The geographies of encounter: investigating the spatiality and construction of 'meaningful' encounters with difference through the experiences of international students at University College Cork, Ireland

The purpose of this research is to investigate how international students negotiate encounters with Irish students and construct ‘meaning’ from those encounters in the spaces of the university and city. As cities are increasingly characterised by a multiplexity of diversity, the issue of living with difference is becoming more and more pertinent. In the wake of escalating socio-spatial polarisation, inter-cultural tension, racism, and xenophobia, the geographies of encounter seek to untangle the interactions that occur in the quotidian activities and spaces of everyday life to determine whether such encounters might reduce prejudice, antipathy and indifference and establish common social bonds (Amin 2002; Valentine 2008). Thus far, the literature has investigated a number of sites of encounter; public space, the home, neighbourhoods, schools, sports clubs, public transport, cafes and libraries (Wilson 2011; Schuermans 2013; Hemming 2011; Neal and Vincent 2011; Mayblin, Valentine and Anderrson 2015; Laurier and Philo 2006; Valentine and Sadgrove 2013; Harris, Valentine and Piekut 2014; Fincher and Iveson 2008). While these spaces produce a range of outcomes, the literature remains frustrated by a lack of clarity of what constitutes a ‘meaningful’ encounter and how such encounters might be planned for. Drawing on survey and interview data with full-time international students at University College Cork, Ireland, this study contributes to understanding how encounters are shaped by the construction and reproduction of particular identities in particular spaces, imbuing spaces with uneven power frameworks that produce diverse outcomes. Rather than identifying a singular ‘meaningful’ outcome of encounter as a potential panacea to the issues of exclusion and oppression, the contention here is to recognise a range of outcomes that are created by individuals in a range of ways. To define one outcome of encounter as ‘meaningful’ is to overlook the scale of intensity of diverse interactions and the multiplicity of ways in which people learn to live with difference.

Understanding arsenic mobility and speciation in lake sediments impacted by ore roasting near Giant mine, NWT

The roasting of gold-bearing arsenopyrite at Giant mine (Northwest Territories) between 1949 and 1999 released approximately 20,000 tonnes of toxic arsenic-bearing aerosols in the local aerial environment. Detailed examination of lake sediments, sediment porewaters, surface waters and lake hydrology sampled from three lakes of differing limnological characteristics was conducted in summer and winter conditions. Samples were analyzed for solid and dissolved elemental concentrations, speciation and mineralogy. The three lakes are located less than 5km from the mine roaster, and downwind, based on predominant wind direction. The objective of the study was to assess the controls on the mobility and fate of arsenic in these roaster-impacted subarctic lacustrine environments. Results show that the occurrence of arsenic trioxide in lake sediments coincides with the regional onset of industrial activities. The bulk of arsenic in sediments is contained in the form of secondary sulphide precipitates, with iron oxides hosting a minimal amount of arsenic near the surface-water interface. The presence of geogenic arsenic is likely contained as dilute impurities in common rock-forming minerals, and is not believed to be a significant source of arsenic to sediments, porewaters or lake waters. Furthermore, the well correlated depth-profiles of arsenic, antimony and gold in sediments may help reveal roaster impact. The soluble arsenic trioxide particles contained in sediments act as the primary source of arsenic into porewaters. Dissolved arsenic in reducing porewaters both precipitate as secondary sulphides in situ, and diffuse upwards into the overlying lake waters. Arsenic diffusion out of porewaters, combined with watercourse-driven residence time, are estimated to be the predominant mechanisms controlling arsenic concentrations in overlying lake waters. The sequestration of arsenic from porewaters as sulphide precipitates, in the study lakes, is not an effective process in keeping lake-water arsenic concentrations below guidelines for the protection of the freshwater environment and drinking water. Seasonal impacts on lake geochemistry derive from ice covering lake waters, cutting them off from of atmospheric oxygen, along with the exclusion of solutes from the ice. Such effects are limited in deep lakes but are can be an important factor controlling arsenic precipitation and mobility in ponds.

Understanding Online Abuse: An Analysis of Abuse Against Women Content Creators

This research is an examination into the ways online abuse functions in certain online spaces. By analyzing text-based online abuse against women who are content creators, this research maps how aspects of violence against women offline extends online. This research examines three different explorations into how online abuse against women functions. Chapter two considers what online abuse against women looks like on Twitter as a case study. This chapter contends that online abuse can be understood as an unintentional use of Twitter’s design. Chapter three focuses specifically on the textual descriptions of sexual violence women who are journalists receive online. Chapter four analyzes Gamergate, an online movement that specifically looks to organize online abuse towards women. Chapter five concludes by meditating on the need to look at a bigger picture that includes cultural shifts that dismantle the normalization of violence against women both on and offline.

