The task of producing policies for the management of Earth’s natural resources is a problem of the gravest concern worldwide. Such policies must address both responsible use in the present and the sustainability of those finite resources in the future. Resources are showing the adverse results of generations of exploitation, and communities fail to see the outcomes of past policies that have produced, and continue to produce, these results. They have not learned from past policy failures, and consequently fail to produce natural resource management (NRM) policies that support sustainable development.¶ It will be argued that NRM policy makers fail to learn from the past because they do not have a good historical perspective and a clear understanding of the dynamics of the complex human-environment system that they manage. It will also be argued that historians have not shown an interest in collaborating with policy makers on these issues, even though they have much to offer. Therefore, a new approach is proposed, which brings the skills and understanding of the trained historian directly into the policy arena.¶ This approach is called Applied Environmental History (AEH). Its aims are to help establish an area of common conceptual ground between NRM practitioners, policy makers, historians and dynamicists; to provide a framework that can help NRM practitioners and policy makers to take account of the historical and dynamical issues that characterise human-environment relationships; and to help NRM practitioners and policy makers improve their capacity to learn from the past. Applied Environmental History captures the characteristics of public and applied history and environmental history. In order to include an understanding of feedback dynamics in human-environment systems, it draws on concepts from dynamical systems theory. Because learning from the past is a particular form of learning from experience, AEH also draws on theories of cognitive adaptation.¶ Principles for the application of AEH are developed and then tested in an exploratory study of irrigation development that is focused on the NRM issue of salinity. Since irrigation salinity has existed for centuries, and is a serious environmental problem in many parts of the world, it is a suitable NRM context in which to explore policy makers' failure to learn from the past. AEH principles guide this study, and are used, together with insights generated from the study, as the basis for the design of AEH Guidelines.

El presente estudio tiene como objetivo analizar la relación entre los estilos de afrontamiento y adaptación cognitiva en madres de hijos con Síndrome de Down. Se tomó una muestra conformada por (N= 44) madres de entre 26 y 63 años, que cumplen un rol de cuidador y un 52% trabaja o tiene una ocupación. Se empleó un muestreo no probabilístico de tipo bola de nieve mediante las redes sociales, la aplicación virtual de los cuestionarios respectivos: ficha sociodemográfica, el Cuestionario de Estimación de afrontamiento (COPE) y la Escala de Adaptación cognitiva para Síndrome de Down (ACODOWN). Los resultados encontrados muestran relaciones moderadas y grandes en el área de percepción (- .32 < rw < - .62) mientras que en el área de problema y emoción se encontraron pequeñas y triviales (.02 < rw < .22), al igual que la implicación directa con el recibir apoyo que cumple un factor vital. / The present study aims to analyze the relationship between coping styles and cognitive adaptation in mothers of children with Down syndrome. The sample consisted of (N= 44) mothers between 26 and 63 years of age, who are caregivers and 52% of whom work or have an occupation. A non-probabilistic snowball sampling was used through social networks, the virtual application of the respective questionnaires: sociodemographic card, the Coping Coping Estimation Questionnaire (COPE) and the Cognitive Adaptation Scale for Down Syndrome (ACODOWN). The results found show moderate and large relationships in the area of perception (- .32 < rw < - .62) while in the area of problem and emotion small and trivial relationships were found (.02 < rw < .22), as was the direct involvement with receiving support that fulfills a vital factor. / Tesis

In the United States of America (U.S.), institutional marginalization and racial discrimination remains an arguably difficult subject to understand, both conceptually and pragmatically. Regarding governmental sectors, U.S. Armed Forces are institutions where discrimination must be critically explored in an attempt to provide an understanding of the reality faced by those who actually serve. This study involved the examination into racism within a specific elite governmental sector that emphasizes a philosophy of a unified oneness of all its members. Using a phenomenological approach, the study delved into the actual impact of racism within the Marine Corps, on the lives of individual members of a historically marginalized populace, African American/Black. The research explored and analyzed the life stories of three male members of the aforementioned population group, hence seeking to answer the research question: How has Integrated Racial Diversity in the Armed Forces Impacted Experiences of Discrimination Antagonistic to Male African American/Black Marine Corps Officers as Members of a Population Historically Marginalized and Discriminated against in the United States of America? Theories incorporated in the research offered meaning to the experiences of the individual participants. Discoveries illustrated the necessity of adaptation by the individual in coping with the impact of racially charged hostilities in an environment supposedly operating with an objective of oneness of its members. Through the findings, a theory of socio-psycho-bio dissonance was developed by the researcher. This research provides recommendations on practical ways to transformatively address and seek probable resolution in conflict – institutionally.