Does mortality vary between Asian subgroups in New Zealand: an application of hierarchical Bayesian modelling

The aim of this paper was to see whether all-cause and cause-specific mortality rates vary between Asian ethnic subgroups, and whether overseas born Asian subgroup mortality rate ratios varied by nativity and duration of residence. We used hierarchical Bayesian methods to allow for sparse data in the analysis of linked census-mortality data for 25-75 year old New Zealanders. We found directly standardised posterior all-cause and cardiovascular mortality rates were highest for the Indian ethnic group, significantly so when compared with those of Chinese ethnicity. In contrast, cancer mortality rates were lowest for ethnic Indians. Asian overseas born subgroups have about 70% of the mortality rate of their New Zealand born Asian counterparts, a result that showed little variation by Asian subgroup or cause of death. Within the overseas born population, all-cause mortality rates for migrants living 0-9 years in New Zealand were about 60% of the mortality rate of those living more than 25 years in New Zealand regardless of ethnicity. The corresponding figure for cardiovascular mortality rates was 50%. However, while Chinese cancer mortality rates increased with duration of residence, Indian and Other Asian cancer mortality rates did not. Future research on the mechanisms of worsening of health with increased time spent in the host country is required to improve the understanding of the process, and would assist the policy-makers and health planners.

Belonging and the uses of difference: young people in Australian urban multiculture

This paper examines how young people of migrant background in Australia make meaning of cultural, ethnic and racial difference to work out belonging in times of super-diversity. It asks what functions difference still has for a generation growing up within conditions of proliferating diversity that demand and accommodate competing constructions of cultural identities. It suggests that young people's narratives about difference depend on the space of belonging, and explores how young people use difference differently depending on whether they are articulating membership in the local community, the nation or youth culture.

Muslim citizenship in everyday Australian civic spaces

Questions about Muslims, multiculturalism and citizenship continue to shape the political discourse of many nations, including Australia, a nation often foregrounded as a beacon of multiculturalism in practice. The key assumption underlying these questions is that Islam constrains the full possibilities of citizenship in multicultural secular societies and that Muslims must be actively steered towards participation in civic life. By contrast, this article, based on research with 80 young Australian Muslims from migrant backgrounds reveals how Australian Muslims are enacting everyday citizenship through active, self-driven participation in multicultural civic spaces. This is a process overlooked by contemporary government approaches to the management of Muslim communities and alike. This article argues that is it access to these spaces of everyday interaction rather than an emphasis upon securitisation and civic literacy that fosters the development of citizenship and civic engagement central to the success of Australian multiculturalism. The article provides important considerations for those concerned with the future viability of multicultural policies.

Chinese immigrant youth identities and belonging in Prato, Italy: exploring the intersections between migration and youth studies

This article explores the experiences of young people of Chinese background in Prato (Italy). Despite significant social exclusion, young Chinese develop a sense of belonging to Prato by creating local, translocal and transnational affiliations and interconnections. These relationships contribute to making an often overtly hostile local reality, liveable and meaningful. A central aim of this article is to examine the intersection between migration studies and youth studies. The former tend to focus on the processes of identity formation featuring ethnic background, hence the label ‘second generation’. In contrast, the latter tend to foreground age- and generation-specific practices of belonging that may extend beyond ethnic identification, hence the focus on ‘youth’. We argue that bringing migration and youth studies together by complicating notions of home and host, migrant and local identity and belonging helps us to better understand how young people are managing multiplicity and mobility (and situatedness and stasis/fixity).

Migratory implications for coronary heart disease risk prevention in Asian Indians: Evidence from the leading health indicators.

