Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Queensland, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.

In today’s productivity-driven work culture, many knowledge workers use to-do lists to stay organized. In this study, workers from both the United States and Norway were interviewed about their to-do lists. The interviewees’ to-do lists communicate the various cycles to which they are entrained (non-work activities, colleagues’ schedules), as well as their respective views about the enactments and construals of time. These interviews also reveal how to-do lists serve as memory aids to knowledge workers. Additionally, to-do lists themselves appear to be living documents, changing and evolving as tasks are regularly completed and added. This study also provides suggestions for further research on these enormously popular organizational tools. / text

 In the past 30 years, the inspiring progress of the basic education in China has attracted global attention, not merely for China’s determination of developing national education, but for the workable strategies adopted by the Chinese government to implement the right to education as well. The right to education, a fundamental human right recognized in both global and domestic legal system, is elaborated by United Nations human rights bodies on four key dimensions of availability, accessibility, acceptability, and adaptability. The achievement of expanding education to all children for minimum of nine years in China, to a certain extent, is a quantitative triumph of universal access to basic education. However, beyond the statistical victory of enrollment in schools, the increasing disparity of access to good quality education among different social groups, especially between urban and rural children, remains the biggest challenge for China to fully meet the four dimensions of the right to education. The thesis attempts to explore the factors related to policy-making, institutional governance and legal protection, which may result in the gaps in qualitative development of the basic education in China. The study focuses on the development of basic education in China and scrutinizes the two aspects of implementation of the right to education: policy-making and protection of individual right. In the line with a human rights-based approach promoted by United Nations and UNESCO, the thesis evaluates how the Chinese government performs the obligations to promote, protect and fulfill the right to education in terms of availability, accessibility, acceptability, and adaptability. The thesis observes that the fulfillment of right to education in China, despite the remarkable quantitative increase in school enrollment and educational facilities, has not fully complied with the obligations required by the relevant human rights treaties. To meet with universal standards on basic education further, the study concludes that strategies for implementing the right to education in China must shift to qualitative development by applying a rights-based approach to education and an effective framework for the provision and enforcement of legal remedies for the substandard education. These analyses are crucial to inspect the development of Chinese basic education, which both presents China’s successful strategies of promoting national action plans of education, and reveals gaps remained in the enforcement of the right to education in China. The purpose of the research is not only to address the current problems existing in the field of basic education, but also to explore the adoptable measures to further improve the enjoyment of the right to education in China. / published_or_final_version / Law / Master / Doctor of Legal Studies

1. The invasion of Betula spp. (B.pendula and B.pubescens) triggers a phase transition between lowland heath and scrub vegetation states. Transition to scrub is currently the most serious threat to the conservation of UK lowland heath; it has been found to correlate with soil phosphorus sorption capacity (PSC) at the landscape scale. 2. It was hypothesised that Betula invasion of Lowland heath was limited by numerous factors that may be subdivided into safe-site and seed limitation and that phosphorus availability was a key axis in the determination of a Betula safe-site. 3. An implicit assumption of earlier research was that PSC affected the P available to invading plants. An approach combining observation, statistical modelling and experimentation found that PSC affected the retention and availability of phosphorus in heathland soils. Synthesis of these findings with the published literature suggests that the direct effect of PSC on P-availability is small compared to indirect effects on organic matter (SOM) accumulation and vegetation cycling. 4. These findings allowed the hypothesis that P-availability affects the likelihood of invasion to be tested within an experimental framework. P-availability, seed rain and disturbance were experimentally manipulated in a multifactorial field experiment on a wet heath ecosystem in a stable, uninvaded heath area. Betula seedling densities and numerous covariates were also measured. It was assumed throughout this research that Betula seedling densities were indicative of the likelihood of heath-scrub transition. 5. Analysis of deviance found that all three treatments had significant effects on Betula seedling densities with seed availability proving to be the single greatest limitation at the site. Conversion of the experimental treatment factors into a continuous form allowed for a more detailed description of the phase transitional area within the site. The most significant descriptors of seedling densities were seed-rain, various plant neighbour variables and P-availability. 6. Replication of this experiment with fewer treatment levels and replicates at two additional sites found that the identity of the factors controlling Betula seedling densities was broadly similar, (e.g. vegetation and seed availability factors played a role at all sites) but that their relative contributions to within-site heterogeneity varied widely. 7. A single statistical model was fitted to data collected from three experimental sites. The model, which explained 59.8% of the deviance in seedling densities, describes Betula colonisation as a function of biomass density, necromass density, vegetation height, seed bank density, phosphorus availability, and to a lesser extent, soil water content. The form of the fitted relationships was complex with numerous interaction and polynomial terms. If the model is applicable to a wider range of conditions then it may be concluded that it is heathlands close to seed sources and in the degenerate state, and possibly those subjected to severe bums, that are the most likely to shift to the Betula scrub state. At larger scales these conditions are probably most common in low management intensity, high phosphorus sorption capacity (PSC) regions. 8. Validification of the combined-site model was attempted using data that was equivalent to that used in the fitting of the model and which was collected over two 5ha grids of 130 sampling points and covering a wider range of heathland environments. Low predicted and actual seedling densities prevented formal testing of the models accuracy but predictions were qualitatively accurate, despite extrapolation. 9. Exploration of spatial heterogeneity in the determinant factors using the aforementioned spatial grid data, was achieved with geostatistics. This revealed that seed bank densities and edaphic factors displayed small-scale patchiness of around 50m while vegetation factors possessed longer ranging autocorrelation resulting in single across-site gradients. The proportion of spatially structured variance in the variables, within the studied range (17.6-150m), was low for many factors. The pattern of these factors is discussed with reference to the exclusion of Betula colonists and management recommendations are proposed. 10. It is concluded that the combined-site model provides a coarse but fairly accurate definition of the phase-transitional area between lowland heath and Betula scrub ecosystem states and that the determinant factors are at larger scales governed by landscape-scale processes (e.g. soil (PSC), climate and management regimes). These factors may explain regional differences in the scale and extent of scrub transition.

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A current model for the early identification of students with academic struggles that is recognized by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Education is that of Response to Intervention (RTI). While the Ministry espouses the use of RTI, it does not mandate its application, nor identify which principles of the model are considered most effective. I conducted a qualitative, instrumental case study involving one rural school identified by the school division as effectively applying the principles of RTI. Using a semi-structured interviewing technique, and working with three participants, I identified which of the RTI principles the school believes to be effective, how the school implemented these principles, and the factors and conditions that contributed to their implementation. Along with interviews, documents collected from the school and school division that pertain to the application of RTI principles were analyzed. Finally, a narrative description of the research was completed. In total, ten themes were identified and further differentiated into four categories. The categories and corresponding themes are: 1) Attributes of the model that are considered critical: tiered intervention, assessment practices and division based supports. 2) Implementation strategies used: professional development, access to resources, and support provided when needed. 3) District and school factors that contribute to effectiveness of model: student and staff engagement and staff teaching philosophy. 4) Extraneous factors that contribute to the effective implementation: staffing and time. The implications of these findings are that effective implementation and maintenance of RTI principles requires careful planning, communication and a team approach. The principles of the model must be a priority for all staff involved in whatever capacity they contribute.

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