A case study of system change and the influence of change agents : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Education at Massey University

The education system in Papua New Guinea over a three year period, underwent a massive re-organization that was unique in both its scope and the speed with which it was accomplished. The change from a highly centralized, fragmented system of education to a decentralized system that catered for all agencies involved in education, was proposed, legislated and implemented without being motivated by major social crises or revolutionary demands for change. Studies of change and innovation in education over the past decade, have tended to emphasize quantitative studies with fewer theoretical studies and very few case histories, particularly of developing countries. Much literature on change and innovation is highly technical in language and tends to regard change as an industrial process. There has been a tendency to neglect the historical, political and social framework within which change and innovations operate. The aim of this study was to provide a case study approach to the conditions and factors that motivated the change process of the innovation. Educational innovation as a complex subject, must be studied at several levels. This study examined the innovation at the level of the individuals involved in changing others and interviewed a sample of the identifiable principal change agents, to analyse the techniques or strategies used to implement the change. The interviews were also designed to provide a storehouse of data for future research. The data generally demonstrated that the initiative for change in this instance came from within the educational structure rather than from outside which is a significant departure from previous case study findings. The Chief Administrator of the Papua New Guinea education system, emerged as the decisive figure who significantly directed and influenced the change process. External experts were used as legitimizing agents to make the structural innovation acceptable to resisters within Papua New Guinea and to the Australian Government. Strategies employed by the principal change agents were generally collaborative in style, however, conflict situations were creatively utilized on occasions to reach a change goal. Absence of transactional influence was observed only rarely. The implications of the study for further research were discussed. The transcripts of interviews provide an invaluable base for research into future quantitative studies particularly one critical issue identified by all change agents. This centres around the conflict between the Teaching Service Commission, the Department of Education and to a lesser extent the Minister for Education, which, in having its origins in the initial innovation, will affect the ultimate survival of the Papua New Guinea education system in its planned form

Mental tactility: the ascendance of writing in online management education

A qualitative study of online management education and the role of writing as an indicative measure of thinking and learning. Established educational models, such as Dale\u27s Cone of Experience, are expanded and redeveloped to illustrate the central role of writing as a critical thinking process which appears to be increasing, rather than decreasing, with the advent of online multimedia technology. In an environment of increasing reliance on audiovisual stimulus in online education, the authors contend that tertiary educators may witness an ascendance or re-emergence of writing as central to the academic experience. This may be both supply and demand driven. Drawing on a study of two undergraduate units in the Bachelor of Commerce and applying hermeneutics to develop challenging insights, the authors present a case for educators to remain conversant with the art of teaching writing, and to promote writing to improve educational outcomes. <br /

A slicing obstruction from the 10/8 theorem

From Furuta's $\frac{10}{8}$ theorem, we derive a smooth slicing obstruction for knots in $S^3$ using a spin $4$-manifold whose boundary is $0$-surgery on a knot. We show that this obstruction is able to detect torsion elements in the smooth concordance group and find topologically slice knots which are not smoothly slice.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, v2: minor revisions throughout, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. (2016

The Colorado/Missouri 1989 cirrus mini IFO

A series of experiments with aircraft were planned for Nov. and Dec. 1989 to study cirrus ice crystal nucleation mechanisms and to test new aircraft instrumentation. The measurements were conducted using the NCAR Sabreliner and King Air. Sampling was conducted near Boulder, Colorado, in lenticular (mountain wave) clouds, and over Missouri in cirrus generating cells. Field samples of aerosol and ice crystal replicas and melt water from these cirrus clouds were collected and studied. Aircraft instrumentation and sampling techniques are discussed

Development assistance gone wrong : why support services have failed to expand exports