OBJECTIVEctives of this descriptive comparative study were to (1) review data obtained from the World Health Organisation Statistical Information System (WHOSIS) database relating to the prevalence of risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD) among Indians and Australians and (2) compare these data with published epidemiological studies of CHD riskfactors in adult migrant Asian Indians to provide a comprehensive and comparable assessment of risk factors relating to CHD and the mortality attributable to these risk factors. Design: ThDESIGNdy was undertaken using a database search and integrative review methodology. Data were obtained for comparison of CHD risk factors between Indians and Australians using the WHOSIS database. For the integrative review the MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases were searched using the keywords 'Migrants', 'Asian Indian', 'India', 'Migration', 'Immigration', 'Risk factors', and coronary heart disease. Two reviewers independently assessed the eligibility of the studies for inclusion in the review, the methodological quality and extracted details of eligible studies. Results from the integrative review on CHD risk factors in Asian Indians are presented in a narrative format, along with results from the WHOSIS database. Results: TRESULTSadjusted mortality for CHD was four times higher in migrant Asian Indians when compared to both the native population of the host country and migrants from other countries. Similarly when compared to migrants from other countries migrant Asian Indians had the highest prevalence of overweight individuals. Prevalence rates for hypercholesterolemia were up to 18.5 % among mgrant Asian Indians and migrant Asian Indian women had a higher prevalence of hypertriglyceridaemia compared to Caucasian females. Migrant Asian Indians also had a higher incidence of hypertension and upto 71 % of migrnt Asian Indian men did not meet current guidelines for participation in physical activity. Ethnic-specific prevalence of diabetes ranged from 6-7% among the normal weight to 19-33% among the obese migrant Asian Indians compared with non-Hispanic whites. ConclusionCONCLUSIONAsian Indians have an increased risk of CHD. Culturally sensitive strategies that recognise the effects of migration and extend beyond the health sector should be developed to target lifestyle changes in this high risk population.

Layered vulnerability: Temporary migrants in Australian horticulture

Australian horticulture (fruit and vegetable production) relies upon a seasonal harvest workforce, much of which now consists of temporary migrant workers. This article argues that the composition of this workforce and the character of the work lead towards layered vulnerability, some groups being more exposed to low pay and substandard working conditions than others. Formally at least, employment conditions are generally protected by the federal Horticulture Award (2010). But are decent employment standards consistently observed? The article explores this question, examining three issues. First, does analysis of workforce composition reveal different tiers in the workforce, some more vulnerable than others? Second, do the casual nature of harvest work and the job search processes used by temporary migrant workers create disadvantaged groups? Third, does evidence about pay, working hours and work intensity reveal some workers to be more vulnerable than others? The article concludes with an examination of those factors that appear to be associated with layered vulnerability in the harvest workforce, and considers some policy implications.

Cultural respect encompassing simulation training: being heard about health through broadband

BACKGROUND: Cultural Respect Encompassing Simulation Training (CREST) is a learning program that uses simulation to provide health professional students and practitioners with strategies to communicate sensitively with culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) patients. It consists of training modules with a cultural competency evaluation framework and CALD simulated patients to interact with trainees in immersive simulation scenarios. The aim of this study was to test the feasibility of expanding the delivery of CREST to rural Australia using live video streaming; and to investigate the fidelity of cultural sensitivity - defined within the process of cultural competency which includes awareness, knowledge, skills, encounters and desire - of the streamed simulations. DESIGN AND METHODS: In this mixed-methods evaluative study, health professional trainees were recruited at three rural academic campuses and one rural hospital to pilot CREST sessions via live video streaming and simulation from the city campus in 2014. Cultural competency, teaching and learning evaluations were conducted. RESULTS: Forty-five participants rated 26 reliable items before and after each session and reported statistically significant improvement in 4 of 5 cultural competency domains, particularly in cultural skills (P<0.05). Qualitative data indicated an overall acknowledgement amongst participants of the importance of communication training and the quality of the simulation training provided remotely by CREST. CONCLUSIONS: Cultural sensitivity education using live video-streaming and simulation can contribute to health professionals' learning and is effective in improving cultural competency. CREST has the potential to be embedded within health professional curricula across Australian universities to address issues of health inequalities arising from a lack of cultural sensitivity training. Significance for public healthThere are significant health inequalities for migrant populations. They commonly have poorer access to health services and poorer health outcomes than the Australian-born population. The factors are multiple, complex and include language and cultural barriers. To address these disparities, culturally competent patient-centred care is increasingly recognised to be critical to improving care quality, patient satisfaction, patient compliance and patient outcomes. Yet there is a lack of quality in the teaching and learning of cultural competence in healthcare education curricula, particularly in rural settings where qualified trainers and resources can be limited. The Cultural Respect Encompassing Simulation Training (CREST) program offers opportunities to health professional students and practitioners to learn and develop communication skills with professionally trained culturally and linguistically diverse simulated patients who contribute their experiences and health perspectives. It has already been shown to contribute to health professionals' learning and is effective in improving cultural competency in urban settings. This study demonstrates that CREST when delivered via live video-streaming and simulation can achieve similar results in rural settings.

