In a study published in the Journal of Theoretical Biology, the researchers found people鈥檚 behaviours changed when news of an epidemic was widely published in the media.

Researchers looked at the A/H1N1 influenza pandemic of 2009, as well as the number and duration of news stories from popular Chinese websites compared with hospital visits in the city of Xi鈥檃n in the Shaanxi province of China.

鈥淢odeling and statistical analysis clearly shows that massive media coverage contributed to the reduction of the number of newly reported cases,鈥� says co-author 91亚色 Professor Jianhong Wu, director of the 91亚色 Institute for Health Research.

The study also found it worked the opposite way, and fewer hospital notifications of infected cases resulted in a dwindling of media stories.

In addition, the longer the epidemic was covered in media during some critical periods, the more it raised public awareness. This helped change people鈥檚 behaviour, such as avoiding contact with others, and resulted in fewer new infections.

鈥淭he findings point to the importance of media in curbing the spread of disease in an epidemic,鈥� says Professor Sandra Gabriele, a co-author from 91亚色鈥檚 School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design. 鈥淭he success of any comprehensive prevention and control strategy of the emerging infectious diseases relies on the confidence 鈥� and action 鈥� of the public in the strategy, and media plays a substantial role in building this confidence.鈥�

Continued media coverage in an epidemic could be key to reducing the number of people infected.

As the study鈥檚 corresponding author, Professor Sanyi Tang of Shaanxi Normal University in China says regarding the 2009 A/H1N1 outbreak, 鈥淚n order to help reduce the accumulated number of new notifications, the media should have been more persistent in their reporting of number of infections, hospitalizations and deaths. In addition, news reports needed to be timely and continue for longer periods.鈥�

A study published in the journal Scientific Reports by Nature also looked at the role of media and found 鈥渢hat media coverage significantly delayed the epidemic's peak and decreased the severity of the outbreak.鈥�

The post 91亚色 U collaborates on study that shows media coverage of epidemics can slow spread of disease appeared first on Research & Innovation.

The series is designed to introduce students and faculty to recently published and emerging research on North and South Korea and their relations with their Northeast Asian neighbours, such as China and Japan. Over the last decades, the number of Korean studies specialists at 91亚色 and in the Toronto area has grown exponentially from a few faculty members to a few dozen, says Kim. The series hopes to highlight this change and offer a forum for researchers, students and the local Korean-Canadian community.

The first year of the series will focus on 20th-century Korean history, with scholars speaking on imperialism, the Second World War, the Korean War, forced migration and the social issues associated with the formation of the DPRK and the ROK.

Takashi Fujitani will present the first lecture of the series Monday, Nov. 26 at 3pm at 280A 91亚色 Lanes, Keele campus. His talk, co-presented with the Department of History, examines 鈥淩eflections on Race for Empire: Koreans as Japanese and Japanese as Americans during World War II鈥�. Fujitani is the Dr. David Chu Professor and Director in Asia Pacific Studies at the University of Toronto. He is the author of Splendid Monarchy: Power and Pageantry in Modern Japan (1998) and co-editor of Perilous Memories: The Asia Pacific War(s) (2001). His most recent book Race for Empire: Koreans as Japanese and Japanese as Americans during World War II (2011) will form the basis for this lecture.

Fujitani will reflect on his reinterpretation of nationalism, racism and wartime mobilization during the Asia-Pacific war. He uses parallel case studies of Koreans recruited or drafted into the Japanese military and of Japanese Americans mobilized to serve in the US Army, to examine how the US and Japanese empires struggled to manage racialized populations while waging total war. He demonstrates that the United States and Japan became increasingly alike over the course of the war, perhaps most tellingly in their common attempts to disavow racism even as they reproduced it in new ways and forms.

Kim will discuss her research on everyday life in Pusan as a refugee capital Feb. 7, 2013 when she delivers her talk, 鈥淩efuge, Relief, and Resettlement in the Temporary Capital Pusan, 1950-1953鈥�. She will focus in on the most salient characteristics of wartime Pusan: overwhelming poverty, increasing marketization that was predominantly illegal or informal and its role as a US military base.

