Diversity, Disadvantage and Differential Outcomes: An analysis of Samoan students narratives of schooling

Social justice discourses, particularly those attentive to the politics of difference, suggest that the perspectives of least-advantaged groups need to be taken into account when endeavouring to realise social justice in education for these groups. In this paper, we analyse narratives on schooling produced by one cohort of least-advantaged students, namely Samoan students attending state-designated disadvantaged secondary schools in Queensland, Australia. Specifically, the narratives of educational disadvantage provided by Samoan students are analysed. The focus is on 'the what' (the knowledge to be transmitted) and 'the how' (the teacher-student relations) of pedagogy in state-designated disadvantaged schools. Attention is paid to the contradictory and ambivalent discourses inherent in these narratives, particularly in terms of realising socially just pedagogic practices

LADS Survey - A Case Study on Australia's Northwest Shelf

Laser Airborne Depth Sounder (LADS) systems provide an accurate, rapid and cost effective method of surveying coastal areas. These systems have been used by governments and commercial organisations over the last decade to conduct surveys for nautical charting, coastal zone management, territorial sea baseline determination, offshore exploration and defence applications. In the field of offshore exploration commercial LADS surveys have been used to provide high definition bathymetric data to support 3D seismic data collection in poorly surveyed shallow areas. This paper describes the conduct of a LADS Mk II survey for the oil and gas industry on Australia's Northwest Shelf and the quality control procedures undertaken

Extratropical Transition of Southwest Pacific Tropical Cyclones. Part I: Climatology and Mean Structure Changes

A database of tropical cyclone best track and intensity information for the southwest Pacific Ocean basin is used to construct a 28-year climatology for tropical cyclones that move into middle latitudes. Of the nine or so tropicalcyclones that form each year, an average of about three can be expected to migrate south of 35°S, with the greatest fraction in March. Storms entering the Tasman Sea west of New Zealand (NZ) move almost due south on average and retain greater intensity than those to the east of NZ, where storms decay quickly while moving rapidly away to the southeast. Storms east of NZ are embedded in a stronger, more zonal flow than those to the west, which move poleward ahead of a larger-amplitude trough. During El Niño years, tropical cyclones that move into middle latitudes exhibit stronger zonal motion and occur over a wider range of longitudes than during La Niña years. Storm intensity is only weakly correlated with concurrent SST anomalies, suggesting that atmospheric circulation is the dominant influence on storm properties. Average structure changes during extratropical transition (ET) are identified using the NCEP–NCAR reanalysis dataset, for a subset of 33 transitioning storms during 1980–97. Composites are used to construct a three-dimensional conceptual model of the transformation from a mature hurricane to an asymmetric baroclinic midlatitude cyclone.Southwest Pacific tropical cyclones encounter the baroclinic westerlies early in their lives, accounting for their average eastward (and poleward) motion. At maximum average intensity near 20°S, baroclinic effects are already important, with warm frontogenesis appearing in the southeast quadrant and outflow aloft into a downstream subtropical wind maximum that moves poleward with the storm. By 25°S, the average TC has lost the characteristic symmetric anticyclonic outflow aloft and acquired the characteristics of a baroclinic midlatitude storm, including regions of warm and cold frontogenesis, a vertical motion dipole and a westward tilt with height. From about 30°S poleward, a second upper-tropospheric wind maximum appears west of the storm, with strengthening cyclonic vorticity advection aloft. Below about 400 hPa, the storm retains the vertical, warm cyclonic core as it migrates poleward

Extratropical Transition of Southwest Pacific Tropical Cyclones. Part II: Midlatitude Circulation Characteristics

This second of two papers on extratropical transition (ET) over the southwest Pacific Ocean focuses on the variability of ET. A climatology of ET onset based on a previously described objective technique shows that ET commences 158 of latitude nearer the equator on average than similar cases from the Northern Hemisphere. Characteristic midlatitude circulation patterns accompanying ET near 308S are identified by means of empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis of 50 storms. The first eigenvector pattern, explaining nearly half the circulation variability, expresses relaxed and enhanced pressure gradients south of the storm that define composites similar to ‘‘cradled’’ and ‘‘captured’’ classifications previously described for the southeast Indian Ocean. The second EOF distinguishes redeveloping from weakening storms. Reintensifying storms were located beneath strong cyclonic vorticity advection (CVA) near the equatorward entrance region of an upper jet whereas the upper jet was well to the west of weakening storms. A survey of factors responsible for modulating central sea level pressure change during ET was conducted for the 50 storms. The quantity most strongly correlated with surface development was found to be CVA at the jet level. Extratropical reintensification occurred when the surface cyclone was located beneath the equatorward entrance region of an upper jet for storms between 288 and 348S, and beneath the poleward exit jet region for storms farther south. Strongest examples of redevelopment each occurred beneath a potent double jet signature aloft, with maximum storm-relative upper-level CVA located directly above the surface low and net vorticity fluxes reflecting amplification of the upper wave. Weakening storms featured a weakening upper trough directly above the storm, with CVA to the east

Defining and Measuring Excellence in the Changing World of Higher Education: Case Stories from Five Colleges of Education

This paper presents a collection of case stories from five Educator Preparation Programs (EPPs) within colleges of education, four from institutions in Texas and one from California, to present a micro cross-sectional narrative interpretation of what constitutes excellence in educator preparation. The broad framework utilized in this interpretation focuses on the individual approaches used by each institution for creating and sustaining positive cultures of data-informed decision-making, with the ultimate objective of continuous program improvement, while also meeting the accreditation expectations of each institution