The geographies of encounter in community-based social action projects in West Yorkshire

The question of how to ‘live with difference’ is at the forefront of public debate by policy makers, community organisers and those working in diverse communities. In the UK specifically, recent years of increased migration and rising socio-economic inequalities have prompted those working in diverse communities to cultivate cross-cultural encounters between different groups to improve our capacity to live with difference. This thesis follows one such example of how practitioners working in diverse communities design and implement cross-cultural projects that aim to encourage encounters with difference. The Near Neighbours Programme was set up by the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and the Church Urban Fund (CUF) to fund small-scale community action projects designed to improve local neighbourhoods and, in doing so, create ‘encounters’ between different ethnic and faith groups. Through 11 months of in-depth ethnographic research into the activities of Near Neighbours and some of their funded projects in West Yorkshire (northern England), this thesis contributes rich insights into: how projects are designed and practiced to shape the conditions of encounter; how people are equipped to engage with difference; the way in which projects are governed; and finally how practitioners reflect on their neighbourhoods through collaborative and participatory research. In doing so, this thesis engages with contemporary debates within Human Geography around inter-cultural encounters with difference and critical governance studies on how difference is managed and negotiated. In debates within the geographies of encounter literature, this thesis advances understandings of how practitioners design, plan and implement projects of encounter. Engaging with critical governance studies, this thesis offers a more hopeful account of ‘governance’ as I argue that the unpredictability of encounter keeps open the possibility of partnership across difference. Through developing an account of the work of practitioners, this thesis contributes to those who are setting out to engage in community development in an inter-cultural context, by highlighting the role of space in shaping capacities to act, as well as how researchers and practitioners might work together to collaborate on participatory research into safe spaces for meaningful encounters with difference

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Abstract This study investigated how friendships between couples form and implications for within-couple process. Sixty couples were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions where they engaged in a 45-min interaction with another couple. In 1 condition, couples carried out self-disclosure tasks; in the other, couples engaged in nonemotional small talk. Compared to the small-talk condition, those in the high-disclosure condition felt closer to the couples they interacted with and were more likely to meet up with them again during the following month. Further, couples in the high-disclosure condition felt closer to their own partners. Actor-partner interdependence model analyses showed these effects to be mediated by increases in positive affect. Implications for studying the interplay of social networks and romantic relationships are discussed. Romantic relationships do not occur in a vacuum. They begin, develop, and change within a larger environment. The individual characteristics of couple members (e.g., their personalities, feelings of attachment) and the one-on-one interactions that couple members have with each other are critical forces in shaping the future path of a romantic relationship, but the environmental context in which couples interact is vitally important as well. This environment includes both the physical context (e.g., proximity and physical setting) and social context (e.g., family and friends) i

Smartphones and Close Relationships: The Case for an Evolutionary Mismatch

This article introduces and outlines the case for an evolutionary mismatch between smartphones and the social behaviors that help form and maintain close social relationships. As psychological adaptations that enhance human survival and inclusive fitness, self-disclosure and responsiveness evolved in the context of small kin networks to facilitate social bonds, promote trust, and enhance cooperation. These adaptations are central to the development of attachment bonds, and attachment theory is a middle-level evolutionary theory that provides a robust account of the ways human bonding provides for reproductive and inclusive fitness. Evolutionary mismatches operate when modern contexts cue ancestral adaptations in a manner that does not provide for their adaptive benefits. We argue that smartphones and their affordances, although highly beneficial in many circumstances, cue humans' evolved needs for self-disclosure and responsiveness across broad virtual networks and, in turn, have the potential to undermine immediate interpersonal interactions. We review emerging evidence on the topic of technoference, which is defined as the ways in which smartphone use may interfere with or intrude into everyday social interactions. The article concludes with an empirical agenda for advancing the integrative study of smartphones, intimacy processes, and close relationships.This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Monitoring capabilities of a mobile mapping system based on navigation qualities

Mobile mapping systems are becoming increasingly popular as they can build 3D models of the environment rapidly by using a laser scanner that is integrated with a navigation system. 3D mobile mapping has been widely used for applications such as 3D city modelling and mapping of the scanned environments. However, accurate mapping relies on not only the scanner’s performance but also on the quality of the navigation results (accuracy and robustness) . This paper discusses the potentials of using 3D mobile mapping systems for landscape change detection, that is traditionally carried out by terrestrial laser scanners that can be accurately geo-referenced at a static location to produce highly accurate dense point clouds. Yet compared to conventional surveying using terrestrial laser scanners, several advantages of mobile mapping systems can be identified. A large area can be monitored in a relatively short period, which enables high repeat frequency monitoring without having to set-up dedicated stations. However, current mobile mapping applications are limited by the quality of navigation results, especially in different environments. The change detection ability of mobile mapping systems is therefore significantly affected by the quality of the navigation results. This paper presents some data collected for the purpose of monitoring from a mobile platform. The datasets are analysed to address current potentials and difficulties. The change detection results are also presented based on the collected dataset. Results indicate the potentials of change detection using a mobile mapping system and suggestions to enhance quality and robustness

