title: Developing and evaluating intercultural competence: Ethnographies of intercultural encounters

authors: Holmes, Prue

subjects: assessment

abstract: Although recent scholarly reviews have synthesized understandings of intercultural competence, the processes underpinning how individuals acquire and evaluate their intercultural competence, and where it resides, invite further investigation. This study aims to make a distinctive contribution by exposing those processes. Thirty-five student researchers (the participants in this study), guided by an ethnographic approach, engaged socially over a six-week period with a previously unknown Cultural Other. The PEER model (developed by the two researchers) guided student researchers through the interconnected and interdependent phases of Preparing, Engaging, Evaluating, and Reflecting upon their competence within these intercultural encounters. The findings indicate that developing intercultural competence encompasses processes of acknowledging reluctance and fear, foregrounding and questioning stereotypes, monitoring feelings and emotions, working through confusion, and grappling with complexity. The study therefore highlights the value of the PEER model in facilitating continued relationship building with a Cultural Other as a means of developing and evaluating intercultural competence; it also makes a clear contribution to this field by demonstrating the importance of the intercultural encounter as the place where individuals can shift their focus away from an external evaluation of the Other to an inward contemplation of their own intercultural competence. The study also provides a new methodological resource, the PEER model, for developing and evaluating intercultural competence.

text: Developing and evaluating intercultural competence: Ethnographies of intercultural encounters Although recent scholarly reviews have synthesized understandings of intercultural competence, the processes underpinning how individuals acquire and evaluate their intercultural competence, and where it resides, invite further investigation. This study aims to make a distinctive contribution by exposing those processes. Thirty-five student researchers (the participants in this study), guided by an ethnographic approach, engaged socially over a six-week period with a previously unknown Cultural Other. The PEER model (developed by the two researchers) guided student researchers through the interconnected and interdependent phases of Preparing, Engaging, Evaluating, and Reflecting upon their competence within these intercultural encounters. The findings indicate that developing intercultural competence encompasses processes of acknowledging reluctance and fear, foregrounding and questioning stereotypes, monitoring feelings and emotions, working through confusion, and grappling with complexity. The study therefore highlights the value of the PEER model in facilitating continued relationship building with a Cultural Other as a means of developing and evaluating intercultural competence; it also makes a clear contribution to this field by demonstrating the importance of the intercultural encounter as the place where individuals can shift their focus away from an external evaluation of the Other to an inward contemplation of their own intercultural competence. The study also provides a new methodological resource, the PEER model, for developing and evaluating intercultural competence.

year: 2012

title: Using acoustic backscatter data to provide estimates of profiles of suspended sediment concentrations for cohesive particles in the field

authors: Redder, Isabella Julie

subjects: Acoustic backscatter

abstract: Many estuaries and rivers in New Zealand and other locations worldwide are stressed by the input of fine (muddy) sediments. Suspended sediment concentrations (SSC) are often used as a key indicator of water quality and are a critical variable in management practices to aid in the health of estuarine habitats. However, robust measurements of SSC are difficult to obtain, owing in part to large gradients in conditions, and the process of ‘flocculation’ or aggregation of fine particles. Amongst the range of measurement tools available, acoustic backscatter (ABS) sensors offer significant potential to provide temporally and spatially well resolved profiles of SSC from the field. The process of ‘inversion’ or converting the acoustic backscatter signal into SSC is effective when all terms are known within the theoretical context. However, the challenge facing the use of ABS technology in the field, is the scattering properties, the form function f∞ and the total scattering cross-section Σₛ, of cohesive particles typical in estuarine environments, are unknown.

For this study, a unique laboratory calibration combined with ABS field data from a mudflat, were used to investigate if a pair of f∞ and Σₛ values could be evaluated for finer grain, mud material as opposed to sand particles. The derived f∞ and Σₛ values appeared to be influenced by other physical controls from the field environment and were sensitive to several assumptions made in the inversion equation. Nonetheless, the acoustic data yielded reasonable estimates of SSC in a field setting, when compared to discrete single-point measurements of SSC obtained from a calibrated optical backscatter sensor. However, there were also times when the inversion methodology did not work well (particularly for acoustic transducers with lower frequencies). Moreover, inversion results were better when using time-varying values for f∞ and Σₛ, the inversion procedure implemented with a universal set parameters did not perform as well. These results imply more research is needed in gathering better descriptions of the f∞ and Σₛ values from multiple ABS frequencies, to improve inversion SSC results from the field.

text: Using acoustic backscatter data to provide estimates of profiles of suspended sediment concentrations for cohesive particles in the field Many estuaries and rivers in New Zealand and other locations worldwide are stressed by the input of fine (muddy) sediments. Suspended sediment concentrations (SSC) are often used as a key indicator of water quality and are a critical variable in management practices to aid in the health of estuarine habitats. However, robust measurements of SSC are difficult to obtain, owing in part to large gradients in conditions, and the process of ‘flocculation’ or aggregation of fine particles. Amongst the range of measurement tools available, acoustic backscatter (ABS) sensors offer significant potential to provide temporally and spatially well resolved profiles of SSC from the field. The process of ‘inversion’ or converting the acoustic backscatter signal into SSC is effective when all terms are known within the theoretical context. However, the challenge facing the use of ABS technology in the field, is the scattering properties, the form function f∞ and the total scattering cross-section Σₛ, of cohesive particles typical in estuarine environments, are unknown.

