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This study focuses on change in schools and the role played by principals as agents of change. An extensive literature study was done to determine the role of the principal. The principal cannot function without educators, parents and learners. Management tasks are some duties delegated to staff in order to develop them. The cornerstone of education change is the transformation of the curriculum, which determines the type of education South Africa needs for her people. The task of management is to provide an environment that is conducive for learning and teaching at schools. A well-functioning school is judged by performance. Classroom management is a shared responsibility between all educator and the principal. Policy provides guidelines and allows the executor to make decisions within a certain framework. Change in the context of education means that principals are exposed to new controls and regulations, growth-increasing competition, technological developments and changes in the work force. Characteristics of change can be that the principals lead, rather than instruct. The decision-making hierarchy becomes flatter and the roles played in schools become more flexible. The principals need skills in order to implement change. Principals hold the crucial position in schools. They act as a buffer, balancing the competing needs and contributions of educators with those of other stakeholders outside of the school. Change is a process, not an event. The major feature of change is to impart an increased authority to principals and gear them to democratize schools through renewal plans and collegial relationships. Principals should themselves change in order to make sense change and there rol within change. / This study focuses on change in schools and the role played by principals as agents of change. An extensive literature study was done to determine the role of the principal. The principal cannot function without educators, parents and learners. Management tasks are some duties delegated to staff in order to develop them. The cornerstone of education change is the transformation of the curriculum, which determines the type of education South Africa needs for her people. The task of management is to provide an environment that is conducive for learning and teaching at schools. A well-functioning school is judged by performance. Classroom management is a shared responsibility between all educators and the principal. Policy provides guidelines and allows the executor to make decisions within a certain framework. Change in the context of education means that principals are exposed to new controls and regulations, growth-increasing competition, technological developments and changes in the work force. Characteristics of change can be that the principals lead, rather than instruct. The decision-making hierarchy becomes flatter and the roles played in schools become more flexible. The principals need skills in order to implement change. Principals hold the crucial position in schools. They act as a buffer, balancing the competing needs and contributions of educators with those of other stakeholders outside of the school. Change is a process, not an event. The major feature of change is to impart an increased authority to principals and gear them to democratize schools through renewal plans and collegial relationships. Principals should themselves change in order to make sense change and there role within change. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2008.

The following key words were used: resistance, change, renewal, conflict, change management, resistance management, restructuring. All economies, and especially an economy like that of The New South Africa, depend on a well-educated, adaptable and continuously teaching work force to generate and implement change and innovation in schools. This requires a high quality and standard of education. Furthermore, education has a critical role to play in attempts to develop and maintain successful democratic societies. To address these objectives, order in the practical teaching situation is a prerequisite. Educators play a key role in creating quality and order in the practical teaching situation. Quality and order in education mean that the education process and outcomes must realise the best potential of the learners and meet the expectations of the community. Other factors such as resources may also contribute, but educators are mainly responsible for such quality and order since these aspects are rooted in their knowledge, skills and dedication. At present large numbers of pupils leave school with a school record of failure and without sufficient knowledge, understanding and competence to pursue successful careers. One of the reasons for this sense of failure is the almost complete absence of order in some schools since educators are resisting change which is brought about in the education system. There are many reasons for the apparent resistance to change. It is believed that educators can, to a certain extent, be regarded as a significant factor (perhaps a key factor) causing lack of order and discipline in schools, because of lack of support from the education department in meeting the needs of educators to enable educators to be productive. The management of resistance to change by school principals in Sedibeng-West (D8) was investigated in this study. Changes are continually occurring on all levels of a rapidly developing community. The school principal, as education manager, should be trained in a firm variety of skills, whlch will enable him to implement the management of resistance to change efficiently. Examples of large-scale changes that occurred in education during the past six years are the implementation of Curriculum 2005 and the transformation of Model C schools. It would therefore appear that it might be sensible to focus on reducing educators' resistance to change as part of a strategy to re-establish and promote order in education. The aim of this research centred on the following questions: How can the concept "resistance" be interpreted to create positive attitudes amongst educators to accept change in the education system? What is the role of principals as managers of resistance to change? Firstly, a literature study was undertaken to ascertain the nature of resistance to change, as well as methods and models according to which resistance to change can be managed. Findings from the literature study point to a number of aspects of resistance to change that play a decisive role in the management of change. These include factors giving rise to resistance to change, types of resistance to change, manifestation of resistance to change and reaction phases of resistance to change. Secondly, an empirical investigation was undertaken to investigate the degree and way in which school principals manage resistance to change and how educators' attitudes can be changed to accept change positively. For this purpose structured questionnaires were used. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2004.

This work has contributed to the understanding of dominant runoff generation at the large catchment scale and to the understanding of the relationships between landscape properties and hydrological behaviour. The developed models were used to estimate the climate change impact on the hydrology in the study catchment. A multivariate geochemical tracer survey was carried out in North Esk catchment in north east Scotland. A generic typology was developed using multivariate statistical methods to characterise the hydrochemical tracer response. Upland headwater runoff was dominant downstream in winter and provided significant flows during base flow periods in summer. These insights were complemented by a conjunctive analysis of long-term river flow data and a one year stable isotope survey. Integrative metrics of transit times, hydrometric responses, and catchment characteristics were explored for relationships at the large catchment scale. The evaluation that the associated soils and bedrocks, themselves controlling the flow path distribution, have a strong influence on the integrated hydrological catchment response. The empirically-based understanding of dominant runoff generation processes in the North Esk uplands and lowlands were used in a stepwise rainfall-runoff model development. Tracers were directly incorporated to reduce structural and parameter uncertainty. The integration of tracers helped reduce parameter uncertainty. These tracer-aided models increased confidence for using them to explore the effects of environmental change. Climate change impacts in the catchment where explored by forcing the models with projected climate change forcing from the UK Climate Projections 2009. The results revealed landscape-specific changes in the hydrological response with increased summer drought risk in the lowlands and diminishing snow influence and increased winter floods in the uplands. The spatial integration mediated the extremes observed in the subcatchments.

