For many decades in India, natural resource management (NRM) programs were implemented by government bureaucracies in a centralized, top-down manner. The programs were unsustainable and suffered from resource use inefficiency and inequity. In the 1990s, under pressure from civil society organizations and multilateral agencies, the Government of India and many State Governments introduced policies that decentralized NRM programs and mandated active participation of users in the management of resources. When implementation responsibilities were transferred to resource user-groups many of the problems associated with centralization could be reduced significantly. However, despite their proven capacity of being better resource managers than government agencies, the user-groups encountered difficulties as self-governed people's organizations. Participation of users declined and problems of equity resurfaced in many user-groups. This dissertation describes the research that examines the causes of problems in the governance of user-groups in villages of Mehsana District in Gujarat. Using an eight-fold criteria of good governance, the study looks at eight Water Users Associations (WUAs) that took over irrigation management responsibilities from the Irrigation Department. This program of decentralization of irrigation is called Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM). The assessment of each WUA on each of the eight criteria reveals a close link between characteristics of good governance and the process of democratization. It can be seen that the WUAs that performed well on participation, equity, transparency, accountability, rule of law and consensus-orientation were less likely to face situations of dysfunction than the WUAs that performed poorly on these criteria. These criteria for good governance are also the core elements of democratic governance. At the same time, the case-studies reveal the tension between the democratization process that is attempted within the WUAs and the historical and cultural legacy of the feudal, autocratic and patriarchal society that rural India has been for many centuries. The thesis supports the argument, with empirical evidence, that the decentralization process can be sustainable only when user-groups institutionalize democratic processes and the early leaders behave in a democratic manner. It also suggests that the transition from an undemocratic institution to a democratic one can be enabled when external support agencies play an important catalytic role.

This cross-sectional study examines data from the 2008-2009 Youth Smoking Survey among never, current and former smoking grade 9-12 students using logistic regression. Path analysis examining correlates of former from current smoking was conducted for females and males. Former smokers represent a distinct, often intermediary, group of students between current and never smokers. Former smokers have similarities with current smokers on individual factors but more closely resemble never smokers on social and environmental factors. Among females, social factors were most influential; whereas environmental and individual factors played more of a role in male smoking cessation. These results further describe youth who quit smoking. The strong effects from social factors suggest the importance of family and peer support for quitting. These findings inform the development of youth cessation programming by providing a target profile and highlighting areas for intervention focus.

No description available.

Three Pavlovian conditioning experiments with rats were performed to test predictions from models of associative learning. The procedure in all 3 experiments involved assessing conditioned responding to a Light that was compounded with either perfect or imperfect auditory signals for food. In Experiment 1 a partially reinforced Light which signaled 100% of the food pellets acquired a greater ability to elicit a conditioned response when the auditory cues with which it was paired were relatively poor predictors of the food. In Experiment 2 the Light was still a moderate positive predictor for food, but food was presented both in the presence and absence of the Light. Responding to the Light again was reliably higher when the auditory cues were poor predictors of food. Experiment 3 replicated the results from Experiment 2 and included two control conditions to assess sensitivity to the absolute validity of the Light. In both control conditions the Light was uncorrelated with the US. In one condition the number of food presentations was the same as in the experimental condition, while in the second the number of Light-food pairings was maintained. Results suggested that regardless of the absolute contingency of the Light responding was higher when the auditory cues were uncorrelated with food. These findings suggest that associative models of cue competition make accurate predictions of conditioned behavior following exposure to multiple predictors of reinforcement.

Thesis (M.S.)--Villanova University, 2007. / Psychology Dept. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Tulsa, 1990. / Bibliography: leaves 304-339.

Inaug. Diss. - Leipzig. / Vita.

Thesis (M.A.)--Bowling Green State University, 2009. / Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 47 p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thèse--Lettres--Paris, 1966. / Thèse soutenue sous le titre : "Un prêtre lyonnais, Antoine Chevrier" Bibliogr. p. 425-514. Index.

Thesis--Catholic University of America. / Bibliography: p. 54-55.