title: Volunteer tourism: Evidence of cathartic tourist experiences

authors: Zahra, Anne Louise

subjects: research note

abstract: The study involved in-depth interviews with participants of an Australian non-government organization (NGO) that organizes projects in which young volunteers aged between 17 and 26 years from Australia and New Zealand participate in welfare projects with partner NGOs in developing countries. The welfare projects provide on the ground assistance to communities; these may not lead to longer-term sustainable development through longer-term skills training but engage the volunteers and community in a mutual exchange. Typically, participants will be engaged in short term courses in health and hygiene, micro-enterprise management skills, assisting in community health projects, community service with children with disabilities or orphans, painting, construction of school playgrounds and classrooms, guest teaching in schools, cultural exchange and disaster relief. The Australian NGO provides no financial assistance for participants; it primarily organizes and facilitates the travel, project and community work. Each project lasts between two and four weeks and are thus typically short-term in duration. As such, participants can be considered 'shallow volunteer tourists' (Callanan and Thomas 2005).

text: Volunteer tourism: Evidence of cathartic tourist experiences The study involved in-depth interviews with participants of an Australian non-government organization (NGO) that organizes projects in which young volunteers aged between 17 and 26 years from Australia and New Zealand participate in welfare projects with partner NGOs in developing countries. The welfare projects provide on the ground assistance to communities; these may not lead to longer-term sustainable development through longer-term skills training but engage the volunteers and community in a mutual exchange. Typically, participants will be engaged in short term courses in health and hygiene, micro-enterprise management skills, assisting in community health projects, community service with children with disabilities or orphans, painting, construction of school playgrounds and classrooms, guest teaching in schools, cultural exchange and disaster relief. The Australian NGO provides no financial assistance for participants; it primarily organizes and facilitates the travel, project and community work. Each project lasts between two and four weeks and are thus typically short-term in duration. As such, participants can be considered 'shallow volunteer tourists' (Callanan and Thomas 2005).

year: 2007

title: Direct comparisons of compressible magnetohydrodynamics and reduced magnetohydrodynamics turbulence

authors: Oughton, Sean

subjects: mathematics

abstract: Direct numerical simulations of low Mach number compressible three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (CMHD3D) turbulence in the presence of a strong mean magnetic field are compared with simulations of reduced magnetohydrodynamics (RMHD). Periodic boundary conditions in the three spatial coordinates are considered. Different sets of initial conditions are chosen to explore the applicability of RMHD and to study how close the solution remains to the full compressible MHD solution as both freely evolve in time. In a first set, the initial state is prepared to satisfy the conditions assumed in the derivation of RMHD, namely, a strong mean magnetic field and plane-polarized fluctuations, varying weakly along the mean magnetic field. In those circumstances, simulations show that RMHD and CMHD3D evolve almost indistinguishably from one another. When some of the conditions are relaxed the agreement worsens but RMHD remains fairly close to CMHD3D, especially when the mean magnetic field is large enough. Moreover, the well-known spectral anisotropy effect promotes the dynamical attainment of the conditions for RMHD applicability. Global quantities (mean energies, mean-square current, and vorticity) and energy spectra from the two solutions are compared and point-to-point separation estimations are computed. The specific results shown here give support to the use of RMHD as a valid approximation of compressible MHD with a mean magnetic field under certain but quite practical conditions.

text: Direct comparisons of compressible magnetohydrodynamics and reduced magnetohydrodynamics turbulence Direct numerical simulations of low Mach number compressible three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (CMHD3D) turbulence in the presence of a strong mean magnetic field are compared with simulations of reduced magnetohydrodynamics (RMHD). Periodic boundary conditions in the three spatial coordinates are considered. Different sets of initial conditions are chosen to explore the applicability of RMHD and to study how close the solution remains to the full compressible MHD solution as both freely evolve in time. In a first set, the initial state is prepared to satisfy the conditions assumed in the derivation of RMHD, namely, a strong mean magnetic field and plane-polarized fluctuations, varying weakly along the mean magnetic field. In those circumstances, simulations show that RMHD and CMHD3D evolve almost indistinguishably from one another. When some of the conditions are relaxed the agreement worsens but RMHD remains fairly close to CMHD3D, especially when the mean magnetic field is large enough. Moreover, the well-known spectral anisotropy effect promotes the dynamical attainment of the conditions for RMHD applicability. Global quantities (mean energies, mean-square current, and vorticity) and energy spectra from the two solutions are compared and point-to-point separation estimations are computed. The specific results shown here give support to the use of RMHD as a valid approximation of compressible MHD with a mean magnetic field under certain but quite practical conditions.