For this study, a unique laboratory calibration combined with ABS field data from a mudflat, were used to investigate if a pair of f∞ and Σₛ values could be evaluated for finer grain, mud material as opposed to sand particles. The derived f∞ and Σₛ values appeared to be influenced by other physical controls from the field environment and were sensitive to several assumptions made in the inversion equation. Nonetheless, the acoustic data yielded reasonable estimates of SSC in a field setting, when compared to discrete single-point measurements of SSC obtained from a calibrated optical backscatter sensor. However, there were also times when the inversion methodology did not work well (particularly for acoustic transducers with lower frequencies). Moreover, inversion results were better when using time-varying values for f∞ and Σₛ, the inversion procedure implemented with a universal set parameters did not perform as well. These results imply more research is needed in gathering better descriptions of the f∞ and Σₛ values from multiple ABS frequencies, to improve inversion SSC results from the field.

year: 2023

title: Spatial and temporal characteristics of the underwater soundscape around the Motiti Protection Area: Ōtaiti/Astrolabe Reef and Motiti Island

authors: Riegel, Maria Sophie

subjects: Underwater Soundscapes

abstract: Marine ecosystems around the world have been impacted by degradation and loss of biodiversity as a result of human impacts and climate change. The monitoring and management of ecologically significant areas is vital in understanding the effects of habitat degradation on marine ecosystems. Traditional monitoring methods are often expensive, time consuming, labour intensive and invasive. Soundscapes offer a unique opportunity for monitoring habitats in a way that is cost effective, minimally invasive and efficient. The aim of this study was to use passive acoustic monitoring to create a baseline data set using ambient sound data to investigate the spatial and temporal changes in ambient sound pressure levels, and to identify biotic, abiotic and anthropogenic sound sources which make up the marine soundscapes at the Motiti Island and Ōtaiti/Astrolabe Reef. Five diverse and ecologically significant sites in the Motiti Protection Area – at Ōtaiti/Astrolabe Reef and Motiti Island, in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand were selected and monitored over the course of a year. This provided a wide variety of data to show the diel, lunar and seasonal patterns and trends in acoustic biological activity in order to represent the ecosystems accurately. The results showed that all sites showed strong diel patterns, with a sound pressure level increase of ~6-10dB during daylight hours compared to dark hours, and evident peaks during dawn and dusk hours as a result of biological choruses composed largely of sea urchins. There were also strong seasonal trends among the five sites, with Summer having the overall highest sound pressure level compared to Spring, Autumn and Winter, this also had an effect on the peaks in dusk choruses, which were also found to be highest during Summer. Lunar phases were also found to have an impact on the sound pressure levels of all five sites, with increased sound pressure levels during the new moon, compared to sound pressure levels during the full moon. This study created a baseline data set for a culturally, ecologically, and economically valuable area. Passive acoustic monitoring was found to be an incredibly useful tool in understand the ecosystems health and biological condition, and offers an alternative to traditional monitoring which is an effective, minimally invasive, and less labour intensive way of monitoring marine ecosystems.

text: Spatial and temporal characteristics of the underwater soundscape around the Motiti Protection Area: Ōtaiti/Astrolabe Reef and Motiti Island Marine ecosystems around the world have been impacted by degradation and loss of biodiversity as a result of human impacts and climate change. The monitoring and management of ecologically significant areas is vital in understanding the effects of habitat degradation on marine ecosystems. Traditional monitoring methods are often expensive, time consuming, labour intensive and invasive. Soundscapes offer a unique opportunity for monitoring habitats in a way that is cost effective, minimally invasive and efficient. The aim of this study was to use passive acoustic monitoring to create a baseline data set using ambient sound data to investigate the spatial and temporal changes in ambient sound pressure levels, and to identify biotic, abiotic and anthropogenic sound sources which make up the marine soundscapes at the Motiti Island and Ōtaiti/Astrolabe Reef. Five diverse and ecologically significant sites in the Motiti Protection Area – at Ōtaiti/Astrolabe Reef and Motiti Island, in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand were selected and monitored over the course of a year. This provided a wide variety of data to show the diel, lunar and seasonal patterns and trends in acoustic biological activity in order to represent the ecosystems accurately. The results showed that all sites showed strong diel patterns, with a sound pressure level increase of ~6-10dB during daylight hours compared to dark hours, and evident peaks during dawn and dusk hours as a result of biological choruses composed largely of sea urchins. There were also strong seasonal trends among the five sites, with Summer having the overall highest sound pressure level compared to Spring, Autumn and Winter, this also had an effect on the peaks in dusk choruses, which were also found to be highest during Summer. Lunar phases were also found to have an impact on the sound pressure levels of all five sites, with increased sound pressure levels during the new moon, compared to sound pressure levels during the full moon. This study created a baseline data set for a culturally, ecologically, and economically valuable area. Passive acoustic monitoring was found to be an incredibly useful tool in understand the ecosystems health and biological condition, and offers an alternative to traditional monitoring which is an effective, minimally invasive, and less labour intensive way of monitoring marine ecosystems.

year: 2022