Invoking affect in Kawakami Mieko's Chihi to ran (Breasts and Eggs, 2008): Higuchi Ichiyô, playful words and ludic gestures

A slim and yet powerful novella, Chichi to ran (Breasts and Eggs, 2008) helped the author, Kawakami Mieko, launch her career in the Japanese literary establishment by winning her the Akutagawa prize. The novella revolves around a middle-aged single-mother, struggling to eke out a living for herself and her teenage daughter as a bar hostess in Osaka. The bond between them is severely tested under the pressure of the precarious living conditions in the post-bubble, neo-liberalist Japan of the 2000s. This essay explores the absorbing and affective aspect of the novella by drawing on Rita Felski's ‘positive aesthetics’ and Bruno Latour's concept of ‘nonhuman actors’. With a focus on the movement of affect/feelings, the analysis traces how ‘non-human actors’ of all kinds and shapes in the novella, from the female characters, chatty style of speech in Osaka dialect, the kanji used in them, the protagonist's obsession with breasts, images of Higuchi Ichiyô, to a carton of eggs, interact and connect in a way that make a difference, facilitating innovative life-adjustments as the narrative unfolds – the reading which should, in turn, enhance our understanding and appreciation of the text.     

Everyday health security practices as disaster resilience in rural Bangladesh

Health security is a relatively new concept in terms of how it is practised in disaster-prone locales. We observed 10 rural households in Bangladesh for four months using informal interviews, field diaries, and observation. The findings suggest that the everyday practises of health security involve the capabilities of “caring for themselves” in resource-constrained contexts. Understanding how households care for themselves prior to and during disasters presents an opportunity to examine how improved health might reduce the effects of disasters, ill health, and poverty. Some interventions are proposed to improve health security for poorer households in general and women in particular.     

非法鉴定胎儿性别不入罪之刑法谦抑缘由

非法鉴定胎儿性别是导致新生儿性别比例严重失调的主要原因,其是否入罪是一个颇具时代意义而又极其敏感的问题,应该引起人们的广泛关注。但社会问题当由社会政策调控,基于刑法谦抑考虑,立足于刑罚效益与人性,刑法并不能因此贸然介入。非法鉴定胎儿性别不入罪是立法者权衡利弊后明智的选择。     

自然体不能成为法律关系的主体吗--与刘小春商榷

刘小春先生刊登了题为《自然体不能成为法律关系的主体》的文章,他的论据主要为：法律是人法;自然体成为法律主体会存在理论障碍;赋予自然体以主体权利,人类将面临多重困惑。笔者认为：以上论据不足以对自然体成为法律关系主体进行有力的否定,自然主体成为法律关系主体既存在着理论依据又具有历史必然性和现实必要性。     

调解中的博弈与对策——对一宗交通事故调解案的分析

调解的过程其实是一场博弈的过程。调解过程中当事人的空间位置以及相关的人文空间对警察作为调解组织者权力的实际运作可能产生重大的影响。为了调解成功,应当通过自然空间和人文空间的转变,重新构造权力格局,确保警察的权威。另外,陪同当事人参与调解的亲朋好友在调解过程中具有独特的地位,劝服他们是成功调解所必须解决的问题。     

警察职业态度激励训练

警察职业态度是警察职业行为的心向,会影响警察的行为方式。警察职业态度激励训练旨在培养警察的责任与奉献以及由此而生的满足感,包括认知协调、自我激励、众人激励、集体任务、角色迁移及模拟实景等项目。     

论我国资源税征税范围

随着我国经济的快速发展,生产与生活中开发、利用自然资源的程度逐渐加深。相对于国外资源税征税范围,我国资源税征税范围较小,有些自然资源没有纳入资源税的征收范围。本文对自然资源与资源税进行梳理与分析,将资源税与资源费进行对比,提出应该逐渐扩大资源税的征税范围。     

Land restitution and income generation in protected areas in Mpumalanga,South Africa

In many cases protected areas in South Africa have been established with little or no regard for communities living in or adjacent to them. The new challenge to protection of biodiversity is to find an equitable balance between conservation, beneficiation of the new land owners, and “balancing the books”. This article discusses the Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve as a case study to illustrate some of the potential outcomes that co-management of protected areas can offer towards income generation, and highlights challenges towards success: it asks, can co-management be financially sustainable for both the conservation agency and the land claimants?     

Changes in the Frequency and Clinical Features of Suicide Attempts in the Midwestern Area of Kanagawa after the Great East Japan Earthquake

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the clinical features of suicide attempts and the Great East Japan earthquake in Kanagawa. We enrolled 592 patients who attempted suicide and were hospitalized for inpatient treatment. Clinical features were compared between before the earthquake (A) and after the earthquake (B) groups. The number of suicide attempts increased from 286 to 306. The rate of increase in suicide attempts in men was the highest in the age group of 40–59 years. The frequency of joblessness, family psychiatric histories, precipitating event, and alcohol intake at suicide attempt was significantly higher in the B group than in the A group. The number of patients in serious condition in the B group was significantly higher than that in the A group. Other clinical features related to suicide in people who were indirectly affected by the earthquake disaster should be investigated to develop targeted prevention strategies.     

Environment and climate mainstreaming: challenges and successes

This paper examines mainstreaming environment and climate change into development policy, planning, and budgeting. It looks at why we should integrate environment and climate and outlines challenges and successes. One result is that governments’ progress pro-poor and equitable development. Governance gains are important too: co-benefits include more transparent decision making and better cross-government working. Ultimately, the impact of mainstreaming has increased awareness, changed perceptions, and improved the way inter-sectoral decisions are made, especially in climate adaptation. This supports countries to achieve their sustainable development ambitions – lessons which could be applied to a post-2015 development agenda.