In this dissertation, I develop a framework to investigate the implications of Affirmative Action in college admissions on both study effort choice and college placement outcomes for high school students. I model the college admissions process as a Bayesian game where heterogeneous students compete for seats at colleges and universities of varying prestige. There is an allocation mechanism which maps each student's achieved test score into a seat at some college. A colorblind mechanism ignores race, while Affirmative Action mechanisms may give preferential treatment to minorities in a variety of ways. The particular form of the mechanism determines how students' study effort is linked with their payoff, playing a key roll in shaping behavior. I use the model to evaluate the ability of a given college admission policy to promote academic achievement and to minimize racial academic gaps--namely, the achievement gap and the college enrollment gap. On the basis of these criteria, I derive a qualitative comparison of three canonical classes of college admissions policies: color-blind admissions, quotas, and admission preferences. I also perform an empirical policy analysis of Affirmative Action (AA) in US college admissions, using data from 1996 on American colleges, freshman admissions, and entrance test scores to measure actual AA practices in the American college market. Minority college applicants in the United States effectively benefit from a 9% inflation of their SAT scores, as well as a small fixed bonus of approximately 34 SAT points. I also estimate distributions over student heterogeneity and perform a series of counterfactual policy experiments. This procedure shows that AA practices in the US significantly improve college placement outcomes for minorities, at the cost of discouraging achievement by the most and least talented students. The analysis also indicates ways in which AA could be re-designed in order to better achieve its objectives. As it turns out, a quota system produces a substantial improvement relative to either the current system or a color-blind system. However, quotas are illegal in the US and cannot be implemented as such. Nevertheless, I propose a variation on the AA policy already in place that is outcome-equivalent to a quota.

This study explores how governments use knowledge to inform telecommunications policy-making and policy-implementation in regional development. It focuses on epistemological aspects and assumptions made within the parameters of Enlightenment thinking or the Newtonian paradigm, also known as the classical scientit1c paradigm. It argues that lmowledge formed within this paradigm, usually generated at a distance, has been individ,uated, detached, segmented and abstracted. 'Individuation' focuses on individuals and things rather than communities and processes. 'Detachment' separates the subjective mind from the objective environment to produce reliable information. 'Segmentation' produces validity of information by parsing the objective environment from its social and historical context. 'Abstraction' allows objectivity and systematisation of information. When used to inform policy, such knowledge creates a narrow 'standardising gaze' that 'disciplines' communities to conform to dominant social behaviour and beliefs. Case studies are used to demonstrate that the two major models of development, as products ofthis paradigm, employ this gaze rendering replicability difficult ifnot impossible. These models are the top-down and bottom-up approach that are epitomised by the Silicon Valley model and telecentre moveluent respectively. How this gaze inhibits/facilitates development in policy implementation is then examined in the Goldfields Esperance region in Western Australia. An holistic approach using cotnplex adaptive systems is used to understand the multidisciplinary aspects involved in development. This is combined with action research, a reflexive methodology. Action research has the ability to access local knowledge to provide data and evaluation in situ rather than on a post hoc basis. The findings demonstrate that complex systems analysis and action research provide a modus operandi that: a) recognises the interplay of various factors (such as power relations, economic cycle, social and political institutions) at different levels of the system; b) recognises time, context and path-dependence of regional development; c) provides a filter that minimises the 'standardising gaze' and d) gives an access to knowledge and insight to local issues, which can facilitate policy implementation of development that is sympathetic to regional communities.

The aim of this paper is to position art within the realm of the everyday for the purposes of establishing the critical/political capabilities of art practice in a post-aesthetic information-based age. In this way, art can be conceived of as a 'technology' which, having been placed in a situation/site, assumes an agency in the engagement of the subject within the dialectic tension of everyday conflict - the background in which the day to day micro-political decisions are made. I use the figure of the walker to examine the potential of a phenomenological approach to the interpretation of a theory of art and everydayness - it is the sensate nature of the walker which is valuable to the perception and interpretation of daily conflicts and dilemmas. The potential of the politically informed walking subject is to 'read' in a discriminating way the fragmented codes of complicity with which the individual/artist relates to or engages with the invisible monumentality of more powerful forces. This paper positions both art and viewer within a space which can no longer be seen as the perspectival unifying limitations of the traditional grid but as a fluid and multidimensional topology of power relations. It is within this context that the social-relational networks are predicted on unavoidable complicities and tacit agreements which are the substance of art and critical action / Master of Arts (Hons) Visual Arts

This thesis investigates the teaching of statistical literacy in the first two years of secondary school mathematics. The teachers involved in the research aim to make changes to classroom practice in the teaching and learning of statistics and statistical literacy in response to changes in the New Zealand curriculum. An action research methodology is adopted by the research. A group of three teachers and the author undertake an action research cycle of planning, observing, acting and reflecting in three different Year 9 and 10 mathematics classrooms. The research documents the designing and implementing of strategies by a group of teachers in a mathematics department for integrating statistical literacy into teaching programmes. The research adopts framework for improving practice that utilise models for statistical literacy and thinking and principles for teaching with a language learning or literacy focus. Data is collected through discussions with teachers, observations of lessons and interviews with teachers and students. Themes emerge from the data. They include the significance of teacher and student concepts of statistics and statistical literacy, the importance of language and literacy in the statistics classroom, the adoption of teaching principles to facilitate statistical literacy and the challenge of adopting a critical literacy stance in the statistics classroom. The study highlights the importance of literacy and language skills in statistical literacy. The research concludes that the important changes needed for developing statistical literacy are about classroom methodology rather than content knowledge and shows that adoption of language learning principles into the teaching programme may achieve this.

