sustainable stormwater management technique even more sustainable. However, bioretention media with incinerator bottom ash will have to behave as a typical media to be an acceptable substitution. Nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in the effluent from bioretention cells are of particular interest due to the drastic environmental issues associated with nutrient pollution. Therefore, a bioretention column study was performed to observe nutrient pollutant removal efficiency and plant compatibility of bioretention media containing municipal waste incinerator bottom ash. The results of the column study indicate that municipal waste incinerator bottom ash from the Lemay WWTP could be an acceptable substitution for sand in bioretention media.</p>

<p> This dissertation examines the politics of knowledge in collaborative watershed governance institutions of the Klamath River Basin of Northern California and Southern Oregon. The waters of the Klamath are shared between farmers, fisherfolk, indigenous communities, hydro-electric facilities and one of the most biologically diverse eco-regions in the United States. Since 1986, the watershed has provided the primary spatial unit for resolving resource conflict by coordinating agency and citizen science, guiding integrated resource management and cultivating a shared sense of place and belonging among Klamath watershed inhabitants. For nearly three decades, the Klamath Basin has served as a laboratory for experiments in &ldquo;<i>watershed democracy</i>&rdquo;- a form of hydrologically-grounded political association that attempts to facilitate the direct participation of all watershed inhabitants in knowledge production, deliberation and collective action at the watershed scale. Through the idiom of <i>watershed democracy,</i> I connect empirical research on the outcomes of nearly three decades of community-based natural resource management in the Klamath with theoretical debates waged over the last century and a half regarding the question of scale in environmental science, democratic governance and natural resource management. </p><p> In this dissertation, I analyze the watershed as a scale of knowledge production, a site of democratic deliberation and a unit of environmental governance. I investigate whether the watershed is the most appropriate socio- spatial unit for representing people and place in the Klamath, paying particular attention to the impact of collaborative watershed governance arenas on the ability of Karuk Tribal members to participate in knowledge-production and decision- making for natural resource management in their ancestral territory in northern California. </p><p> Through participatory research with the Karuk Tribe&rsquo;s Department of Natural Resources, participant observation, document analysis and interviews with Federal, State, Tribal and local agency scientists and representatives, I follow knowledge and policy-making processes across a diverse range of institutions engaged in Klamath watershed governance. Combining participatory research and participant observation with theoretical insights from political ecology, science and technology studies (STS) and indigenous studies scholarship, I evaluate the processes and outcomes of collaborative watershed-based governance according to its impacts on local watershed ecosystems and communities. Drawing on the theoretical framework of &ldquo;co-production&rdquo;, I analyze the mutually constitutive relations between watershed science, watershed governance institutions, the materialities of Klamath watershed-ecosystems and the distributions of resource benefits and burdens in Klamath communities. I follow Klamath experiments in watershed democracy negotiate the basic terms of political life such as property, territory, sovereignty and the public good, as well as the material conditions and flows of watershed resources and the patterns of access to, ownership in and distribution of these resources. </p><p> While the Klamath experiements in collaborative environmental governance at the watershed scale have opened up oppportunities for Karuk representatives to participate in knowledge production and decision-making, the watershed scale has itself constrained the focus of integrated resource management, limiting the kinds of knowledge that can pattern as reliable and the types of restoration and management projects that can issue from Klamath collaborative governance forums. I demonstrate how Karuk representatives have both leveraged and critiqued the watershed as a way of conceptualizing Klamath watershed-ecological processes and as a socio-spatial unit for approaching ecological restoration and cultural revitalization in their ancestral territory. Watershed science and watershed governance forums were sometimes leveraged by Karuk representatives to substantiate Karuk sovereignty and resource rights and at times rejected for not being able to convey distinct Karuk epistemologies, ontologies and cosmologies. I demonstrate how collaborative watershed management forums have struggled to render different types of indigenous, local and scientific knowledge commensurable and have instead provoked debates about how to produce knowledge about nature in ways that are appropriate for the local community and its ecosystems. </p><p> I draw attention to the cultural politics of scale to critique watershed-centric management and search for alternative ways of representing the multiple scales through which Klamath inhabitants understand and value nature. I compare watershed-based governance with two other emerging scales of democratic resource governance- firesheds and foodsheds- in their abilities to bring together diverse forms of environmental knowledge around multiple nested scales of social and ecological processes. <i>Firesheds</i> are emerging areas of community-based fire management patterned according to the way fire burns across the western Klamath landscape. <i>Foodsheds</i> are another emerging form of community-based resource governance taking shape in the Klamath around the spatial and temporal characteristics of food resources and their associated management practices in forest ecosystems. Comparing watersheds, firesheds and foodsheds opens up the question of scale in collaborative environmental governance by highlighting tensions among different ways of producing knowledge, managing resources and acting collectively at different bioregional scales in the Klamath. </p><p> Against watershed-centric approaches to ecological democracy, I argue for deliberative multi-scalar approaches to implementing collaborative environmental governance, cultural revitalization and watershed-ecosystem restoration in the Klamath. Multi-scalar perspectives can accommodate multiple ways of making knowledge while avoiding homogenizing diverse situated perspectives into a single way of seeing Klamath eco-cultural landscapes. I argue for <i> &ldquo;democratizing scale&rdquo;</i> in order to define an appropriate scalar framework for producing knowledge, representing human values and making decisions about the management of natural resources. Collaborative environmental governance requires an accompanying democratization of scale to accommodate the myriad ways of knowing nature and making a living in Klamath watershed-ecosystems. Scalar formations that are produced through deliberative democratic processes can provide more inclusive grounds than watersheds for democratic environmental governance and multispecies world-making.</p>

