Exploring links between greenspace and sudden unexpected death: A spatial analysis

Greenspace has been increasingly recognized as having numerous health benefits. However, its effects are unknown concerning sudden unexpected death (SUD), commonly referred to as sudden cardiac death, which constitutes a large proportion of mortality in the United States. Because greenspace can promote physical activity, reduce stress and buffer air pollutants, it may have beneficial effects for people at risk of SUD, such as those with heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus. Using several spatial techniques, this study explored the relationship between SUD and greenspace. We adjudicated 396 SUD cases that occurred from March 2013 to February 2015 among reports from emergency medical services (EMS) that attended out-of-hospital deaths in Wake County (central North Carolina, USA). We measured multiple greenspace metrics in each census tract, including the percentages of forest, grassland, average tree canopy, tree canopy diversity, near-road tree canopy and greenway density. The associations between SUD incidence and these greenspace metrics were examined using Poisson regression (non-spatial) and Bayesian spatial models. The results from both models indicated that SUD incidence was inversely associated with both greenway density (adjusted risk ratio [RR] = 0.82, 95% credible/ confidence interval [CI]: 0.69–0.97) and the percentage of forest (adjusted RR = 0.90, 95% CI: 0.81–0.99). These results suggest that increases in greenway density by 1 km/km2 and in forest by 10% were associated with a decrease in SUD risk of 18% and 10%, respectively. The inverse relationship was not observed between SUD incidence and other metrics, including grassland, average tree canopy, near-road tree canopy and tree canopy diversity. This study implies that greenspace, specifically greenways and forest, may have beneficial effects for people at risk of SUD. Further studies are needed to investigate potential causal relationships between greenspace and SUD, and potential mechanisms such as promoting physical activity and reducing stress

Language and learning: commitments to Asian Studies and the future

Language learning is a commitment to the state of the arts of Asian Studies, but also one of the tools needed to practice in the field. As scholars in Asian Studies, we have an obligation to ensure that these tools are passed on to future scholars, for use in ways we have not yet managed and in situations we have not yet experienced. Transferring language skills requires good teaching, and good teachingarguably rests on a passion for learning, in practice as well as in principle. We can facilitate this transferral through our own practice: keeping abreast of literaturein our field language; developing (second) language skills with which to publish outside the Anglophone centre and creating opportunities for dialogue in our field language(s). Notwithstanding the pressure for academics to publish fast and publish well, we need to remain attendant to intellectual rigor, and to the theoretical debates that occur in the communities we study. Ultimately, if we look to sustain a vibrant intellectual community engaged in studies of Asia, we need to engage in the difficult but rewarding task of learning to speak (and write) in Other language(s), and to navigate a path towards a more truly inclusive scholarly community.Australian National University and Leiden Universit

Language and learning: commitments to Asian Studies and the future

Language learning is a commitment to the state of the arts of Asian Studies, but also one of the tools needed to practice in the field. As scholars in Asian Studies, we have an obligation to ensure that these tools are passed on to future scholars, for use in ways we have not yet managed and in situations we have not yet experienced. Transferring language skills requires good teaching, and good teachingarguably rests on a passion for learning, in practice as well as in principle. We can facilitate this transferral through our own practice: keeping abreast of literaturein our field language; developing (second) language skills with which to publish outside the Anglophone centre and creating opportunities for dialogue in our field language(s). Notwithstanding the pressure for academics to publish fast and publish well, we need to remain attendant to intellectual rigor, and to the theoretical debates that occur in the communities we study. Ultimately, if we look to sustain a vibrant intellectual community engaged in studies of Asia, we need to engage in the difficult but rewarding task of learning to speak (and write) in Other language(s), and to navigate a path towards a more truly inclusive scholarly community.Australian National University and Leiden Universit

"Minority women will change the world!": Perspectives on multiple discrimination in Japan

At the 1995 Beijing Conference and the 2000 'Beijing plus five' meeting, NGOs from Japan were well-represented. These NGOs published English-language books for dissemination at the conferences, and Japanese-language reports and books for the purpose of raising consciousness within Japan. Participation in these conferences and the production of English-language books had the effect of strengthening the transnational connections between feminists in Japan and in other countries. The production of Japanese-language publications and the dissemination of reports on the international conferences within Japan had the function of providing a transnational context for the issues being faced by feminists within Japan. In this article we use one publication stimulated by these international activities, Minority Women will Change the World: Multiple Discrimination Against Minority Women (Mainoriti Josei ga Sekai o Kaeru: Mainoriti Josei ni taisuru Fukugō Sabetsu), [Hansabetsu Kokusai Undō Nihon Iinkai (Eds.) (2001). Mainoriti Josei ga Sekai o Kaeru! Mainoriti Josei ni taisuru Fukugō Sabetsu. Ōsaka: Kaihō Shuppansha.] as a case study in exploring how activists within Japan understand multiple discrimination experienced in Japan on the basis of gender, class and ethnicity. Additionally, we investigate how the contributors to this book challenge the notion of racialised and gendered difference as separate and unconnected categories. The book also reveals parallel and divergent experiences of marginalisation and suggests strategies for collaboration among minority women within and outside Japan. Our analysis therefore is situated in the context of recent discussions of transnational feminism, and theorisations of the mutual constitution of structures of inequality based on gender, class and ethnicised difference. Crown Copyrigh

\u27Minority Women will change the World!\u27: Perspectives on Multiple Discrimination in Japan

At the 1995 Beijing Conference and the 2000 'Beijing plus five' meeting, NGOs from Japan were well-represented. These NGOs published English-language books for dissemination at the conferences, and Japanese-language reports and books for the purpose of raising consciousness within Japan. Participation in these conferences and the production of English-language books had the effect of strengthening the transnational connections between feminists in Japan and in other countries. The production of Japanese-language publications and the dissemination of reports on the international conferences within Japan had the function of providing a transnational context for the issues being faced by feminists within Japan. In this article we use one publication stimulated by these international activities, Minority Women will Change the World: Multiple Discrimination Against Minority Women (Mainoriti Josei ga Sekai o Kaeru: Mainoriti Josei ni taisuru Fukugō Sabetsu), [Hansabetsu Kokusai Undō Nihon Iinkai (Eds.) (2001). Mainoriti Josei ga Sekai o Kaeru! Mainoriti Josei ni taisuru Fukugō Sabetsu. Ōsaka: Kaihō Shuppansha.] as a case study in exploring how activists within Japan understand multiple discrimination experienced in Japan on the basis of gender, class and ethnicity. Additionally, we investigate how the contributors to this book challenge the notion of racialised and gendered difference as separate and unconnected categories. The book also reveals parallel and divergent experiences of marginalisation and suggests strategies for collaboration among minority women within and outside Japan. Our analysis therefore is situated in the context of recent discussions of transnational feminism, and theorisations of the mutual constitution of structures of inequality based on gender, class and ethnicised difference. Crown Copyrigh