The final speaker in the series is Andre Schmid, a professor in the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Toronto. His current research interests include the history of the cultural Cold War in post-Korean War peninsula, as well as early 20th century peasant movements. He is the author of Korea Between Empires, 1895-1919 (Columbia University Press), winner of the Association of Asian Studies John Whitney Hall award, and has published in journals such as Journal of Asian Studies, South Atlantic Quarterly and Yoksa munje yon'gu. In his talk, Schmid will examine the reconstruction of North Korea and the role of socialist living. The date of this talk in late March 2013 is to be confirmed.

The second year (2013-2014) of the series will concentrate on issues of labour, migration, mobility and cultural change experienced at the turn of the 21st century. The 91亚色 Centre for Asian Research (YCAR) hopes to turn the series into a larger project inviting international scholars by 2014, says Kim.

For more information about the YCAR Korea Speaker Series, contact the 91亚色 Centre for Asian Research at ycar@yorku.ca.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin to research stories on the research website.

The post Korea Speaker Series promotes discussion of emerging research appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Xiang鈥檚 talk, 鈥淭he Intermediary Trap: International Labour Recruitment, Transnational Governance and State-Citizen Relations in China,鈥� will take place Nov. 5 at 519 91亚色 Research Tower, Keele campus. A reception will begin at 2:30pm, followed by the lecture at 3pm. Everyone is welcome to attend the event hosted by the 91亚色 Centre of Asian Research (YCAR).

Xiang Biao

鈥淒r. Xiang is a young and exciting anthropologist working on migration in Asia. His work comprises detailed ethnographic studies in multiple contexts including India, China, Singapore, Korea, Japan and Australia. He epitomizes the 'open' and 'non-territorial' concept of Asia-as-region that we espouse at YCAR,鈥� says Philip F. Kelly, YCAR director.

Xiang鈥檚 forthcoming book Making Order from Transnational Mobility (Princeton University Press) is the result of four years of field research across East Asia.

Beyond the appeal of Xiang's pan-Asian ethnographies, his work on the transnational governance regimes that regulate migration will also be of interest to a wide range of scholars at 91亚色, says Kelly.

Xiang鈥檚 lecture will trace how transnationally-linked commercial labor recruiters gain a dominant position in cultivating, facilitating and controlling migration.聽 These intermediaries render themselves indispensable both for migrating workers and for the states seeking to make order from migration.

The intermediary trap is more dynamic and complex than a simple 鈥渃apture鈥� by identifiable interest groups and is deeply implicated in changing state-citizen relations in China. Rooted in Chinese and other Asian states鈥� agenda to liberalize socioeconomic life without compromising sovereign power, the intermediary trap may become a worldwide phenomenon with the resurgence of state power alongside a continuing neoliberal hegemony beyond Asia.

Through its Asia Lecture Series, YCAR showcases some the best of scholarship on Asia and initiates discussion in both academic and non-academic communities about major issues relating to Asia in a global context.

For more information about YCAR, visit the YCAR website.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin to research stories on the research website.

The post University of Oxford social anthropologist to give Asia Lecture appeared first on Research & Innovation.

As Tier 1 CRCs, Haas and Fogel will each receive $1.4 million over seven years. The CRC is part of a package of CRC appointments announced Oct. 12, by Gary Goodyear, 聽minister of state (Science and Technology).

鈥淥ur government鈥檚 top priority is creating jobs, growth and long-term prosperity,鈥� said Goodyear. 鈥淏y investing in talented people through programs such as the Canada Research Chairs, our government is supporting cutting-edge research in Canadian post-secondary institutions. This fosters innovation by helping researchers bring their ideas to the marketplace, where they can touch the lives of Canadians.鈥�

In all, the government announced an investment of $121.6 聽million to fund the appointment of 155 new and renewed Canada Research Chairs at 42 Canadian degree-granting post-secondary institutions.