<p> This dissertation explores how Louisiana French cultural resources, specifically historic documents, oral history recordings, and photographs of colonial artifacts, might be rendered more digitally accessible for the purpose of preserving and promoting Louisiana's unique French language and heritage. Methods of action research design guided this study's investigation. First, I examined the needs of French speakers living in and around the city of Lafayette, Louisiana. Then, after reviewing several projects using information communication technologies, in particular projects from the fields of cultural computing and digital humanities, I conceptualized distinct Internet applications for French-speaking Louisianans and for people interested in Louisiana's French language, history, and culture. Three fictional, yet feasible narrative scenarios serve to illustrate how my envisioned Internet applications might function. Specifically, I propose how Louisiana French resources could be enhanced through technologies including (1) metadata encoding, (2) database interoperability, (3) social networking, (4) serious games, (5) voice-recognition applications, and (6) enhanced digital video subtitles. This dissertation also (1) looks at copyright issues concerning objects of cultural heritage and (2) discusses trends of cultural institutions&mdash;museums, archives, and libraries&mdash;that are currently adopting policies, which encourage the public to freely access, reuse, and redistribute text and image copies of certain institutional holdings. This dissertation concludes by recommending collaborative efforts between Louisiana public libraries, Louisiana universities, and the Digital Public Library of America, a national initiative seeking to digitize, preserve, organize, and present cultural heritage resources online to the public.</p>

<p> Modern studies of site distribution, utilization of near-coastal riverine resources, and the development of cultural complexity during the Holocene in southwestern Washington are hampered by the limited amount of data from previous archaeological investigations. This study of Willapa River Valley archaeology provides a context in which to interpret southern Northwest Coast near-coastal pre-contact archaeological sites. </p><p> Three areas for investigation became evident during the initial research phase and directed subsequent inquiries. The first dealt with prehistoric site distribution in the Willapa region landscape, the potential for locating sites, and site distribution patterns on the Willapa River Valley alluvial terraces. Bayesian GIS modeling and geomorphologic-based survey techniques identified a new sample of 26 localities representing approximately 10,000 years of occupation. Eustatic sea level rise, seismic movement, tsunamis, and fluvial processes formed the Willapa region's landscape, and promoted natural redox reaction formation processes within submerged archaeological contexts. </p><p> The second involved the pre-contact utilization of lithic, floral, and faunal natural resources, and how these adaptations relate to what we know from past work at coastal-adjacent midden sites. Excavation at the Forks Creek terrace site revealed a detailed chronology of a 2700 BP Willapa River Valley camp oriented toward the seasonal hazelnut, bitter cherry, elk, deer, and salmon resources of a fire-maintained prairie "garden" and the Willapa River. Microblades were manufactured for their technological qualities, illustrating similarities to Salish Sea "Locarno Beach" assemblages. </p><p> The third encompassed the archaeology of the Athabaskan Kwalhioqua, and addressed the potential for recognizing cultural enclaves in the archaeological record through the study of exotic obsidian and blueschist artifacts. Obsidian "wealth blades," blueschist clubs, and nephrite adze artifacts define a pattern of late prehistoric long-distance trade and exchange. The "Pacific Athabaskan coastal trade network" hypothesis poses that direct sea-going canoe trade occurred between Athabaskan cultures of the southern Northwest Coast within a counter-seismic ceremonial dance network prior to the great earthquake of AD 1700. </p><p> New insights into the prehistory of the Willapa River Valley are provided with consideration given to site location, age of occupation, cultural landscapes, and the position of the Willapa River Valley prehistoric occupation within the Pacific Northwest.</p>

<p> <i>Pis&eacute; de terre</i> or rammed earth is a building technique that has existed for over ten thousand years. Although this technique was first documented for Western Civilization by the Roman Pliny the Elder circa 79 AD, evidence of its use prior to his time is found in China, Europe, and elsewhere. Rammed earth achieved notoriety in the United States during three distinct periods in its history: the Jeffersonian era, the Great Depression, and the Back-to-Nature Movement of the 1970s. In the United States earth buildings are uncommon and usually deemed marginal or fringe. This is true even though at times the U.S. government has been a proponent of alternative building techniques, especially rammed earth. Intended for those interested in material culture, this thesis provides a brief history of rammed earth, articulates its importance to the building record of the United States, and describes methods for its preservation, repair, and maintenance. </p>

<p> Within the world of library collection and preservation, the focus has historically been on the dual preservation of physical form and intellectual knowledge as represented through symbols (text), images, metadata, and organization of information. Certainly, the philosophy of the library to "enhance learning and ensure access to information for all" (ALA 2008) is paramount in directing resources and collection development in response to the needs of the user community. However, research and educational material may be found beyond the explicit materiality of books and the text they contain; understanding and recognizing spiritual and cultural properties implicitly located within certain library materials may provide additional fields of research, as well as learning and collaboration opportunities. Using adjunct literature within the field of museum studies and ethnography, this paper proposes to discuss how simultaneous recognition of intangible and tangible properties of certain objects is relevant to the library. The special collections library is perhaps the best place where such considerations can be made - it is a library dedicated to preserving not only copies of each work, but variant copies whose tangible and intangible properties may vary from one another - though some examples may apply to academic or public libraries as well. The scope of this undertaking will include a discussion of the adjunct and related literature from the museum world, identification of books, or types of books that have spiritual or cultural values to be considered, collection of cultural or religious viewpoints related to identified materials from members of one of those communities that create or use these items (Buddhist), and discussion of how such findings can inform the ongoing operations of special collections libraries and their mission as cultural memory institutions.</p>