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The purpose of this study was to determine whether branch gall size of lodgepole pine can indicate the level of resistance towards Western Gall Rust. The diameters of galls were measured from different infection years on the same individuals. The ratio of Gall diameter to Branch diameter was calculated and then correlated with gall incidence. An additional statistical test of Completely Random Design was conducted in hopes of answering the objective. The results suggest that branch gall size cannot indicate level of resistance towards Western Gall Rust.

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China became subject to various Western influences in the nineteenth century. Conspicuous in the realm of technology was the transformation of printing from xylography to Western typography. The new method was introduced by Protestant missionaries and mainly by those of the London Missionary Society (LMS). The motive behind this transformation was their hope to print the Bible and by an adequate method, but later the impact of this technological change extended widely beyond religion, resulting in the burgeoning and rapid development of modern Chinese publishing enterprises, including newspapers, periodicals and books. Based mainly upon the LMS archives and the Chinese works printed by LMS missionaries, this study is a history of the LMS's printing presses, beginning with their establishment in the very early nineteenth century until their closure in 1873. The two principal themes in this study are: first, the missionaries' application of Western technology to Chinese printing; and secondly, the role and response of the Chinese to this transformation. Whilst trying to demonstrate the interaction between missionaries and natives in the process of change, an attempt is also made, in the context of contemporary China, to interpret how Western printing technology gradually gained influence in native minds. The printing press did not achieve as much as expected in helping to spread Christianity in China. However, the LMS missionaries were able to produce the first fount of Chinese type and raised Chinese awareness of its greater efficiency, compared with their thousand-year-old blocks, as an agent for the introduction of modern knowledge and as a means to transform their old society.

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Over the past 30 years in Western Australia (WA), there has been a heated debate about the future use of the remaining temperate old-growth forests of karri and jarrah in the south-west of the State. This debate revolved around policy proposals from two social movements: one social movement wanted to preserve as much of the remaining old-growth forests as possible, and an opposing social movement supported a continued ‘sustainable’ logging of the forests for hardwood products. This research project undertook a comparative case study analysis of Australia (TCA) on the pro-logging side and Liberals For Forests (LFF) on the anti-logging side. It drew on a macro-level European theoretical approach (New Social Movement theory) and a US organizational approach (Resource Mobilisation Theory). The study also investigated the extent to which these two social movement organisations (SMOs) had been effective in Over the past 30 years in Western Australia (WA), there has been a heated debate about the future use of the remaining temperate old-growth forests of karri and jarrah in the south-west of the State. This debate revolved around policy proposals from two social movements: one social movement wanted to preserve as much of the remaining old-growth forests as possible, and an opposing social movement supported a continued ‘sustainable’ logging of the forests for hardwood products. This research project undertook a comparative case study analysis of one WA organisation from each of these two social movements- Timber Communities Australia (TCA) on the pro-logging side and Liberals For Forests (LFF) on the anti-logging side. It drew on a macro-level European theoretical approach (New Social Movement theory) and a US organizational approach (Resource Mobilisation Theory). The study also investigated the extent to which these two social movement organisations (SMOs) had been effective in influencing the development of State forest policy. For this purpose Schumaker’s (1975) framework for judging the political effectiveness of social movements was used. The key research problem investigated in this thesis is why these two SMOs continued to debate the forest policy issue after more than 30 years of public controversy? Interviews with a key range of stakeholders were the key research method of this study. Additionally, an investigation into important economic and social changes in the south west was undertaken using census and other data between 1971 and 2001 and this was supported by an historical analysis of the timber industry in WA’s south west. Finally, a 3-year study of the reporting of forest issues by two local and one national newspaper was completed. The 1998-2000 period was chosen for the newspaper analysis as this was when the new Regional Forest Agreement was being finalised. This research shows that new values toward the old-growth forests developed among the WA public over the past 30 years and this has created an unbridgeable policy gap between those such as the TCA who wanted the past policies to continue and those such as the LFF who wanted to preserve the remaining native forests. ABS data confirm that the south-west region of WA changed dramatically between 1970 and 2000 as the wine and tourism industries developed and that these changes were different to those occurring in the other wine regions and non-city areas of Australia. As the population increased in this region, a key segment attracted by these new employment opportunities were middle class, well-educated people with new values toward the natural environment. The interview and newspaper article data clearly showed that the debate in WA in the late 1990s over the proposed RFA provided a new political opportunity for the anti-logging movement to raise their concerns and to establish a renewed public debate about the appropriateness of the WA forest policies. This came at a time when the traditional policy power of the timber industry stakeholders and the government department in charge of the forests (Conservation And Land Management) had been dramatically diminished. The combination of these factors led to the election of the new ALP government and the introduction of a new, non-logging policy for WA’s old-growth native forests.