UNDERSTANDING ESSAY RATING AS A SOCIALLY MEDIATED ACTIVITY: THE CASE OF A HIGH-STAKES ENGLISH TEST IN CHINA

Most essay rating research in language assessment has examined human raters’ essay rating as a cognitive process, thus overlooking or oversimplifying the interaction between raters and sociocultural contexts. Given that raters are social beings, their practices have social meanings and consequences. Hence it is important to situate essay rating within its sociocultural context for a more meaningful understanding. Drawing on Engeström’s (1987, 2001) cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) framework with a sociocultural perspective, this study reconceptualized essay rating as a socially mediated activity with both cognitive (individual raters’ goal-directed decision-making actions) and social layers (raters’ collective object-oriented essay rating activity at related settings). In particular, this study explored raters’ essay rating at one provincial rating centre in China within the context of a high-stakes university entrance examination, the National Matriculation English Test (NMET). This study adopted a multiple-method multiple-perspective qualitative case study design. Think-aloud protocols, stimulated recalls, interviews, and documents served as the data sources. This investigation involved 25 participants at two settings (rating centre and high schools), including rating centre directors, team leaders, NMET essay raters who were high school teachers, and school principals and teaching colleagues of these essay raters. Data were analyzed using Strauss and Corbin’s (1990) open and axial coding techniques, and CHAT for data integration. The findings revealed the interaction between raters and the NMET sociocultural context. Such interaction can be understood through a surface structure (cognitive layer) and a deep structure (social layer) concerning how raters assessed NMET essays, where the surface structure reflected the “what” and the deep structure explained the “how” and “why” in raters’ decision-making. This study highlighted the roles of goals and rules in rater decision-making, rating tensions and raters’ solutions, and the relationship between essay rating and teaching. This study highlights the value of a sociocultural view to essay rating research, demonstrates CHAT as a sociocultural approach to investigate essay rating, and proposes a direction for future washback research on the effect of essay rating. This study also provides support for NMET rating practices that can potentially bring positive washback to English teaching in Chinese high schools.

The Concept of Transparency in International Relations: towards a critical approach

Transparency is an important concept in International Relations. The possibility of realizing transparency in practice operates as a central analytical axis defining distinct positions on core theoretical problems within the field, from the security dilemma to the function of international institutions and beyond. As a political practice the pursuit of transparent governance is a dominant feature of global politics, promoted by a wide range of actors across a vast range of issue areas, from nuclear proliferation to Internet governance to the politics of foreign aid. Yet, despite its importance, precisely what transparency means or how the concept is understood is frequently ill-defined by academics and policy-makers alike. As a result, the epistemological and ontological underpinnings of approaches to transparency in IR often sit in tension with their wider theoretical commitments. This article will examine the three primary understandings of transparency used in IR in order to unpack these commitments. It finds that while transparency is often explicitly conceptualized as a property of information, particularly within rationalist scholarship, this understanding rests upon an unarticulated set of sociological assumptions. This analysis suggests that conceptualizing ‘transparency-as-information’ without a wider sociology of knowledge production is highly problematic, potentially obscuring our ability to recognize transparent practices in global governance. Understanding transparency as dialogue, as a social practice rooted in shared cognitive capacities and epistemic frameworks, provides a firmer analytical ground from which to examine transparency in International Relations.

Reconceptualising International Intervention: Statebuilding, ‘Organic Processes’ and the Limits of Causal Knowledge

This article examines the transformation in the conceptual understanding of international intervention over the last two decades. It suggests that this conceptual shift can be usefully interrogated through its imbrication within broader epistemological shifts highlighting the limits of causal knowledge claims: heuristically framed in this article in terms of the shift from policy interventions within the problematic of causation to those concerned with the management of effects. In this shift, the means and mechanisms of international intervention have been transformed, no longer focused on the universal application of Western causal knowledge through policy interventions but rather on the effects of specific and unique local and organic processes at work in societies themselves. The focus on effects takes the conceptualisation of intervention out of the traditional terminological lexicon of International Relations theory and instead recasts problems in increasingly organicised ways, suggesting that artificial or hubristic attempts at socio-political intervention should be excluded or minimised.

Late-career international migration and reproductive work. A comparison between Peruvian and Ukrainian women in the Southern Europe

Research on the relationship between reproductive work and women´s life trajectories including the experience of labour migration has mainly focused on the case of relatively young mothers who leave behind, or later re-join, their children. While it is true that most women migrate at a younger age, there are a significant number of cases of men and women who move abroad for labour purposes at a more advanced stage, undertaking a late-career migration. This is still an under-estimated and under-researched sub-field that uncovers a varied range of issues, including the global organization of reproductive work and the employment of migrant women as domestic workers late in their lives. By pooling the findings of two qualitative studies, this article focuses on Peruvian and Ukrainian women who seek employment in Spain and Italy when they are well into their forties, or older. A commonality the two groups of women share is that, independently of their level of education and professional experience, more often than not they end up as domestic and care workers. The article initially discusses the reasons for late-career female migration, taking into consideration the structural and personal determinants that have affected Peruvian and Ukrainian women’s careers in their countries of origin and settlement. After this, the focus is set on the characteristics of domestic employment at later life, on the impact on their current lives, including the transnational family organization, and on future labour and retirement prospects. Apart from an evaluation of objective working and living conditions, we discuss women’s personal impressions of being domestic workers in the context of their occupational experiences and family commitments. In this regard, women report varying levels of personal and professional satisfaction, as well as different patterns of continuity-discontinuity in their work and family lives, and of optimism towards the future. Divergences could be, to some extent, explained by the effect of migrants´ transnational social practices and policies of states.