Quantifying Effusion Rates at Active Volcanoes through Integrated Time-Lapse Laser Scanning and Photography

During volcanic eruptions, measurements of the rate at which magma is erupted underpin hazard assessments. For eruptions dominated by the effusion of lava, estimates are often made using satellite data; here, in a case study at Mount Etna (Sicily), we make the first measurements based on terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), and we also include explosive products. During the study period (17–21 July, 2012), regular strombolian explosions were occurring within the Bocca Nuova crater, producing a ~50 m high scoria cone and a small lava flow field. TLS surveys over multi-day intervals determined a mean cone growth rate (effusive and explosive products) of ~0.24 m3s-1. Differences between 0.3-m-resolution DEMs acquired at 10-minute intervals captured the evolution of a breakout lava flow lobe advancing at 0.01–0.03 m3s-1. Partial occlusion within the crater prevented similar measurement of the main flow, but integrating TLS data with time-lapse imagery enabled lava viscosity (7.4 × 105 Pa s) to be derived from surface velocities and, hence, a flux of 0.11 m3s-1 to be calculated. The total dense-rock equivalent magma discharge estimates range from ~0.1 to ~0.2 m3s-1 over the measurement period, and suggest that simultaneous estimates from satellite data are somewhat overestimated. Our results support the use of integrated TLS and time-lapse photography for ground-truthing space-based measurements and highlight the value of interactive image analysis when automated approaches such as particle image velocimetry (PIV) fail

Perceived partner responsiveness, daily negative affect reactivity, and all-cause mortality:A 20-year longitudinal study

Objective This study tested longitudinal associations between absolute levels of perceived partner responsiveness (PPR; how much people perceive that their romantic partners understand, care for, and appreciate them), daily negative affect reactivity and positive affect reactivity, and all-cause mortality in a sample of 1,208 adults for three waves of data collection spanning 20 years. We also tested whether longitudinal changes in PPR predicted mortality via affect reactivity. Methods Data were taken from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States. PPR was assessed at waves 1 and 2, affect reactivity to stressors was assessed by daily diary reports at wave 2, and mortality status was obtained at wave 3. Results Mediation analyses revealed absolute levels of PPR at wave 1 predicted wave 3 mortality via wave 2 affective reactivity in the predicted direction, but this did not remain robust when statistically accounting for covariates (e.g., marital risk, neuroticism), beta = .004, 95% confidence interval = -.03 to .04. However, wave 1-2 PPR change predicted negative affect (but not positive affect) reactivity to daily stressors at wave 2, which then predicted mortality risk a decade later (wave 3); these results held when adjusting for relevant demographic, health, and psychosocial covariates, beta = -.04, 95% confidence interval = -.09 to -.002. Conclusions These findings are among the first to provide direct evidence of psychological mechanisms underlying the links between intimate relationships and mortality and have implications for research aiming to develop interventions that increase or maintain responsiveness in relationships over time

Cortisol awakening response and acute stress reactivity in First Nations people

First Nations people globally have a higher incidence of mental disorders and non-communicable diseases. These health inequalities are partially attributed to a complex network of social and environmental factors which likely converge on chronic psychosocial stress. We hypothesized that alterations in stress processing and the regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis might underlie health disparities in First Nations people. We assessed the cortisol awakening response and the dynamic response to a laboratory induced psychosocial stress of young Indigenous tertiary students (n = 11, mean age 23.82 years) and non-Indigenous students (n = 11) matched for age and gender. Indigenous participants had a blunted cortisol awakening response (27.40 (SD 35.00) vs. 95.24 (SD 55.23), p = 0.002), which was differentially associated with chronic experience of stress in Indigenous (r = −0.641, p = 0.046) and non-Indigenous (r = 0.652, p = 0.03) participants. The cortisol response to the laboratory induced psychosocial stress did not differ between groups. Self-reported racial discrimination was strongly associated with flattened cortisol response to stress (r = −0676, p = 0.022) and with heart rate variability (r = 0.654, p = 0.040). Our findings provide insight into potential biological factors underlying health discrepancies in ethnic minority groups