This thesis examines the effectiveness of participatory research processes as a form of agricultural extension within the Australian Dairy Industry, and specifically addresses the question : Does Action Research provide an effective methodology and method(s) for enacting farmer-driven research? The experiences of the Dairy Australian-funded Profitable Pastures Protection Project (PPP), delivered to farmers across New South Wales from 1999 to 2003, provided the context within which Action Research was assessed. Data were derived from journal records of the researcher’s personal experiences as a participant observer, a PhD candidate and project coordinator. The other main data sources were industry reports that tracked the progress, outputs and outcomes of PPP. A three-tiered research framework, consisting of Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary levels was devised as a basis to direct research, and interpret results. Conclusions are drawn that contemporary extension practice can be improved by better linking the on-and off-farm domains using participatory research processes such as Action Research. Meeting this challenge appears increasingly urgent in light of a globally relevant and strengthening off-farm environmental agenda that requires democratic engagement amongst greater numbers of agricultural stakeholders. This environmental agenda also places still greater demands on farmers, their management systems and the products and effects of the on-farm domain. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Lacosamide (LCM) is a new antiepileptic drug with a previously unknown mode of action. Using electrophysiological recording techniques in a range of in vitro preparations I have determined a mechanism of action of the new drug. In a 4-aminopyridine model of tonic-clonic seizures in rat visual cortex in vitro, LCM stereoselectively reduced maximal frequency and duration of tonic activity with EC[50�s] of 71 and 41 [mu]M respectively. LCM (100 [mu]M) significantly reduced excitability in whole cell patch clamped neurons producing non-selective reduction in the incidence of excitatory/inhibitory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs; LCM: 46.1 � 15.5 %, P <0.01, n = 4, IPSCs; LCM: 24.9 � 9.6 %, P <0.01, n = 4) and block of spontaneous action potentials (EC₅₀ 61 [mu]M). The inhibitory effects of LCM did not result from changes in passive membrane properties (including resting membrane potential or input resistance) as assessed by application of voltage ramps between -70 to +20 mV. LCM did not mimic the effects of diazepam as an allosteric modulator of GABA[A] receptor currents, nor did it inhibit evoked excitatory currents mediated by AMPA or NMDA receptors. Unlike phenytoin (DPH), carbamazepine (CBZ) or lamotrigine (LTG) that blocked sustained action potential firing evoked by brief depolarising steps (750 ms) or ramps (-70 to 20 mV, 90 mV.sec⁻�), LCM could weakly reduce the frequency of action potentials evoked by brief depolarisation suggesting a potential interaction with VGSCs. In accordance with this, the effect of LCM upon neurotransmission was negated in the presence of tetrodotoxin (200 nM, TTX). The frequency of miniature EPSCs was not altered by the drug (100 [mu]M). These results discounted some crucial potential anticonvulsant targets for LCM but implied a potential interaction with electrogenic VGSCs. When SRF duration was prolonged (10 s) LCM produced significant (P <0.01, n = 4-10, EC₅₀: 48 [mu]M) inhibition, but not within the first second of the burst EC₅₀: 640 [mu]M). Evoked TTX sensitive sodium currents in N1E-115 neuroblastoma cells were significantly reduced by LCM, CBZ, LTG and DPH when V[h]: -60 mV. Hyperpolarizing pulses (500 ms) to -100 mV could reverse block by CBZ, LTG and DPH but not LCM. The V₅₀ for steady state fast inactivation was more hyperpolarized by CBZ (-79.45 � 2.64 mV, n = 5, P < 0.001), LTG (-72.30 � 1.70 mV, n = 6, P <0.05) and DPH (-77.17 � 2.32 mV, n = 6, P <0.05) but not by LCM (-65.02 � 1.75 mV, n = 6, CONTROL: -65.84 � 0.86 mV). In contrast to CBZ, LCM did not slow recovery from fast inactivation or produce frequency dependent facilitation of block of a 3 s, 10 Hz pulse train. LCM (100 [mu]M) did produce a (V₅₀: CONTROL ~64 mV, LCM -57.47 � 4.53 mV, P <0.001, n = 4-8) hyperpolarizing shift in the voltage dependence of slow sodium channel inactivation and promoted channel entry into the slow inactivated state (P <0.001, n = 6) but did not alter the rate of recovery. I therefore conclude that LCM produces inhibition of epileptiform cellular activity, at least in part, via enhancement of voltage gated sodium channel slow inactivation and represents a molecule possessing a unique anticonvulsant mechanism of action.

This exegesis follows the development and application of an informal learning model for marginalised young people frequenting the inner city area of Melbourne, Australia. The Melbourne Youth Learning Opportunities (MYLO) project emerged in response to an increasingly visible community of young people frequenting the city campuses and a simultaneous wave of public concern about young people's options in Melbourne around the turn of the millennium. The application of an action research model was central to the research and is reflected throughout this exegesis. The recurring steps of reflection, planning, analysis and action are witnessed throughout the life of the MYLO project on both micro and macro scales. The research methodology reflects action research principles of consultation and continual improvement whilst simultaneously catering for traditional academic principles of rigour and validity. Combined qualitative and quantitative data collection was supported by careful data reduction and display before the determination of findings and according actions. The exegesis follows the creation and trial of an innovative youth learning model. In turn, the work explores the evaluation of the trial, the dissemination of project results, efforts at forward planning and the eventual piloting of the model. Throughout the document the reflections of the project team and, more particularly, the author (as primary researcher) are closely considered. The exegesis concludes with an analysis of developments in literature since the time of MYLO's creation, the contribution of the project to this body of knowledge, the long term outcomes for the MYLO model and the long term outcomes in terms of the author's own personal and professional development.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, June, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Antioch University, 2006. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Mar. 27, 2006). Advisor: Jon Wergin. Keywords: leadership development, evaluation, leadership, user-focused theory of action . Includes bibliographical references (p. 212-226 ).