The anatomy of a coastal bay/lake system

A comprehensive and integrated approach involving sedimentology, shallow surface geophysics and radio-chemistry was used to understand lakebed sediment dynamics in Little Lake. This methodology attempted to (1) define the morphology and origin of the lake, (2) understand the variability in lake-bottom sediments, (3) assess short-term and long-term sediment accumulation rates, and (4) image lakebed features. Subbottom chirp, single beam echo sounder, and side scan sonar data were collected to define hydrographic depths, lateral variability in seabed sediment type, lakebed features, and shallow subsurface structure. Sediment samples were taken at representative locations throughout the lake and particle size distributions were determined. Radionuclide dating was performed on selected samples to gain an understanding of lake sediment accumulation rates. The results indicate the lake formed as a consequence of subsidence and the amalgamation of four sub-basins to form the current lake extent. The distribution of surface sediment is controlled by basin morphology and in situ relic channel/levee deposits. The surface sediment in Little Lake is organic rich clay near tidal channels (from erosion of tidal channel banks), silt near the perimeter of the lake (winnowing by shallow wave action), and sand in the center of the lake (erosion of relic channels). The shallow surface sediments showed three discernable accumulation layers defined as (1) short-term, \u3c 200 days, Be-7 in the upper few centimeters with a potential riverine source, (2) event deposition, days to weeks, constant excess Pb-210 activity up to 10 cm thick interpreted as a storm deposit (Isidore and Lili, 2002) and (3) long-term, 150 years, excess Pb 210 with classic decay, 1-5 mm/year accumulation rates. Identified lakebed features include bottom scars, marine pipelines, channels and shell beds. Bottom scars cover approximately 25% of the lake bottom and are preserved in silts and clays whereas sands are mostly devoid of recognizable scars. This thesis is the first comprehensive study of a coastal lake/bay and represents a baseline dataset for future studies trying to understand the affects of the Davis Pond River Diversion restoration project on lakebed sediment dynamics. Data indicate that the Davis Pond River Diversion has not significantly affected Little Lake

Physical Education (PE) as a pathway to empowerment of young people in Rarotonga, Cook Islands : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand

The Cook Islands secondary school’s curriculum Oraanga e te Tupuanga Meitaki | The Health and Well-being Curriculum (OTM | HWC) derives from the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC). While a western education system is based on the concept of building human capital, which conflicts with Pacific Indigenous education values, The OTM | HWC has been adapted to include Cook Islands values and philosophies. Despite a well-intentioned curriculum, the implementation may face additional challenges, with resourcing and teacher recruitment. The design and delivery of the OTM | HWC has the potential to educate the whole person, but students experiences may differ from intended outcomes. With this in mind, the aim of this research is to understand the potential that a culturally relevant Physical Education (PE) curriculum has to empower young people. This research therefore asks: 1) How has the OTM | HWC been adapted and implemented in Rarotonga, Cook Islands? 2) How is culture utilised within the curriculum and how did this play out in schools? 3) What challenges might be present with respect to the design and delivery of PE programmes? As this thesis is grounded in Development Studies and draws from theories of Sport for Development and PE for Development, of particular interest is understanding from a gendered perspective how PE can facilitate empowerment in Rarotonga. This research is a qualitative case study. Fieldwork was undertaken in two secondary schools in Rarotonga, both of which follow an NZ model of education in the senior school, with students gaining the NZ qualification the National Certificate in Education Achievement (NCEA). Methods of data collection consisted of classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, informal conversations, focus groups and a fieldwork journal. In total 25 participants were interviewed. Through the application of a culturally relevant empowerment framework, which was the theoretical lens by which the findings were deliberated, this research contributes to new ways of understanding the experiences of young men and women within the PE classroom. The research found that several challenges exist including the recruitment of qualified teachers, difficulties with facilities and efforts needed to encourage students who were reluctant to participate. This research shows that social connections with friends and classmates were crucial in the enjoyment of physical activity. This is closely linked with tu akangateitei (respect), which students believed should be shown to the teacher and others when participating. Additionally, self-efficacy was a large contributing factor to participation and enjoyment, with girls often perceiving they lacked in ability. A prevailing hegemonic masculinity influenced the behaviours of boys in the classroom, with some sports having the potential to threaten culturally defined masculinities. For empowerment to be culturally relevant within the PE classroom in Rarotonga, focusing on inclusion and support within activities that do not always focus on physical capability is essential. The inclusion of vaka and other cultural games in the curriculum is fundamental to ensuring local values are maintained and perpetuated