How much is '5-a-day'? A qualitative investigation into consumer understanding of fruit and vegetable intake guidelines

BACKGROUND: Despite the known health benefits of fruit and vegetables (FV), population intakes remain low. One potential contributing factor may be a lack of understanding surrounding recommended intakes. The present study aimed to explore the understanding of FV intake guidelines among a sample of low FV consumers.

METHODS: Six semi-structured focus groups were held with low FV consumers (n = 28, age range 19-55 years). Focus groups were recorded digitally, transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically using nvivo (QSR International, Melbourne, Australia) to manage the coded data. Participants also completed a short questionnaire assessing knowledge on FV intake guidelines. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse responses.

RESULTS: The discussions highlighted that, although participants were aware of FV intake guidelines, they lacked clarity with regard to the meaning of the '5-a-day' message, including what foods are included in the guideline, as well as what constitutes a portion of FV. There was also a sense of confusion surrounding the concept of achieving variety with regard to FV intake. The sample highlighted a lack of previous education on FV portion sizes and put forward suggestions for improving knowledge, including increased information on food packaging and through health campaigns. Questionnaire findings were generally congruent with the qualitative findings, showing high awareness of the '5-a-day' message but a lack of knowledge surrounding FV portion sizes.

CONCLUSIONS: Future public health campaigns should consider how best to address the gaps in knowledge identified in the present study, and incorporate evaluations that will allow the impact of future initiatives on knowledge, and ultimately behaviour, to be investigated.

The Effect of Legal Culture on the Development of International Evidentiary Practice: From the ‘Robing Room’ to the ‘Melting Pot’

This paper draws on some of the preliminary findings of a small pilot study which aimed to discover what evidentiary challenges a range of practitioners with experience of different international trials faced in the cases they were involved in, and what practices were developed to deal with these challenges. The findings in this study are based on the data collected from The Hague-based institutions, the ICC, the ICTY, the ICTY and ICTR Appeals Chamber, and the Special Tribunal for the Lebanon (STL). It is argued that professionals moving from institution to institution are engaged in a process of cross-pollination which itself influences the practices that develop, although a common understanding of certain evidentiary issues in international trials remains fragmented and at times elusive.

Beyond the Acronyms: Sport Diplomacy and the Classification of the International Olympic Committee

Diplomacy often finds itself reduced to actions centred on states. However, after the Cold War, international relations and diplomacy have expanded with different actors growing into significant roles, particularly in the increase of diplomatic relations in the context of sport. The classification and significance of other actors remains under-researched in relation to sport, with literature focusing more on the growth of new and varying practices of diplomacy. This analysis contends that there is a need to interrogate fundamental components of modern diplomacy—with the actor being the focus—more specifically the classification of sports organisations in diplomacy. It is relevant as a more accurate understanding of sports organisations will contribute to how diplomatic studies can analyse and evaluate modern diplomacy within the context of sport. The International Olympic Committee is the actor used to illustrate how problematic classifications currently in the academic literature translate into weak and reduced analysis and evaluation of its role and significance in diplomacy. As counterpoint, this analysis proposes an analytical framework of socio-legal theory that harnesses legal regulation as a benchmark to classify an actor’s capacity within a society. In consequence, the IOC is as an active and significant contributor to the ever expanding and complex diplomatic environment and wider society.

Providing a Positive Learning Experience for International Students Studying at a UK University: a Literature Review

Much of the current literature relating to international students at university level tends to highlight their experiences from a deficit perspective and in some cases even problematises the experience for the student and university. Other studies tend to focus on recruitment and motivation rather than the lived experiences of the student, thereby providing little assistance to guide the student, academic and host university in their preparation for, and working with, the international student. International students choose to study in the United Kingdom for a variety of positive reasons. However, these factors have the potential to become stressors as the student makes the transition to studying in a foreign country. Rather than viewing these stressors from a negative perspective, this literature review identifies how, with planning, support and understanding, universities can provide and develop a positive experience for all concerned.

Preliminary Results of an International Study Exploring and Comparing Positive Aspects and Concerns of Growing Older in Different Societies

This paper aims to gain an understanding and insight into the older person’s experiences and perceptions of growing older within their own societies in relation to their independence, choice and decision making. In an attempt to identify what is happening in different countries and cultures and to share these experiences, attitudes and perceptions from older people, this study asked people from three developing countries (Tanzania, Indonesia and Peru), from three different continents, to take part in this study.