Langmuir Turbulence under Hurricane Gustav (2008)

Extreme winds and complex wave fields drive upper-ocean turbulence in tropical cyclone conditions. Motivated by Lagrangian float observations of bulk vertical velocity variance (VVV) under Hurricane Gustav (2008), upper-ocean turbulence is investigated based on large-eddy simulation (LES) of the wave-averaged Navier–Stokes equations. To realistically capture wind- and wave-driven Langmuir turbulence (LT), the LES model imposes the Stokes drift vector from spectral wave simulations; both the LES and wave model are forced by the NOAA Hurricane Research Division (HRD) surface wind analysis product. Results strongly suggest that without LT effects simulated VVV underestimates the observed VVV. LT increases the VVV, indicating that it plays a significant role in upper-ocean turbulence dynamics. Consistent with observations, the LES predicts a suppression of VVV near the hurricane eye due to wind-wave misalignment. However, this decrease is weaker and of shorter duration than that observed, potentially due to large-scale horizontal advection not present in the LES. Both observations and simulations are consistent with a highly variable upper ocean turbulence field beneath tropical cyclone cores. Bulk VVV, a TKE budget analysis, and anisotropy coefficient (ratio of horizontal to vertical velocity variances) profiles all indicate that LT is suppressed to levels closer to that of shear turbulence (ST) due to misaligned wind and wave fields. VVV approximately scales with the directional surface layer Langmuir number. Such a scaling provides guidance for the development of an upper-ocean boundary layer parameterization that explicitly depends on sea state

Comments on the Sanef media audit: a new news culture is facing the media and journalism educators: the time to act is now!

This omnibus article deals with some of the comments received by the authors of the Sanef media audit (see p. 11) of the edition of Ecquid Novi). As Mark Deuze, one of the commentators puts it: The threats and challenges to contemporary journalism have caused scholars, publics, journalists, and thus journalism educators, to reconsider their approaches, definitions, roles, and function in community and society. Widely recognized as the four main changes or challenges facing education programmes in journalism are: the multicultural society; the rise and establishment of infotainment genres; the convergence of existing and new media technologies (cf. multimedia); and the internationalization or ‘glocalization’ of the media and journalism playing field. The four mentioned challenges and developments could be seen as reflected in the 2002 Sanef audit. The report particularly stresses the ‘new culture’ within which journalists are expected to do their work. This is a culture determined by fragmented audiences; a widening gap between journalists and their publics; and an increased need for quality information. It is also a culture of enhanced interactivity and media accountability; intercultural communication; recognition of cultural diversity; and dealing with ‘nonhierarchical’ management styles. Journalism education, in other words, is gearing up to face a tough challenge: keeping the best practices of the teaching context and practical skills courses on the one hand, and including cultural and critical reflective didactics on the other. This is not the traditional theory versus skills debate of old—this is definitely something ‘new’—as is clearly shown in the Sanef audit. In this respect the Sanef audit stands out for its discourse of emphasizing changes in journalism and news culture, rather than simply advocating more or less theory- or skills-based curricula

Enhancing public trust and police legitimacy during road traffic encounters:Results from a randomised controlled trial in Scotland

Objectives This paper reports results from the Scottish Community Engagement Trial (ScotCET), devised to replicate the Queensland Community Trial (QCET). ScotCET was an RCT that tested the effects of ‘procedurally just’ policing on public trust and police legitimacy Methods A block-randomized (matched pairs) design, with pretest and posttest measures, was implemented in the context of road policing in Scotland. Participants were drivers stopped by police in December and January 2013/14 as part of Police Scotland’s ‘Festive Road Safety Campaign’. The experimental intervention comprised a checklist of key messages to include in routine roadside vehicle stops, and a leaflet for officers to give to drivers. Analysis proceeds via random effects regression models predicting latent variable measures of trust, satisfaction and legitimacy Results Contrary to expectations the intervention did not improve trust and legitimacy; rather, trust in the officers who made the stop, and satisfaction with their conduct fell in the test sites, relative to the controls, after implementation of the intervention. The intervention had no significant effect on general trust in the police, or on police legitimacy. Conclusions Results demonstrate the difficulty in translating experimental interventions across policing contexts, and challenge the notion that public perceptions may be improved through a simple, additive approach to the delivery and communication of procedural justice.</p