A qualitative descriptive approach was undertaken to research what was available within the areas of advice and guidance for potential principals who wish to achieve the position of principal at secondary schools in Aotearoa New Zealand. The literature review for this study uncovered very little in the way of New Zealand-based professional advice and guidance for potential principals, despite there being some leadership development programmes such as the Principal Preparation Programmes for Aspiring Principals (University of Auckland, Centre for Educational Leadership). However, the international literature revealed a greater wealth of data on existing principal preparation programmes, and the phenomenon of leadership. In terms of the methodology, case studies and interviews of six participants were undertaken. Six current principals of provincial North Island secondary schools in New Zealand were interviewed face-to-face. Their stories were audio-taped and transcribed. The interviews were essentially rich narratives of leadership stories and were somewhat akin to individual case studies of the participants' own leadership and principal development. Content and thematic analysis of the data revealed eight aspects of principal development which were distilled to four main themes: historical career pathway; managing the journey; handing over the knowledge; and personal costs to the participants. The findings from this research showed that few principals followed planned career pathways or had access to advice, guidance or formal training for principalship. Participants generally gained principal positions through good luck rather than good management. The increasing complexity of the principal's role, combined with a projected shortage of competent candidates, requires that preparation for principalship needs to be implemented as a well-structured, rigorous programme. A framework for such a programme is proposed.

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Lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA) is hormonally regulated in rodents, and increased expression of LDHA is observed during mammary gland tumorigenesis. The mechanisms of hormonal regulation of LDHA were investigated in breast cancer cells using a series of deletion and mutant reporter constructs derived from the rat LDHA gene promoter. Results of transient transfection studies showed that the -92 to -37 region of the LDHA promoter was important for basal and estrogen-induced transactivation, and mutation of the consensus CRE motif (-48/-41) within this region resulted in significant loss of basal activity and hormone-responsiveness. Gel mobility shift assays using nuclear extracts from MCF-7 cells indicated that CREB family proteins interacted with the CRE. Studies with kinase inhibitors showed that estrogen-induced activation of this CRE was dependent on protein kinase C, and these data show that LDHA is induced through a nongenomic (extranuclear) pathway of estrogen action. Estrogen activates several nongenomic pathways in MCF-7 cells, and this study investigated the effects of structurally diverse estrogenic compounds on activation of mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK), phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), protein kinase C (PKC), protein kinase A (PKA), and calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IV (CaMKIV). Activation of kinases was determined by specific substrate phosphorylation and transactivation assays that were diagnostic for individual kinases. The compounds investigated in this study include E2, diethylstilbestrol (DES), the phytoestrogen resveratrol, and the following synthetic xenoestrogens: bisphenol-A (BPA), nonylphenol, octylphenol, endosulfan, kepone, 2,2-bis(p-hydroxyphenyl)-1,1,1-trichloroethane (HPTE), and 2',3',4',5'-tetrachloro-4-biphenylol (HO-PCB-Cl4). With theexception of resveratrol, all the compounds activated PI3K and MAPK whereas activation of PKC by the xenoestrogens was structure-dependent and resveratrol, kepone and HO-PCB-Cl4 were inactive. Only minimal estrogen/xenoestrogen-dependent activation of PKA was observed. CaMKIV was activated only by E2 and DES, and HO-PCB-Cl4 was a potent inhibitor of CaMKIV-dependent activity. These results demonstrate that activation of nongenomic pathways by estrogenic compounds in MCF-7 cells is structure-dependent.

A computational tool to assess the most likely path a state proliferator would take in making a nuclear weapon was created in a Bayesian network. The purpose of this work was to create a tool to facilitate analysts and policymakers in learning about state proliferation. In carrying out this work, a previous Bayesian network based on nuclear weapon proliferation was expanded to include dual-use export controlled technologies. The constant nodes in the network quantifying technical capability, international networking, and available infrastructure were developed to be based on pertinent characteristics that were appropriately weighted. To verify the network, nine historical cases of state proliferation were tested over time, and the enrichment and weapon pathways were graphed. The network sufficiently modeled the cases, so it was concluded that, while one can never truly being able to sufficiently validate a network of this type, sufficient verification was achieved. The tool was used to gain knowledge and insight concerning technology transfers with four countries in hypothetical cases. This exercise proved that the network can in fact be used to learn about state proliferation under different policies and conditions.