The importance of the role of the midwife in providing safe, quality care for women has until recently, been underrated in Victoria, Australia. Acknowledgement of the need for midwife-led models of care in state maternity service policies provided opportunities for midwives to become recognised within the healthcare system and the wider community. This professional doctorate aims to examine the ways in which the role of the midwife and her practice has been impacted on by organisational renovations of midwifery care. It identifies the complexity of the factors that affect the midwife’s ability or choice to work in midwife-led models of care. Furthermore this doctorate highlights the need for ongoing debate into midwifery in Australia. Concepts related to midwifery practice are examined as they form the foundations for the research and policy components of the portfolio. This includes an exploration of midwifery philosophy, the antecedents to autonomous practice and the experience midwives have of midwife-led care. An examination of the concepts of continuity of care and woman-centred care provides a platform upon which to review models of midwifery care. This review highlights the development of an ongoing relationship as a source of satisfaction for midwives and women. The second part of the doctorate reviews policies that guide the provision of maternity services in Victoria. Analysis of these policies using Kingdon’s multiple streams framework identifies the problems, the political actors and the policy developed, establishing the context for organisational change in maternity care. The antecedents for successful integration of organisational change are explored through a review of change theory and leadership. A case study approach utilised for the research component of the doctorate provides insights into organisational change that occurred at two maternity sites in Victoria. The findings of the study suggest there was a dichotomy between those midwives desiring autonomous practice and wanting to work in midwife-led care and those wishing to remain in one specialised area. Recommendations stemming from these findings include the need for sufficient education and support during change, a review of terminology used to describe midwifery models of care and research into the use of integrated maternity units. Complexity science is examined in order to bring the different strands of the doctorate together, providing an explanation for the different outcomes that occur despite the implementation of similar models. The connective leadership model was suggested as the means to provide leadership that is inclusive of providing direction, mentoring new leaders and providing support and opportunities for midwives to become empowered to practice autonomously. Attention to the complexity of organisational change is vital to ensure the future of midwifery.

The importance of the role of the midwife in providing safe, quality care for women has until recently, been underrated in Victoria, Australia. Acknowledgement of the need for midwife-led models of care in state maternity service policies provided opportunities for midwives to become recognised within the healthcare system and the wider community. This professional doctorate aims to examine the ways in which the role of the midwife and her practice has been impacted on by organisational renovations of midwifery care. It identifies the complexity of the factors that affect the midwife’s ability or choice to work in midwife-led models of care. Furthermore this doctorate highlights the need for ongoing debate into midwifery in Australia. Concepts related to midwifery practice are examined as they form the foundations for the research and policy components of the portfolio. This includes an exploration of midwifery philosophy, the antecedents to autonomous practice and the experience midwives have of midwife-led care. An examination of the concepts of continuity of care and woman-centred care provides a platform upon which to review models of midwifery care. This review highlights the development of an ongoing relationship as a source of satisfaction for midwives and women. The second part of the doctorate reviews policies that guide the provision of maternity services in Victoria. Analysis of these policies using Kingdon’s multiple streams framework identifies the problems, the political actors and the policy developed, establishing the context for organisational change in maternity care. The antecedents for successful integration of organisational change are explored through a review of change theory and leadership. A case study approach utilised for the research component of the doctorate provides insights into organisational change that occurred at two maternity sites in Victoria. The findings of the study suggest there was a dichotomy between those midwives desiring autonomous practice and wanting to work in midwife-led care and those wishing to remain in one specialised area. Recommendations stemming from these findings include the need for sufficient education and support during change, a review of terminology used to describe midwifery models of care and research into the use of integrated maternity units. Complexity science is examined in order to bring the different strands of the doctorate together, providing an explanation for the different outcomes that occur despite the implementation of similar models. The connective leadership model was suggested as the means to provide leadership that is inclusive of providing direction, mentoring new leaders and providing support and opportunities for midwives to become empowered to practice autonomously. Attention to the complexity of organisational change is vital to ensure the future of midwifery.