Curricular Agents: Adolescent Immigrant Students in a Third-Space-Imagined-Community

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Indiana University, Education, 2015This study was designed using a practitioner-research model (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009). Serving in dual roles – ESL teacher and researcher of her own instructional practice – the researcher critically examined what happens when adolescent immigrant students are positioned as significant contributors to their literacy curriculum. Engaging a student-led, inquiry based pedagogical model, the students chose 'immigration in the U.S.' as a curricular topic of focus, which guided them into a year-long inquiry of U.S. immigration history and, consequently, a study of racial oppression and discrimination. The teacher-researcher approached her role(s) through the lens of critical multiculturalism (McLaren & Torres, 1999), pursuing greater understanding of race-based, systemic biases, which contributed to generative conversations within the classroom community, as well as personal and professional growth. The work presents the concept of a ‘third-space-imagined-community’, which offers concrete connections between theory and practice with respect to teaching and learning environments that include immigrant youth. Four main cyclical, intertwining and inter-temporal elements of theory and practice contribute to the third-space-imagined-community framework. Each cycle informs each other both independently and collectively, creating the potential for dynamic, authentic, and personally relevant learning as well as positive identity development for historically marginalized students and their teacher

Recognition of natural scenes from global properties: Seeing the forest without representing the trees

Human observers are able to rapidly and accurately categorize natural scenes, but the representation mediating this feat is still unknown. Here we propose a framework of rapid scene categorization that does not segment a scene into objects and instead uses a vocabulary of global, ecological properties that describe spatial and functional aspects of scene space (such as navigability or mean depth). In Experiment 1, we obtained ground truth rankings on global properties for use in Experiments 2–4. To what extent do human observers use global property information when rapidly categorizing natural scenes? In Experiment 2, we found that global property resemblance was a strong predictor of both false alarm rates and reaction times in a rapid scene categorization experiment. To what extent is global property information alone a sufficient predictor of rapid natural scene categorization? In Experiment 3, we found that the performance of a classifier representing only these properties is indistinguishable from human performance in a rapid scene categorization task in terms of both accuracy and false alarms. To what extent is this high predictability unique to a global property representation? In Experiment 4, we compared two models that represent scene object information to human categorization performance and found that these models had lower fidelity at representing the patterns of performance than the global property model. These results provide support for the hypothesis that rapid categorization of natural scenes may not be mediated primarily though objects and parts, but also through global properties of structure and affordance.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Graduate Research Fellowship)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant 0705677)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Career Award 0546262)NEC Corporation Fund for Research in Computers and Communication

The Briefest of Glances: The Time Course of Natural Scene Understanding

What information is available from a brief glance at a novel scene? Although previous efforts to answer this question have focused on scene categorization or object detection, real-world scenes contain a wealth of information whose perceptual availability has yet to be explored. We compared image exposure thresholds in several tasks involving basic-level categorization or global-property classification. All thresholds were remarkably short: Observers achieved 75%-correct performance with presentations ranging from 19 to 67 ms, reaching maximum performance at about 100 ms. Global-property categorization was performed with significantly less presentation time than basic-level categorization, which suggests that there exists a time during early visual processing when a scene may be classified as, for example, a large space or navigable, but not yet as a mountain or lake. Comparing the relative availability of visual information reveals bottlenecks in the accumulation of meaning. Understanding these bottlenecks provides critical insight into the computations underlying rapid visual understanding.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (CAREER Award (0546262))National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant 0705677)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Graduate Research Fellowship