Exploring cultures of belonging in Darwin, Australia

This paper argues that the use of visual methods such as participatory video is crucial to co-producing sensory and embodied knowledges of belonging in Australian cities. These knowledges of belonging that focus on affectivity and passion have the potential to expand the worlds that racialised bodies of colour inhabit, but contemporary urban research shows an overwhelming focus on ‘talk’. This paper therefore takes the risk by engaging in a research process that is experimental, flexible and adaptive to explore diverse sensory cultures of belonging through a focus on Darwin, a small north Australian city. This is a city with a polyethnic history where Indigenous-migrant-settler race relations are recognised as more complex in comparison to large south Australian cities. The paper draws on participatory videos of two eventsin suburban Darwin - a Vigil on the side of the road opposite Airport
Lodge, an asylum seeker detention centre, and an afternoon walk along Casuarina beach where Aboriginals who live ‘rough’ camp. Using short video clips, long-term residents, migrant newcomers and asylum seekers (on bridging visas) compose an expressive narrative of the road and beach in Darwin, as places where refrains of welcome expand worlds that racialised bodies of colour inhabit. Using digital technologies the flow and juxtaposition of video clips of these events provides the possibility to craft sensory and embodied knowledges of belonging in a north
Australian city with a history of assimilationist and racially discriminatory policies.

Body shrinkage due to Arctic warming reduces red knot fitness in tropical wintering range

Reductions in body size are increasingly being identified as a response to climate warming. Here we present evidence for a case of such body shrinkage, potentially due to malnutrition in early life. We show that an avian long-distance migrant (red knot, Calidris canutus canutus), which is experiencing globally unrivaled warming rates at its high-Arctic breeding grounds, produces smaller offspring with shorter bills during summers with early snowmelt. This has consequences half a world away at their tropical wintering grounds, where shorter-billed individuals have reduced survival rates. This is associated with these molluscivores eating fewer deeply buried bivalve prey and more shallowly buried seagrass rhizomes. We suggest that seasonal migrants can experience reduced fitness at one end of their range as a result of a changing climate at the other end.

Hampered performance of migratory swans: intra- and inter-seasonal effects of avian influenza virus

The extent to which animal migrations shape parasite transmission networks is critically dependent on a migrant's ability to tolerate infection and migrate successfully. Yet, sub-lethal effects of parasites can be intensified through periods of increased physiological stress. Long-distance migrants may, therefore, be especially susceptible to negative effects of parasitic infection. Although a handful of studies have investigated the short-term, transmission-relevant behaviors of wild birds infected with low-pathogenic avian influenza viruses (LPAIV), the ecological consequences of LPAIV for the hosts themselves remain largely unknown. Here, we assessed the potential effects of naturally-acquired LPAIV infections in Bewick's swans, a long-distance migratory species that experiences relatively low incidence of LPAIV infection during early winter. We monitored both foraging and movement behavior in the winter of infection, as well as subsequent breeding behavior and inter-annual resighting probability over 3 years. Incorporating data on infection history we hypothesized that any effects would be most apparent in naïve individuals experiencing their first LPAIV infection. Indeed, significant effects of infection were only seen in birds that were infected but lacked antibodies indicative of prior infection. Swans that were infected but had survived a previous infection were indistinguishable from uninfected birds in each of the ecological performance metrics. Despite showing reduced foraging rates, individuals in the naïve-infected category had similar accumulated body stores to re-infected and uninfected individuals prior to departure on spring migration, possibly as a result of having higher scaled mass at the time of infection. And yet individuals in the naïve-infected category were unlikely to be resighted 1 year after infection, with 6 out of 7 individuals that never resighted again compared to 20 out of 63 uninfected individuals and 5 out of 12 individuals in the re-infected category. Collectively, our findings indicate that acute and superficially harmless infection with LPAIV may have indirect effects on individual performance and recruitment in migratory Bewick's swans. Our results also highlight the potential for infection history to play an important role in shaping ecological constraints throughout the annual cycle.