鈥淭he appointment of Professor Christian Haas as Canada Research Chair in Arctic Sea Ice Geophysics and the renewal of Professor Joshua Fogel as Canada Research Chair in the History of Modern China recognizes the excellence of their research and provides them with opportunities to further develop their exceptional research programs,鈥� said Robert Hach茅, vice-president research & innovation at 91亚色. 鈥淭hrough the CRC program, 91亚色 continues to build on its research strengths and enhance opportunities for graduate training.鈥�

Christian Haas

Haas, a professor of geophysics, in the Department of Earth & Space Science and Engineering in the Faculty of Science & Engineering, is examining the underlying reasons for the recent, rapid retreat of Arctic sea ice and the consequences for the Arctic climate system and ecosystem, for Northerners, and for better access to Arctic resources and shipping routes.聽 His research also addresses the role of changes in winds and ice drift as well as of variations in atmospheric radiation and temperature and ocean salinity and temperature on ice thickness and areal coverage.

A thorough understanding of the reasons for the recent Arctic sea ice decline will help fuel predictions of future scenarios and identify links to possible human-induced causes for climate change.

Ice information obtained by Haas鈥� research utilizing airborne and ground-based field campaigns in the Arctic and Antarctic, satellite remote sensing and numerical modeling provides important information for safe and environmentally responsible resource exploration and extraction, as well as shipping and over-ice travel.聽 His research contributes unique information on ice thickness, one of the most important sea ice properties for the design and regulation of offshore structures and ships, safe ice utilization and assessment of oil spill development.

Fogel, a professor in the Department of History in the聽Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and member of 91亚色鈥檚 Centre for Asian Research has been examining the dynamic cultural and political relations between China and Japan over the past two centuries.

Joshua Fogel

The history of modern China cannot be fully or properly understood, Fogel maintains, without examining the dynamic cultural, political, and economic interactions between China and Japan over the last two centuries. Fogel鈥檚 research focuses on this interaction and the importance of Japan in China鈥檚 modern development.

He is presently writing a comprehensive history of Chinese-Japanese relations from antiquity through the present as well as a more focused monograph on the history of the Japanese expatriate community in Shanghai (1862 to 1945). His work is premised on the fruitful assumption that the modern history of China is incomprehensible without a full consideration of modern Japanese history.

For more information, visit the website.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin to research stories on the research website.

The post The University recruits a new Canada Research Chair and gains a renewed Canada Research Chair appeared first on Research & Innovation.

鈥淓nvironmental History of the Glendon Campus & Forest: Challenges of Conservation & Sustainability in the 21st Century,鈥� part of the Institute for Research & Innovation in Sustainability (IRIS) Speaker Series, will take place Oct. 27, from noon to 1pm, in the Senate Chamber, Glendon campus. Light refreshments will be served.

Right: A path through the Glendon campus forest

Schoenfeld will provide an overview of the website, while Psathas, a senior fellow at IRIS,聽will provide an update on the forest.

鈥淭he project was designed with two goals. First, to share the knowledge about our campus more widely. Second, to document the history and current state of environmentalism at Glendon,鈥� Schoenfeld writes in an on the website.

鈥淭he project is intended to be a contribution to the common culture of those who work and study here. We are the custodians of a remarkable place. Knowing more about it, we can better appreciate the gift we have been given of working and studying here. We can also appreciate that the Glendon campus has been taken care of, and that responsibility continues.鈥�

One of the things the new website offers is聽an overview of how conservation issues and environmental issues have become part of the local culture and how Glendon is responding to the current challenge of sustainability. It has taken much work to keep the upper portion of the Glendon campus landscaped and to perverse the forest in the valley, as well as introduce new environmental practices.

For more information, visit the website.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

The post Glendon Campus Project on sustainability launches website tomorrow appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Although environmental protection is considered a strategic issue in China today, how it is discussed and perceived can vary from one ethnic minority to another. Nimrod Baranovitch, a lecturer in Chinese culture and society in the Department of East Asian Studies at Haifa University in Israel, will discuss what environmental protection means in China at his upcoming talk at 91亚色.

His talk, 鈥淔ear of Extinction: Environmental Protection as Political Metaphor among China's Ethnic Minorities鈥�, will take place Wednesday, Sept. 21, from 1 to 3pm, at 626 91亚色 Research Tower, Keele campus.

