College students often make informal evaluations of their own course performance. Previous research has shown that the accuracy of these self-evaluations is correlated positively with actual course achievement; however, no one has yet explained why such a relationship exists. We hypothesized that poor students make less accurate performance evaluations because they know less about the criteria by which their work will be judged. To test that hypothesis, 52 students in an introductory psychology course graded their own work and that of others on both a midterm and a final examination and described their instructor's grading criteria on each occasion. As expected, poor students were less accurate than others at evaluating their own course performance. Poor and good students did not differ, however, in their ability to accurately evaluate the performance of others. The relative inaccuracy of the poor students' self-evaluations was not due to a lack of knowledge about the instructor's grading criteria, but instead involved a failure to apply those criteria to their own course work.

Tropical cyclones (TCs) with genesis in the Coral Sea present significant hazards to coastal regions in their surroundings. In addition, the erratic nature of TC tracks is not well understood in this region. Therefore, this study grouped Coral Sea TC tracks over the last fifty years based on K-means clustering of the maximum wind-weighted centroids. This was done in order to extract valuable new cyclone power, track curvature and location related information from their historical track records and to predict their behaviour in the light of a changing climate. TC track variance and curvature (sinuosity) were assessed. Three well-defined clusters of TC tracks were identified, and the results showed differing predominant directions of TC movement by cluster. Track sinuosity was shown to increase from east to west. Only one cluster showed a statistically significant trend (decreasing) in TC frequency. The TC power dissipation index (PDI) was used to reveal that two of the clusters have diverging trends for PDI post-2004. Based on the location of cyclone maximum intensity, only one cluster showed a statistically significant trend (towards the equator). All these findings demonstrated a clear variance in between-cluster hazard and show that TC trends discovered for the southwest Pacific are not manifest or consistent across all clusters.

The utilization of petroleum resources as an energy source for society results in the global discharge of significant quantities of petroleum hydrocarbons into the marine environment (about 6 x lo6 tonnes per year). Consequently, there is a need to evaluate the ecological impacts of petroleum in the marine environment and to identify the scope and dimensions of resultant impacts. Currently, a substantial body of diverse and largely unco-ordinated information on the effects of petroleum discharges in marine environments is available in the scientific literature. The application of an ecotoxicological approach, however, allows the development of critical evaluation models and frameworks which attempt to integrate and apply general principles of toxicology and ecology to a synthesis of the available information on effects induced by petroleum hydrocarbons in the marine environment. These aspects are discussed in relation to the significance of sub-lethal and lethal concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbons (e.g. aromatic fractions) within marine ecosystems. INTRODUCTIONThe utilization of petroleum resources as an energy source results in the global discharge of significant quantities of petroleum hydrocarbons into the marine environment (approximately 6 x lo6 tonnes per year).'92 These inputs are mostly chronic (approximately 90%) and similar in magnitude to biogenic hydrocarbon inputs, e.g. marine phytoplankton production. Consequently, there is a need to evaluate the ecological impacts of petroleum in the marine environment and to identify the scope and dimensions of the resultant impacts.Currently, a substantial body of diverse information on the effects of petroleum discharges in marine environments is available in the scientific literat~re.'-~ This information lacks coordination and protocols for assessment.The application of an ecotoxicological however, allows the development of evaluation models and frameworks which attempt to integrate and apply general principles of toxicology and ecology to a synthesis of the available information on effects induced by petroleum hydrocarbons in marine environments. Inherent in such an approach is the need to recognize, in a quantitative way, the distinct processes involved.8 Ultimately, predictive methodologies and models should be developed to provide a scientific basis for assessment.In contrast to classical toxicology, this assessment requires the estimation of doses experienced by a diversity of receptors for a variety of effects in those receptors. Estimation of single and integrated doses at the site of effect within receptors is essentially a function of the physico-chemical properties of the substances involved in environmental processes and physiological mechanisms within receptors. This paper examines such toxicological aspects as they apply to the behaviour and manifestations of petroleum hydrocarbons within the marine environment. TRANSFORMATIONS OF PETROLEUM HYDROCARBONSComplex mixtures of petroleum hydrocarbons (molecular weight range 16-> 10 000) undergo ext...

The first Nga Tamatoa protest at Waitangi in 1971 launched a new era of assertiveness in the struggle for Māori Treaty, land, and cultural rights. Such events as the Māori Land March (1975) and the occupations at Bastion Point and Raglan (1978) received prominent treatment in mainstream media of the day. However, how well equipped were the then predominantly monocultural news organisations to understand underlying issues behind such protests? Four decades on, media commentators have observed the propensity of majority culture media structures to frame their treatment of such events through their own cultural constructs and ignore crucial social, cultural and historical factors that ought inform a more thorough and relevant coverage of such minority culture issues. Although not achieving the same degree of prominence in the media as these other cases, the Ngatihine Land/Forestry legal dispute in Northland, New Zealand, in 1976-8 exposed the inabilities of the media at that time to adequately see past cultural ‘blind spots’ (Morgan, 2009) and take into account important historical and sociological factors in their reportage on this issue. This was something that non-mainstream media were more comfortable with doing. This article examines how the participants in this struggle had to first discover this necessity themselves and then present these frameworks to the media in order to encourage them to produce a more relevant coverage of this land dispute.

Tropical cyclone (TC) wind power, often highly destructive, can be quantified using the power dissipation index (PDI) and in this study, the PDIs for Coral Sea TC tracks, as well as the latitude of maximum intensity (LMI) were investigated for correlation with climatological indices. Multiple linear regression with collinearity removed and an overall Pearson correlation of 0.7 or above was used for this. The results for all tracks showed that three indices dominated for PDI: Niño 4 Sea Surface Temperature (SST), the Dipole Mode Index (DMI) and the Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO). The TC tracks clustered by maximum windspeed-weighted locations were then examined: For cluster 1 (located SE Australia), the additional influence of the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) was apparent, whilst for cluster 2 (located NW Australia), the same indices dominated as for the all-tracks model. For LMI, four indices were identified: the Indian Ocean East SST Anomaly (DMI E), the MJO, the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) and the SAM. Only TCs clustered in the northeast of Australia had a valid model for LMI, with correlation 0.8, using three indices: DMI E, DMI and the SOI. Overall, raised Niño 4 SST combined with a negative DMI and low MJO amplitude were shown to predict large increases in TC power, whilst a combination of increasing DMI E temperature anomaly with a positive SOI moves LMI equator-wards. Improved understanding of the relative influences of the climate indices on TC power dissipation has direct ramifications for the future risk/hazard profile of coastal communities.