Fostering cultural diversity in Australia: a case study of teaching, learning and assessing African musical arts

Australia is forged by ongoing migration welcoming a range of cultures, languages and ethnicities thus celebrating a diverse range of musical arts. In this multicultural society, music and dance may serve as a positive medium to transmit and promote social cohesion. I argue that the inclusion of innovative and immersive practice of African music in particular where authentic teaching and learning is facilitated may help foster understandings of culture in educational settings and the wider society. As a migrant forming part of the African Diaspora in Melbourne, I am strongly connected to my ancestral homeland (South Africa) when teaching African music to Australian tertiary students. Having gained ethical clearance to undertake the two research projects at Deakin University in Melbourne (Attitudes and perceptions of Arts Education Students: preparing culturally responsive teachers and Pre-service teacher attitudes and understandings of Music Education), I discuss tertiary students experience in relation to the teaching and learning of African music within higher education courses. Drawing on interview, questionnaire, observation notes, anecdotal feedback and narrative reflection, I employ Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to analyse and code the data into themes. By offering a discussion of assessment and evaluation, I explore and invite international dialogue in regards to how best we can prepare, assess and evaluate our students to improve the quality of musical arts education.

The multicultural experiment: premises, promises, and problems

This introductory chapter reflects on current debates about the challenges faced by multicultural societies in coming to grips with the interrelated societal tasks of facilitating migrant settlement, nurturing cultural diversity and pursuing inclusive citizenship. In doing so, the chapter will explore the development and deployment of the concept of ‘multiculturalism’ from a comparative and historical point of view and will proceed to discuss its key assumptions, achievements and challenges. The chapter will also touch upon the key theoretical paradigms debated in this book and will attempt to synthesise conceptually how its three sections interconnect dialectically and empirically.

Migration and ethno-architecture

Whereas academic studies within the humanities have addressed migration through frameworks of culture, belonging and mobility, in national, political and media discourse, migration is represented as problematic to the nation-state. Increased security of the geopolitical borders and the foreclosure of internal borders preserving the homogeneity of dominant cultures reinforce popular terms, such as 'alien' and 'foreigner', conveying the sense that migration is temporary and entails an invasion. Experts in migration studies note a discursive and theoretical gap between the developments in cultural studies and the blatant protests related to territory and rights in political discourse (Castles and Miller 2009). But neither focuses on the role of the architecture. The enduring and physical nature of architecture and building that has evolved from migrant individuals and communities, however, provides compelling evidence that these structures are neither temporary nor transient, nor that their migrant inhabitants, adaptors and makers lack belonging. The ethnoarchitecture of migrants defines and articulates a history of agency, making and expression that reframe the question of the politics of migration.

Ethnically differentiated architecture in a global world

Cities have been substantially affected and many transformed by increasing cultural diversity resulting from waves of migration. The central role and dynamism of cultural diversity evident in retail and commercial streetscapes has dominated the debates on global and contemporary urban culture (Sandercock 2003). Architecture has been implicit as the background to these debates, but restaurants, residential, religious, institutional and community buildings, ethnic clubs and reception centres, constructed and adapted by migrant communities, provide evidence of the material change of the architecture of localities and neighbourhoods.

Estimation de cartes d'énergie de hautes fréquences ou d'irrégularité de périodicité de la marche humaine par caméra de profondeur pour la détection de pathologies

Ce travail présente deux nouveaux systèmes simples d'analyse de la marche humaine grâce à une caméra de profondeur (Microsoft Kinect) placée devant un sujet marchant sur un tapis roulant conventionnel, capables de détecter une marche saine et celle déficiente. Le premier système repose sur le fait qu'une marche normale présente typiquement un signal de profondeur lisse au niveau de chaque pixel avec moins de hautes fréquences, ce qui permet d'estimer une carte indiquant l'emplacement et l'amplitude de l'énergie de haute fréquence (HFSE). Le second système analyse les parties du corps qui ont un motif de mouvement irrégulier, en termes de périodicité, lors de la marche. Nous supposons que la marche d'un sujet sain présente partout dans le corps, pendant les cycles de marche, un signal de profondeur avec un motif périodique sans bruit. Nous estimons, à partir de la séquence vidéo de chaque sujet, une carte montrant les zones d'irrégularités de la marche (également appelées énergie de bruit apériodique). La carte avec HFSE ou celle visualisant l'énergie de bruit apériodique peut être utilisée comme un bon indicateur d'une éventuelle pathologie, dans un outil de diagnostic précoce, rapide et fiable, ou permettre de fournir des informations sur la présence et l'étendue de la maladie ou des problèmes (orthopédiques, musculaires ou neurologiques) du patient. Même si les cartes obtenues sont informatives et très discriminantes pour une classification visuelle directe, même pour un non-spécialiste, les systèmes proposés permettent de détecter automatiquement les individus en bonne santé et ceux avec des problèmes locomoteurs.