Right: Nimrod Baranovitch

鈥淢y talk will focus on the discourse and meanings of environmental protection among several ethnic minorities in China, particularly the Tibetans, the Uyghurs and the Mongols,鈥� says , also a聽research Fellow at the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 鈥淎mong these minorities, the topic is heavily politicized and often also loaded with metaphoric meanings.鈥�

Ethnic minorities in China often see themselves as an integral part of the natural environment, whereas environmental destruction is associated with the Han majority. 鈥淚n this context, the environment is perceived as a very specific territory, and environmental protection is not just in the narrow sense of maintaining clean water and air, but as the right of the minority group to control its territory and to maintain its traditional way of life and distinctive identity,鈥� says Baranovitch.

He will show how the legitimate discourse of environmental protection is used by ethnic minorities to express illegitimate sentiments that cannot be expressed in public otherwise.
To illustrate his points, he will also present and analyze several video clips of rock songs by Tibetan, Mongol and Uyghur musicians, who live, create and perform in China.

The talk is sponsored by the 91亚色 Centre for Asian Research (YCAR) and is presented by the Literatures & Human Rights in Asia and Asian Diaspora project, as well as the Critical China Studies Group.

For more information, visit the YCAR website.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

The post Lecture looks at issues surrounding environmental protection in China appeared first on Research & Innovation.

The forum, which focuses on industrial relations, workplace discrimination and human rights issues, will be held today and tomorrow at the Beijing Conference Centre.聽YCPPL was awarded a聽major grant of $100,000 from the of (HRSDC) to organize the forum, which will bring together some of Canada's top thinkers in industrial and labour rights with聽key policy-makers and thinkers聽in China.

Right: Lesley Jacobs

"The Canada-China Forum is the first of its kind and reflects a new initiative of the Government of Canada in the realm of recalibrating their relationship with China involving university-led research units," says political science Professor Lesley Jacobs, director of YCPPL.

"Working with government officials in Canada and the Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing, this event will bring together a 17-person Canadian delegation, including academics, senior government officials, representatives from human rights commissioners, and delegates from business, labour and NGOs, to provide a dynamic platform for an important comparative discussion of industrial relations and workplace rights with a view to relating these issues to international labour standards," says Jacobs.

In addition to Jacobs,聽91亚色 Professor Lorne Foster, director of the聽Master in Public Policy, Administration & Law program,聽will also be a principal investigator on this project. Jacobs and Foster, along with political science Professor Daniel Drache and Patrick Monahan, 91亚色's vice-president academic & provost, are in Beijing for the forum. Monahan will make the welcoming remarks to the delegates gathered in Beijing.

Canada鈥檚 ambassador to China, David Mulroney, along with a representative from the United Nations聽International Labour Organization and various Chinese dignitaries, will also deliver speeches to forum delegates.

"Being asked to lead such an event is a tremendous achievement for YCPPL and 91亚色," says Jacobs. "It offers an opportunity to聽demonstrate the dynamism and excellence of 91亚色 researchers and their research."

YCPPL聽encourages research on the role and impact of law in the formation and expression of public policy. More specifically, the聽centre focuses on constitutional, institutional and legal aspects of the public policy, as well as the international and transnational dimensions of law and public policy.

For more information, visit the website.

Republished courtesy of YFile 鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

The post 91亚色 Centre for Public Policy and Law leads Canada's delegation at inaugural labour rights forum in Beijing appeared first on Research & Innovation.

The more proficient you become, the better, but "every little bit helps," said Ellen Bialystok, a psychology professor at 91亚色 [Faculty of Health].

Much of the study of bilingualism has centered on babies, as scientists wondered why simply speaking to infants in two languages allows them to learn both in the time it takes most babies to learn one. Their brains seem to become more flexible, better able to multi-task. As they grow up, their brains show better "executive control," a system key to higher functioning 鈥� as Bialystok puts it, "the most important part of your mind."

Bialystok studied 450 Alzheimer's patients, all of whom showed the same degree of impairment at the time of diagnosis. Half are bilingual 鈥� they've spoken two languages regularly for most of their lives. The rest are monolingual.