year: 2005-11-11

title: The Effects of a Shared Reading Intervention on the English Reading Skills of Year One Students in a Level Two Māori-medium Educational Context

authors: Te Arihi, Kylie

subjects: English Reading Skills

abstract: One of the biggest challenges confronting literacy education in Aotearoa  New Zealand is accommodating the differences in English reading-related variables at school entry to produce equitable outcomes in later reading achievement (Wilkinson, Freebody, & Elkins, 2000).  English-medium schools in Aotearoa struggle to negotiate effective literacy practices that validate and cater for the cognitive, cultural, and linguistic differences children bring to the process of learning to read in English.  Whereas, the role of English reading instruction in Māori-medium schools has been an under-researched and controversial issue.  How to accommodate for these differences to achieve equitable English reading outcomes in a year 1 level 2 Māori-medium context is the theme that this research seeks to explore.
	This Masters thesis reports on a shared reading intervention that explicitly teaches phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge to examine its effects on the English reading skills of year 1 students in a level 2 Māori-medium setting.  The research implemented a Kaupapa Māori framework and used interviews, surveys, reliable literacy measures, and research-based literacy instruction to explore reading acquisition for this particular cohort.  Thus, the purposes of the study were (a) to glean an in-depth understanding of the literacy and language practices that potentially shaped the participants English reading–related variables, (b) to examine the range of English reading-related skills for this cohort, and (c) to determine the effects of the intervention on their English reading skills.
	Eight students were divided and matched with a pair according to their reported pre-test phonemic awareness and alphabet knowledge scores, and then randomly assigned to either an intervention (n = 4) or treatment control (n = 4) group.  The intervention programme was carried out over a six week period and comprised 12, 30 minute lessons that integrated phonological and alphabetic based decoding skills within the shared reading approach.  The duration of the treatment control programme was also carried out over a six week period and comprised 12, 30 minutes lessons that integrated semantic, syntactic, and visual graphophonic sources of information to recognise words.  The results indicated the breadth and depth of English reading skills in year 1 level 2 Māori-medium contexts are diverse and the children had a positive attitude and sense of efficacy towards reading.  A comparison of the test results between the intervention and treatment control group demonstrated that a shared reading intervention that focused explicitly on phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge is effective in raising letter-naming knowledge, pseudoword decoding, phonemic awareness, and invented spelling.  The results are discussed in light of theoretical assumptions about reading acquisition that underlie word-base and text-base approaches to word recognition.
	Overall, this study supports the development and reform of training and professional development opportunities in phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge to better support, inform, and educate Aotearoa reading teachers.  This study contributes to the knowledge of English reading acquisition that validate the depth and breadth of early cognitive and linguistic differences to increase equitable English reading outcomes in level 2 Māori-medium contexts.

text: The Effects of a Shared Reading Intervention on the English Reading Skills of Year One Students in a Level Two Māori-medium Educational Context One of the biggest challenges confronting literacy education in Aotearoa  New Zealand is accommodating the differences in English reading-related variables at school entry to produce equitable outcomes in later reading achievement (Wilkinson, Freebody, & Elkins, 2000).  English-medium schools in Aotearoa struggle to negotiate effective literacy practices that validate and cater for the cognitive, cultural, and linguistic differences children bring to the process of learning to read in English.  Whereas, the role of English reading instruction in Māori-medium schools has been an under-researched and controversial issue.  How to accommodate for these differences to achieve equitable English reading outcomes in a year 1 level 2 Māori-medium context is the theme that this research seeks to explore.
	This Masters thesis reports on a shared reading intervention that explicitly teaches phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge to examine its effects on the English reading skills of year 1 students in a level 2 Māori-medium setting.  The research implemented a Kaupapa Māori framework and used interviews, surveys, reliable literacy measures, and research-based literacy instruction to explore reading acquisition for this particular cohort.  Thus, the purposes of the study were (a) to glean an in-depth understanding of the literacy and language practices that potentially shaped the participants English reading–related variables, (b) to examine the range of English reading-related skills for this cohort, and (c) to determine the effects of the intervention on their English reading skills.
	Eight students were divided and matched with a pair according to their reported pre-test phonemic awareness and alphabet knowledge scores, and then randomly assigned to either an intervention (n = 4) or treatment control (n = 4) group.  The intervention programme was carried out over a six week period and comprised 12, 30 minute lessons that integrated phonological and alphabetic based decoding skills within the shared reading approach.  The duration of the treatment control programme was also carried out over a six week period and comprised 12, 30 minutes lessons that integrated semantic, syntactic, and visual graphophonic sources of information to recognise words.  The results indicated the breadth and depth of English reading skills in year 1 level 2 Māori-medium contexts are diverse and the children had a positive attitude and sense of efficacy towards reading.  A comparison of the test results between the intervention and treatment control group demonstrated that a shared reading intervention that focused explicitly on phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge is effective in raising letter-naming knowledge, pseudoword decoding, phonemic awareness, and invented spelling.  The results are discussed in light of theoretical assumptions about reading acquisition that underlie word-base and text-base approaches to word recognition.
	Overall, this study supports the development and reform of training and professional development opportunities in phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge to better support, inform, and educate Aotearoa reading teachers.  This study contributes to the knowledge of English reading acquisition that validate the depth and breadth of early cognitive and linguistic differences to increase equitable English reading outcomes in level 2 Māori-medium contexts.

year: 2014