This research analyses the governance structures and processes of thirteen independent primary schools in Perth, and one state primary school in Western Australia termed an ‘alternative’ or ‘lighthouse’ school. More in-depth case studies were undertaken at five sites with participants from different time periods. All the schools had a school council or board since their foundations and notably all schools had their origins in the period of the alternative school and community empowerment movement of the 1970s and 1980s. In an era of market reform and the corporatisation of schools, the critical areas of focus for this research were: how community expectations and school identity were maintained within council-governed schools; how democratic imperatives compete with professionalism and school improvement issues; and how schools confront dilemmas of governance. Three frameworks, Phases of Development, Community Empowerment and Dilemmas, were employed as useful means to discuss school governance. The results revealed changes in governance over time. Schools began to envisage themselves less as communities and more as businesses. The emphasis was away from parent involvement and towards efficiency and commercial practices. Tensions and dilemmas arose out of these changes. The thesis concluded that it was not the structures or individuals that were crucial in governance processes but the playing out of particular tensions and dilemmas. Principals and councils have to acknowledge the dilemmas that arise from competing values systems and make choices based on a clear understanding of these dilemmas.

The major aim of this study was to develop a conceptual model representing the implementation process of a curriculum change occurring in a State Education Department region. This development had its genesis in the now extensive body of literature related to the organizational phenomenon of planned change. Since its early development in the 1960ts, the study of planned change occurring i n organizations has grown in sophistication, encompassing a steadily evolving number of theoretical constructs. Such a construct, of recent origin, was that of perceiving implementation of the innovation as a discrete process within the total planned change process. Although stillinits infancy, this concept has attracted a steadily growing body of research, The present study co-ordi nated some of these findings to form the basis for a four-stage model representing the implementation process under a special set of circumstances. The application of the model was tested under field conditions. A longitudinal case study design was adopted because this was ideally suited to test the assumption of implementationas a process. The design was divided in to four sections : concepts related to the decision to change; concepts related to the effect the rationale for implementation had on teachers' behaviour; concepts related to the sequence of involvement of implementers; and finally, concepts related to the measurementof the degree of implementation for teachers and pupils. Field work was applied inarural educational region of the State of Western Australia. This region was established in 1979 as part of an Australia-wide trend. I t is well documented that at the commencement of the 19701s, Austral ian governmentcontrol led education systems were highly centralized. By the beginning of the 1980ts, all were facing major change, each incorporating some form of decentral ization. In Western Australia, a shift in power from central authorities to Regional Superintendents occurred. With the increase i n power, the Regions received more duties and became more complex organizations. To meet the demand of testing a complex theoretical model in the intricate field setting of a State Education Department region, a wide range of data-gathering techniques was used. Questionnaires were employed, some specifically designed to suit this study and some selected from other research. The breadth and depth of the data collected was extended by the use of interviews, both focused and unstructured. Information from a wide variety of perspectives was gathered by using direct observation. This was applied to the testing of the theoretical model and also used to validate data drawn from other sources. Content analysis techniques were also used to triangulate the findings from questionnaire and interview techniques. The findings of the analysis of the data,within a matrix of hypotheses and sub-hypotheses, provided powerful statistical evidence indicating that the innovation was judged as being implemented by the teachers and the pupils. Data collected were also analysed as part of the research plan incorporating four major hypotheses and twenty six sub-sections. Each sub-section has been investigated empirically. This strategy was used to test the applicability of the conceptual model as a technique to represent the process of implementation followed by an innovation in Oral English introduced into a rural region of a State Education Department. The model proved to be a very effective device, aiding in the comprehension of an implementation process that occurred under the particular conditions described in the thesis.