The bilingual patients had Alzheimer's symptoms and were diagnosed between four and five years later than the patients who spoke only one language, she told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Being bilingual does nothing to prevent Alzheimer's disease from striking. But once the disease does begin its silent attack, those years of robust executive control provide a buffer so that symptoms don't become apparent as quickly, Bialystok said. "They've been able to cope with the disease," she said.

Her work supports an earlier study from other researchers that also found a protective effect.

But people don't have to master a new language to benefit some, Bialystok said. Exercising your brain throughout life contributes to what's called "cognitive reserve", the overall ability to withstand the declines of aging and disease. That's the basis of the use-it-or-lose-it advice from aging experts, who also recommend such things as crossword puzzles to keep your brain nimble. "If you start to learn at 40, 50, 60, you are certainly keeping your brain active," she said.

Newspapers and online news sites around the world reported on Bialystok鈥檚 lecture remarks, including media across Canada, the US, Australia, Bangladesh, China, England, Iran, Ireland, India, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Qatar, South Africa, Scotland and Wales.

Bialystok鈥檚 study was also features in stories on radio and television stations around the world, including major networks in the US and Canada.

Republished courtesy of YFile 鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

The post Professor Ellen Bialystok's report on Alzheimer's and bilingualism makes world headlines appeared first on Research & Innovation.

This massive public art project had four separate calls for entries: two open and two invitational. In developing their proposals, artists were asked to be sensitive to the site, the location of the artwork elevated above grade and the fact that people would be viewing the works while moving past them as well as when they were stationary.

Submissions were categorized based on the media used to create the pieces: digital interlay protected by glass, specialty glass, perforated metal screen and mixed media. All the works share the same dimensions: 30 inches high and a monumental 40 feet long, made up of four 10-foot-long panels.

More than 350 entries were submitted by artists from across the Greater Toronto Area聽for the two open competitions. Two independent juries, each judging two competitions, selected the winning works.

鈥淭he quality of the artworks and their scale and siting are setting a new standard for transit art projects in Toronto,鈥� said Rina Greer, the art consultant who coordinated the project with Catherine Williams for the City of Toronto.

Five 91亚色 artists have transformed聽the streetscape with their unique creations.

Spadina Road features the first of two works contributed by Professor Judith Schwarz,听肠hair of the Department of Visual Arts. Her abstract piece Weather Sampler, made of mill-grade stainless steel sheets, is a playful representation of various kinds of weather experienced by Torontonians. Geometric shapes are organized and repeated to represent sunspots, heat rising from the pavement, overcast days, clouds moving overhead, sleet and rain.

Above: Weather Sampler by Judith Schwartz

One stop west at Tweedsmuir Avenue, commuters will encounter Professor Yam Lau鈥檚 Nearness and Distance 鈥� A Chinese Ruler. It鈥檚 a digitally printed interlay representing the traditional, but now obsolete, system of measurement that would have been used to build inspirational places like the Forbidden City in Beijing and the Great Wall of China. For Lau, systems of measurement are never simply abstract. They can embody a world that is both poetic and emotional.

Above: Nearness and Distance 鈥� A Chinese Ruler by Yam Lau decorates the Tweedsmuir Avenue stop

Moon Transit by 91亚色 visual arts alumna (BFA 鈥�79) is found at Christie Street. The work is constructed of two layers of laminated tempered float glass with pigmented glass enamel accents. It depicts the phases of the moon in an arcing passage through drifting clouds. This upward view was inspired by the escarpment location of St. Clair Avenue, high on a ridge above downtown Toronto. A month of moons unfolds like successive frames of a film or a series of time-lapse photographs. The sequence is integrated into a gestural sky whose graphic conventions are drawn from historical engravings like those depicting early views of Toronto.

