Thesis (M.A.). / Written for the Departement de géographie. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2008/07/24). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1984. / Typescript. Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 343-353).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1940. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 220-222).

My thesis is a call for the need of an intersectional awareness in the field of the commons, or the common or commoning. For that reason, I focus on a rather undertheorized subfield, the feminist commons because I deem that it promotes a more intersectional perspective than the male-dominated commons. My main effort concentrates to argue for the potentialities of an intersection between the commons and (feminist) decolonial project. Notions such as coloniality of power, the principle of intersectionality and the ethos of decoloniality help me to build my argument step by step. The thesis does not provide answers rather it poses questions and tries to open space for a fruitful experimentation.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious worldwide problem and a deliberate violation of human rights. Men from all ethnicities are physically, psychologically, and mentally affected by IPV. In the Unites States, approximately 835,000 men are abused by an intimate partner. Although there are higher incidences of IPV in the African American community and lower rates of help-seeking especially among males, there is a scarcity of studies addressing the help-seeking behavior of African American male IPV survivors. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of African American male survivors of IPV and their help-seeking behaviors. The sample for this study consisted of six African American men who are survivors of female perpetrated IPV. Social learning theory, which explains how behavior including help-seeking behavior is learned, guided this study. Participants were interviewed face to face and via Skype using semi structured interviews. The data from the interviews were analyzed and coded using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The findings revealed that African American male survivors of IPV face numerous barriers that dehumanized them; however, they recognized the importance of getting help. The findings provide a better understanding of African American men's experiences and help-seeking behaviors. Thus, programs that are specific to their needs can be implemented. Furthermore, the results could prompt law enforcement administration to provide better training of patrol officers who first respond to family disputes.

No description available.

Master of Science / Department of Computing and Information Sciences / Daniel A. Andresen / As a laboratory associated the English Language Program (ELP) at Kansas State University, the International Technology Commons (ITC) provides English instructions to students who are qualified to begin university work but do not meet the English proficiency standards for the university by using cutting-edge pedagogical technologies. The ITC Information System is a centralized web-based framework that manages the polices, processes, and procedures to make sure that the ITC can fulfill all tasks required to archive its objectives, including checking in/out electronic devices and/or books to students and faculties, registering new students during the enrollment, keeping track of ITC properties and assets, etc. As a full-stack project, the ITC Information System has been designed and implemented by utilizing multiple modern programming languages, frameworks, and platforms. Been serving the ITC since August 2015, the ITC Information System has significantly improved the efficiency of ITC electronic resources, and reduced the man-hours devoting to administrating undergraduate lab monitors. Leadership of the ELP appreciates the outcome and expresses expectation to broaden the scale of this project to serving more instructional divisions.

Tourism is the fastest growing sector in the world. It represents 10% of the global GDP and generates one in 11 jobs. Nature tourism has become increasingly popular in the last few decades and it is predicted to keep increasing. Wildlife watching has initially been welcomed by conservation and environmental organisations as a conservation tool. However, we now know that these activities can have severe consequences for the environment and for the local communities. In this thesis, I have provided advice on the governance approaches and management tools that can be used to facilitate sustainable outcomes of nature tourism socioecological systems. First, I used semi-quantitative models to investigate nature tourism systems' dynamics under perturbations and the properties that confer resilience to the system, as well as leading to sustainable outcomes. Then, after validating the use of social media data to quantify nature tourism activities in Scotland, I used it to identify the major drivers of intensity of nature tourism on a national scale. I then obtained a global picture of nature tourism and its role in helping countries to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In the end, I designed an individual-based model to test how different tourists' phenotypes influence the sustainability of a nature tourism destination and whether any governance regime could be effective in maintaining sustainable socioeconomic and ecological dynamics. This work will be useful to inform management of local, national and global scale governance of nature tourism. Caution is needed when promoting the expansion of a country's tourism sector before determining how to manage it sustainably. Scotland has already developed some of the governance institutions that could contribute to sustainable governance of nature tourism. What is needed now is designing flexible rules and institutions that will be able to adapt to future changes.

This thesis is a study of the development of investigatory select committees of the House of Commons during the twentieth century, with a particular emphasis on the period between 1960 and 1990. Synthesising existing analysis as well as presenting new evidence, it describes the early origins of such committees as an integral part of the work of the House, and then considers the House’s apparent loss of interest in select committees between 1920 and 1960. The thesis next discusses the reasons behind the introduction of new select committees in the mid-1960s, and traces further changes to committees during the 1970s. These developments are set in the political context of the period, and in particular the growth of backbench dissent in both major parties during the 1970s. The thesis then analyses the process by which departmentally-related select committees came to be established in 1979. Finally it assesses the quantitative and qualitative evidence about the activity and impact of the new departmental select committees in their first decade up to 1990, relating them closely to the political environment created by the government of Margaret Thatcher.

This study examined the effects of communication mode, both face-to-face (FTF) and computer-mediated communication (CMC), and polling on cooperation in a commons dilemma. Sixty-seven six-person groups used FISH, a computer program that uses a fishing metaphor to simulate a commons dilemma. Next, groups had a 10-minute discussion period, either FTF or via CMC, in which they devised a strategy for the second FISH session. Groups were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: FTF, no-poll CMC, end-poll CMC, and two-poll CMC. The polls allowed members to determine others' intended behavior, thus enhancing perceived consensus. Finally, groups used the FISH program again. Results indicted that experimental condition influenced consensus, with end-poll CMC groups reaching consensus most often, followed by FTF, two-poll CMC, and no-poll CMC groups. However, groups did not differ across experimental condition on resource pool sustainability or group profit. FTF groups were more satisfied with group performance than no-poll CMC groups and two-poll CMC and FTF groups had similar levels of satisfaction. The strategy the group decided to implement in the second FISH session had a significant effect on group profit but not resource pool sustainability. Thus, the harvest strategy implemented by the group may have been a stronger predictor of performance than experimental condition.