Understanding the evolution, biogeography and extinction of Australopapuan vertebrate lineages is fundamental to determining baseline responses of those groups to past environmental change. In light of predicted climatic change and anthropogenic impact, it is imperative to determine the trajectories of Australia???s modern flora and fauna. In particular, mesothermic rainforest faunas are among Australia???s most vulnerable terrestrial biota under threat from both natural and anthropogenic causes. There is a gap in knowledge of past patterns of change and, in particular, a conspicuous lack of direct evidence of response of rainforest faunas to past climatic change. This study documents the late Cainozoic Australopapuan rainforest vertebrate record and its response to environmental change via adaptive radiation, biogeographical change and extinction. In particular, it provides the first detailed systematic appraisal of Quaternary fossil sites and local faunas from northern Australia. The study documents the only known Quaternary mesothermic rainforest fauna in Australia and its transition to a xeric-adapted fauna during the middle Pleistocene. The fossil assemblages analysed are comprised of dozens of species, including several new genera and species. Each fossil taxon shares a close phylogenetic relationship with others either known only from the Australian Tertiary record or from Quaternary-Recent New Guinea and Wet Tropics rainforests. The presence of many species is evidence of previously much larger distributions followed by subsequent massive range retractions. Detailed documentation of this rare fauna testifies to rainforest stability in central eastern Queensland until approximately 280,000 years ago, when the development of an El Nino dominated climate generated variable climatic patterns that could not support aeseasonal rainforest. Extinction of this late Pleistocene rainforest fauna serves as one of only two examples of major rainforest faunal turnover in Cainozoic Australia, the other occurring in the late Miocene. These two major extinction events are compared. The late Pleistocene faunal extinction differs from the late Miocene event in being biased towards large-bodied, terrestrial herbivores and carnivores (both reptile and mammal). This study also combines fossil and phylogenetic data with latest understanding of palaeogeography, tectonics and sea level history along Australia???s northern margin to provide hypotheses of faunal dispersal between New Guinea and mainland Australia throughout the Neogene.

This thesis utilises a range of methodologies to investigate the historical shoreline change and beach morphodynamics at Rapahoe Bay, West Coast, New Zealand. Rapahoe Bay is a small embayment located 15 km north of Greymouth, and contains a complex and dynamic environment under a dominant swell condition. The objectives of this thesis include the investigation the coastline history through aerial photographs and relevant literature, identify and quantify historical shoreline change and the processes that have induced change, examine the short term and seasonal changes in beach profile, identify and quantify wave and transport process and to test the applicability of the zeta shoreline curve on a composite beach. This combined approach investigates the dynamics and process drivers involved in coastline change. This thesis contributes to the research gap of understanding morphodynamic behaviour and controls of composite beach under a dominant swell. Composite beaches types are a variation from mixed sand and gravel beaches with distinct morphological differences. This thesis provides an insight in to the morphodynamic behaviour of composite beaches. The study area contains a small village based by the shoreline and the potential coastal hazard that threatens people, property and infrastructure. Therefore the results from this thesis have an important management implication towards mitigating coastal hazards. The historical coastline change was induced through a combination of wave processes and transport, composite beach morphodynamic behaviour, anthropogenic influence and planform shape. Results show that human infrastructure restricted the retreat of a small hapua landward of the gravel barrier. A combination of change in sediment supply, consistent sediment transport and a high wave energy environment resulted in rapid landward retreat through gravel rollover and coastal erosion. The gravel barrier morphodynamics include increase in crest elevation, steeper shore gradients as a response to high swells resulting in erosion or rollover. The wave environment includes a sediment transport hinge point due to a dominant wave refraction and changes in the shoreline orientation, which further induces coastal erosion. The valid applicability of the zeta planform shape concludes that the shoreline may further iii retreat due to geological controls, potential sediment transport and the transgressive nature of the composite beaches. The combination of methods and results provide both quantified historical change and also potential future scenarios of coastline reshaping. These methods and results are applicable not only to Rapahoe but along other West Coast composite beaches, and the validity of the combination of methods provides a greater understanding of the behaviour of morphodynamic composite beaches and provides quantified results of historical shoreline change and sediment transport at the field site.

The extensive development of change management has offered organizations appropriate strategies, effective approaches and useful concepts to realise the anticipated change. The latest change manifestation that is being given major attention by public organizations is Electronic Government, which is realised through the expansion of Information Technology and the evolution of the Internet. / This research has found that the Electronic Government initiative has affected organisational change, particularly in the areas of Strategy, Structure and People. As a result, the performance of the organization has also improved. Therefore, the Electronic Government initiative has had an impact on organisational performance. The results of this research show that Electronic Government intervenes in and affects these three variables independently or/and collectively. Any change in one variable will influence the others and this change can take place in two ways. A model framework is proposed to illustrate this interdependency of all three variables of Strategy, Structure and People within an organization, and the intervention of Electronic Government. The new theoretical framework could contribute to the overall understanding of the intervention of Electronic Government in the organisational change process and its impact on organizational performance. / Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2005

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington. / Bibliography: l. [249]-264.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, Aug., 2007. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Air Force Institute of Technology, 2007. / AFIT/GIR/ENV/07-M2. Title from title page of PDF document (viewed on: Nov. 28, 2007). "March 2007." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-75).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Adviser: Clare Kosnik.