Farm Cove Observatory

Aotearoa New Zealand (Aotearoa) is a nation shaped by the enduring effects of colonisation. For students educated in Aotearoa schools, success is defined by the cultural norms, knowledge systems, and values of Pākehā (white) New Zealanders. Research shows that, for students who sit outside this group, a main influence on their educational achievement is the quality of the relationships they have with their teachers. However, relationships in spaces shaped by colonisation (such as education), are hierarchical: they are defined by those in power and value is assigned to the dominant group’s (Eurocentric) beliefs and knowledge. This article documents the steps taken to Indigenise the relationship between learners and adults in one school south of the Auckland central business district. It further explores the effects of disrupting the history of colonisation at this school (Kedgley Intermediate), a large co-ed school in the predominantly brown community of South Auckland, Aotearoa. In the years leading up to 2017, there was an erosion in school culture and a reliance on punitive punishments that reinforced power imbalances between adults and students. Staff had love for their students but lacked understanding of their experiences and values; they couldn’t conceptualise the expectations the community had from those formally educating their children. Lalaga, at Kedgley in Papatoetoe, Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland), began with a majority Pasifika student population and a predominantly Pākehā staff as a whole-school approach focused on building relationships and moving away from a punitive punishment approach. We argue that, when time is taken to build meaningful relationships between students and staff, power is shared, and education thrives.

Severe problem behavior within a school can result in exclusion from education. A practitioner providing school‐based services must plan an effective treatment, while mitigating safety risks to the child and others. In this study, we sought to replicate the interview‐informed synthesized contingency analysis and treatment procedures developed by Hanley and colleagues in a school setting for a 12‐year‐old boy with autism and severe problem behavior. However, due to a severe burst in behavior, we increased treatment intensity and introduced procedures across increasing academic demand contexts to promote safety. During a treatment extension, procedures were implemented by teacher aides, across the entire school day. Treatment resulted in meaningful reductions in problem behavior, sustained improvements in compliance, and the student was fully integrated into the regular classroom. In addition, improvements in functional communication and tolerance persisted across contexts and the intervention received high social validity scores from those involved.

Abstract It has recently been discovered that some, if not all, classical novae emit GeV gamma-rays during outburst, but the mechanisms involved in the production ofgamma-rays are still not well understood. We present here a comprehensive multiwavelength data set—from radio to X-rays—for the most gamma-ray-luminous classical nova to date, V1324 Sco. Using this data set, we show that V1324 Sco is a canonical dusty Fe ii-type nova, with a maximum ejecta velocity of 2600 km s−1 and an ejecta mass of a few . There is also evidence for complex shock interactions, including a double-peaked radio light curve which shows high brightness temperatures at early times. To explore why V1324 Sco was so gamma-ray luminous, we present a model of the nova ejecta featuring strong internal shocks and find that higher gamma-ray luminosities result from higher ejecta velocities and/or mass-loss rates. Comparison of V1324 Sco with other gamma-ray-detected novae does not show clear signatures of either, and we conclude that a larger sample of similarly well-observed novae is needed to understand the origin and variation of gamma-rays in novae.

High-magnification microlensing events provide an important channel to detect planets. Perturbations near the peak of a high-magnification event can be produced either by a planet or a binary companion. It is known that central perturbations induced by both types of companions can be generally distinguished due to the basically different magnification pattern around caustics. In this paper, we present a case of central perturbations for which it is difficult to distinguish the planetary and binary interpretations. The peak of a lensing light curve affected by this perturbation appears to be blunt and flat. For a planetary case, this perturbation occurs when the source trajectory passes the negative perturbation region behind the back end of an arrowhead-shaped central caustic. For a binary case, a similar perturbation occurs for a source trajectory passing through the negative perturbation region between two cusps of an astroid-shaped caustic. We demonstrate the degeneracy for 2 high-magnification events of OGLE-2011-BLG-0526 and OGLE-2011-BLG-0950/MOA-2011-BLG-336. For OGLE-2011-BLG-0526, the $\chi^2$ difference between the planetary and binary model is $\sim$ 3, implying that the degeneracy is very severe. For OGLE-2011-BLG-0950/MOA-2011-BLG-336, the stellar binary model is formally excluded with $\Delta \chi^2 \sim$ 105 and the planetary model is preferred. However, it is difficult to claim a planet discovery because systematic residuals of data from the planetary model are larger than the difference between the planetary and binary models. Considering that 2 events observed during a single season suffer from such a degeneracy, it is expected that central perturbations experiencing this type of degeneracy is common.

We present results from a two week multi-longitude photometric campaign on TV Col held in 2001 January. The data confirm the presence of a permanent positive superhump found in re-examination of extensive archive photometric data of TV Col. The 6.3-h period is 15 per cent longer than the orbital period and obeys the well known relation between superhump period excess and binary period. At 5.5-h, TV Col has an orbital period longer than any known superhumping cataclysmic variable and, therefore, a mass ratio which might be outside the range at which superhumps can occur according to the current theory. We suggest several solutions for this problem.