The possibility of realizing savings to modernize and recapitalize the US Navy is of great importance to the Department of the Navy (DON). Sea Enterprise is the vehicle for this effort. The DON operates in an increasingly smaller, dangerous, and rapidly changing world. Hence, the Navy and Marine Corps are attempting to change, adapt and transform to meet new threats to the United States in the twenty-first century. This thesis examines the Sea Enterprise Program from its inception in June 2002 to May 2005. A number of common business, public service, and management concepts are extracted and used to analyze the effort as a whole. The goals and objectives, structures, responsibilities, processes, and results to date of Sea Enterprise are documented and recommendations are provided that may aid the acceleration of the effort. The results of this thesis reveal some identifiable challenges and issues that have inhibited the DON's ability to realize the vision of Sea Power 21, and thus realize savings. Cultural resistance to change, onerous bureaucratic frameworks, lack of accountability, and disincentives to save are a few examples of barriers the Navy must overcome. To realize savings, recapitalize the fleet, and meet the twenty-first century threat (principally, the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT)), the Navy must address and surmount such barriers.

<p> Yellow-cedar is a long-lived conifer of the North Pacific Coastal Temperate Rainforest region that is thought to be undergoing a continued natural range expansion in southeast Alaska. Yellow-cedar is locally rare in northeastern portions of the Alexander Archipelago, and the fairly homogenous climate and forest conditions across the region suggest that yellow-cedar&rsquo;s rarity could be due to its local migrational history rather than constraints on its growth. Yellow-cedar trees in northern range edge locations appear to be healthy, with few dead trees; additionally, yellow-cedar tend to be younger than co-dominant mountain and western hemlock trees, indicating recent establishment in existing forests.</p><p> To explore yellow-cedar&rsquo;s migration in the region, and determine if the range is expanding into unoccupied habitat, I located 11 leading edge yellow-cedar populations near Juneau, Alaska. I used the geographic context of these populations to determine the topographic, climatic, and disturbance factors associated with range edge population establishment. I used those same landscape variables to model suitable habitat for the species at the range edge. Based on habitat modeling, yellow-cedar is currently only occupying 0.8 percent of its potential landscape niche in the Juneau study area. Tree ages indicate that populations are relatively young for the species, indicating recent migration, and that most populations established during the Little Ice Age climate period (1100 &ndash; 1850).</p><p> To determine if yellow-cedar is continuing to colonize unoccupied habitat in the region, I located 29 plots at the edges of yellow-cedar stands to measure regeneration and expansion into existing forest communities. Despite abundant suitable habitat, yellow-cedar stand expansion appears stagnant in recent decades. On average, seedlings only dispersed 4.65 m beyond stand boundaries and few seedlings reached mature heights both inside and outside of existing yellow-cedar stands. Mature, 100 &ndash; 200-year-old trees were often observed abruptly at stand boundaries, indicating that most stand boundaries have not moved in the past ~150 years. When observed, seedlings were most common in high light understory plant communities and moderately wet portions of the soil drainage gradient, consistent with the species&rsquo; autecology in the region.</p><p> Despite an overall lack of regeneration via seed, yellow-cedar is reproducing via asexual layering in high densities across stands. Layering may be one strategy this species employs to slowly infill habitat and/or persist on the landscape until conditions are more favorable for sexual reproduction. This study leads to a picture of yellow-cedar migration as punctuated, and relatively slow, in southeast Alaska. Yellow-cedar&rsquo;s migration history and currently limited spread at the northeastern range edge should be considered when planning for the conservation and management of this high value tree under future climate scenarios.</p>

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This study analyzes temporal trends and periodicity in seventy years of publicly available stream discharge and climate data for the Winooski River Basin of northern Vermont as well as lake level data for adjacent Lake Champlain. We also use random sampling and manual, point-based classification of recent and historical aerial imagery to quantify land use change over the past seventy years in the 2,704 km2 Winooski River Basin of northern Vermont. We find a general increase in annual precipitation, discharge, and mean lake level with time in the basin; discharge increases 18% over the period of record while precipitation increases by 14%. Over the last 70 years, mean annual temperature has increased at the Burlington Vermont station by 0.78 degrees Celsius (1.4 degrees Fahrenheit). Four sets of aerial photographs, taken at intervals of 12 to 29 years between 1937 and 2003 at thirty randomly selected sites, demonstrate that actively cleared land area has decreased by 14%, while forested land and impervious surfaces increased by 10% and 5%, respectively. Spectral analysis of precipitation, discharge and lake level data show a ~7.6 year periodicity, which is in phase with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO); higher than average precipitation and discharge are most likely when the NAO is in a positive mode. The NAO relationship demonstrates that discharge is largely controlled by precipitation; anthropogenic changing climate and changing land use over the past 70 years appear to have subtly changed the seasonality of discharge and caused an increase in base flow.

Firstly rather accurate approximations to the p value functions of the common Standard CUSUM test and the OLS-based CUSUM test for structural change are derived. Secondly alternative boundaries for both tests are suggested and their properties are examined by simulation of expected p values. It turns out that the power of the OLS-based CUSUM test for early and late structural changes can be improved, whereas this weakness of the Standard CUSUM test cannot be repaired by the new boundaries. / Series: Working Papers SFB "Adaptive Information Systems and Modelling in Economics and Management Science"