Above: Titled Moon Transit, this artwork can be found at Christie Street. It was created by 91亚色 visual arts alumna Jeannie Thib

Schwarz鈥檚 second contribution, Origami Remix, is installed at Dufferin Street. It features organic shapes and patterns on a garden theme, rendered in stainless steel. The stylized profiles evoke flowers, petals, stamen, floating pollen and vines. These images expand and recur along a sinuous curve to suggest process and alteration over time. Repeated and remixed at a different scale, the shapes coalesce into designs suggestive of garden ornamentation, decorative fences and patterns that allude to retro linoleum, wallpaper and picnic oilcloth.

Above: Schwartz's Origami Remix can be seen at the Dufferin Street

Caledonia Road is the site of Sidewalk Tango by 91亚色 alumna (MFA 鈥�94). Nind鈥檚 digitally printed interlayer expresses the richness and cultural diversity of the street life along St. Clair West. The street鈥檚 ambience offers a cacophony of colours, odours and tactile experiences: baskets of fruits and vegetables, displays of shoes and clothing, pots overflowing with flowering plants, domestic paraphernalia of hardware and household supplies.

Above: 91亚色 alumna Sarah Nind's Sidewalk Tango

Art / Work, by photographer (MFA 鈥�07), marks the stop at Silverthorne Avenue. Inspired by 1920s modernist art photography and film and the then-novel techniques of montage, collage and transitional dissolves, Art / Work draws on the archival record of construction on St. Clair Avenue in the twenties,聽as found in the Toronto Transit Commission files in the City of Toronto Archives. A long-time local resident, Ingelevics makes this history visible through images of labour and labourers from this earlier period.

Above: Art/Work by 91亚色 alumnus, photograper Vid Ingelevics marks the stop at Silverthorne Avenue

The distance between Yonge Street and Keele Street is just over six kilometres. The public art installations at transit stops are the finishing touches on the dedicated right-of-way streetcar lane for the 512 St. Clair streetcar loop. As a special initiative, the TTC is offering a two-hour time-based transfer for Route 512 that allows passengers to get on and off the streetcar to enjoy the artworks as well as the shops and restaurants along the way.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin

The post Two 91亚色 Professors part of team creating art for St. Clair streetcar stops appeared first on Research & Innovation.

The panel, hosted by 91亚色鈥檚 (CCGES) and co-sponsored by the International Business Program of the Schulich School of Business, will feature Scott聽Paradise, VP marketing & business development, Magna International; Jim Stanford, economist for the Canadian Auto Workers Union and 91亚色 political science Professor Greg Chin, author of and member of the 91亚色 Centre for Asian Research.

Left: The Hyundai automobile assembly line

Panellists will focus on the state of the world鈥檚 automotive and light truck manufacturers in the wake of the global financial crisis: In the United States and Canada, governments stepped in to become majority owners of General Motors, while management of Chrysler was assumed by Italian-based automaker Fiat. In Europe, governments provided incentives to keep consumer demand up and the largest German car company, Volkswagen, began producing vehicles in North America for the first time since the 1970s. Mexico continues to increase its lead over Canada in terms of vehicle production. The same period saw China grow into the world鈥檚 largest auto market, with sales of 18 million vehicles, an increase of 32 per cent over 2009. The panel will explore these and other developments, and their ramifications for the global auto manufacturing sector.

Organized by CCGES affiliates Professor Roger Keil, director of 91亚色鈥檚 City Institute and Professor Emeritus of 91亚色鈥檚 Schulich School of Business, the series aims to shed light on major shifts in the auto industry and society鈥檚 relationship to it.

, director of CCGES, noted that the centre is well-positioned to look at this important theme from a variety of angles. 鈥淭he importance of the automotive industry to the economies of the industrialized world can鈥檛 be overestimated, but it鈥檚 clearly a mistake to view this sector and its prospects in a monolithic way. The panel will consider the situation in a variety of regions and jurisdictions so that a useful overview of the current situation and future prospects emerges,鈥� he said.

The event will run from 4:30 to 6:30pm on the seventh floor of the 91亚色 Research Tower, Keele campus.

A full report on the first panel in the series is available . Panels are open to the public. Attendees are asked to register in advance at ccges@yorku.ca. For more information, visit the website or phone ext. 40003.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin

The post Panel examines impact of financial crisis on auto industry January 24 appeared first on Research & Innovation.