This study shows that in developing countries with no more than partly favorable policies toward manufactured exports, outside assistance to services that promote and support manufactured exports has had little discernible impact on exports and has rarely been effective in expanding them. The principal reasons for this lack of impact appear to be the after effects of inward-looking development policies, neglect of assistance to enterprises in the production and supply aspects of exporting, insufficient donor concern about the direct impact of their assistance on exports, and reliance on an inappropriate delivery mechanism. Recommendations which suggest new guidelines for donor assistance, project components and new country policies are explained in a companion paper, WPS 544.Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Health Economics&Finance,ICT Policy and Strategies,Poverty Assessment

Sharp Fronts Due to Diffusion and Viscoelastic Relaxation in Polymers

A model for sharp fronts in glassy polymers is derived and analyzed. The major effect of a diffusing penetrant on the polymer entanglement network is taken to be the inducement of a differential viscoelastic stress. This couples diffusive and mechanical processes through a viscoelastic response where the strain depends upon the amount of penetrant present. Analytically, the major effect is to produce explicit delay terms via a relaxation parameter. This accounts for the fundamental difference between a polymer in its rubbery state and the polymer in its glassy state, namely the finite relaxation time in the glassy state due to slow response to changing conditions. Both numerical and analytical perturbation studies of a boundary value problem for a dry glass polymer exposed to a penetrant solvent are completed. Concentration profiles in good agreement with observations are obtained

Reduced GABA-B/GIRK-mediated regulation of the VTA following a single exposure to cocaine

In this paper, Arora and colleagues expand on their previous work on GIRK channels in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) presenting evidence that a single exposure to cocaine reduces inhibitory GABAergic transmission to dopamine (DA) neurons in the ventral tegmental area. Mice receiving i.p. injections of cocaine saw a short lived (1-5 days) decrease in GABAb mediated G-protein coupled inwardly-rectifying potassium (GIRK) currents in DA neurons in the VTA. This decrease parallels an NMDA-mediated increase in the frequency of glutamatergic neurotransmission. Chronic cocaine injections had no additional effects beyond those seen with single injections. Though they found no change in mRNA levels for GABAb receptors, GIRK channels, or RGS-2 (a G-protein regulator), immunoelectron microscopy indicated a decrease in levels of GIRK channels in the plasma membrane of the dendrites of VTA DA neurons. The cocaine-mediated decrease in GIRK currents was abolished in the presence of D2/3R antagonist sulpiride, but not in the presence of D1/5 antagonist SCH23390, indicating a link between D2/3 receptor activation and GIRK activity. Interestingly, the addition of quinpirole, a D2/3 agonist, elicited similar GIRK currents, though they were smaller than those mediated by GABAb receptors. Similarly, acute injections of cocaine significantly diminished quinpirole-evoked currents

Gulf War Syndrome: A role for organophosphate induced plasticity of locus coeruleus neurons

Gulf War syndrome is a chronic multi-symptom illness that has affected about a quarter of the deployed veterans of the 1991 Gulf War. Exposure to prolonged low-level organophosphate insecticides and other toxic chemicals is now thought to be responsible. Chlorpyrifos was one commonly used insecticide. The metabolite of chlorpyrifos, chlorpyrifos oxon, is a potent irreversible inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase, much like the nerve agent Sarin. To date, the target brain region(s) most susceptible to the neuroactive effects of chlorpyrifos oxon have yet to be identified. To address this we tested ability of chlorpyrifos oxon to influence neuronal excitability and induce lasting changes in the locus coeruleus, a brain region implicated in anxiety, substance use, attention and emotional response to stress. Here we used an ex vivo rodent model to identify a dramatic effect of chlorpyrifos oxon on locus coeruleus noradrenergic neuronal activity. Prolonged exposure to chlorpyrifos oxon caused acute inhibition and a lasting rebound excitatory state expressed after days of exposure and subsequent withdrawal. Our findings indicate that the locus coeruleus is a brain region vulnerable to chlorpyrifos oxon-induced neuroplastic changes possibly leading to the neurological symptoms affecting veterans of the Gulf War