This thesis is an exploratory study of the lives and experiences of international students who apply for and gain permanent residency (PR) after completing tertiary study in Australia. The thesis uses sociological theories and methods to focus on the ways that students-turned-migrants maintain transnational connections, and negotiate their memberships and sense of belonging across Australia and other countries. This research is important because there is negligible extant literature that connects the international study experience and the skilled migration experience as two steps in the same process. Furthermore, research that does address this phenomenon tends to look at students-turned-migrants as a 'policy problem', usually focusing on their labour market integration. In contrast, this thesis foregrounds this distinctive group of contemporary migrants' subjective experience of the migration process and their ongoing transnational connections. The research used cultural probes (packages of mixed media materials such as diaries, maps and disposable cameras, which participants used to document aspects of their lives) and in-depth interviews to provide a rich understanding of the multiplicity and breadth of participants' individual experiences, with various reflective representations of the individuals' narratives at the core of the study. The analysis covers two aspects of the student-turned-migrant experience: the acquisition of memberships, such as PR and citizenship, and the maintenance of mobilities, including virtual mobility through media and communications technology, and corporeal mobility through forms of travel such as return visits. The analysis reveals that students-turned-migrants undergo a distinct migration experience, characterised by three sequential gates of membership: their entrance as transient students, their acquisition of residency and their decisions about citizenship. Transnational consciousness diffuses their decision-making at each stage of this process, as they negotiate the memberships available to them as a means to balance their desires and obligations across home and host countries. The analysis reveals that student-turned-migrant choices and experiences are often affected by macro-political forces. Choices about citizenship are heavily influenced by global regimes of mobility and the media, and their acqu isition of residency is negotiated through the institutions and regulations of the immigration regime. The analysis also reveals that students-turned-migrants engage with a diverse range of transnational practices, many of which are closely grounded in the use of technology to maintain transnational connections. The findings reframe students-turned-migrants as more than just a policy problem, but rather as a unique group of contemporary migrants, with several key features that set them apart from previous waves of Australian migrants. While they are less integrated into established local ethnic communities, they maintain very strong connections overseas. They maintain regular contact through virtual mobilities and display a high propensity for return travel. They value mobility highly and display an acute awareness of both the advantages and challenges of sustaining mobile lives. The study of their experiences not only reveals a great deal about the nature of transnationality and mobility in an increasingly globalised world, but also suggests that if this type of migration continues in the future, it may have implications for Australia's patterns of cultural diversity and international integration.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (M.A.)--Dept. of Economics. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2007. / "A thesis in economics." Typescript. Advisor: Erik Olsen. Vita. Title from "catalog record" of the print edition Description based on contents viewed Dec. 18, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-148). Online version of the print edition.

Migration and travel have been significant factors in the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic since its emergence in 1981. Understanding the current effects of migration and travel on HIV/AIDS transmission and survival is essential to intervention efforts, especially for immigrants. Previous research highlights differences between immigrants and native ethnic minorities, but few studies compare immigrant groups to their peers in the country of origin. The overall objective of this study was to explore the relationship between migration, travel and risk behavior among Jamaicans infected with HIV. This dissertation study analyzed HIV/AIDS registry data from the New York City Department of Health and the Jamaica Ministry of Health by focusing on HIV positive individuals of Jamaican birth reported to surveillance from January 1, 1988 – December31, 2007. The research included three specific aims. The first aim explored factors associated with transnational sexual partnerships among persons with HIV in Jamaica, using classification tree methodology and logistic regression modeling. The second aim compared trends in newly reported HIV and AIDS cases as well as deaths among Jamaican cases in New York City and Jamaica. The study design was ecologic and involved the comparison through the use of general linear modeling techniques. The final aim compared factors associated with late stage HIV/AIDS diagnoses between the two locations through a case control study design and logistic regression analysis. Persons with missing gender (n=62) were excluded from all analyses. Tests for interaction by location and gender were performed with each covariate. Significant interactions by both gender and location led to stratified models in the final analysis. A matched sample of 623 cases and 1,869 controls was analyzed to determine factors associated with overseas partnering. Persons who were deportees, in the professional or trade occupation groups, separated or divorced and categorized as MSM or IDU were more likely to have transnational sex partners. Comparisons of HIV, AIDS and death rates between the two jurisdictions revealed significant declines in annual AIDS case rates and deaths with no significant change in newly reported HIV cases. In both settings, rates of late stage diagnoses were alarmingly high (42% and 48% respectively).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Le but de cette recherché doctorale est d'établir la liaison entre deux phénomènes de mobilité parallèles qui peuvent faire changer une société de manière dramatique. On trouve dans le Maramures deux couloirs de mobilités fort liés entre eux: l’arrivée de personnes vers la région, qui consiste surtout en tourisme rural, et le départ des personnes originaires de la région vers l’étranger, qui est représenté par la migration de travail. Le tourisme rural est encastré dans un contexte social, politique et historique particulier. La spécificité supposée de la région est celle d’une authenticité bien préservée, avec un fort usage du discours concernant l’Etat national. Le Maramures est considéré comme une des régions “authentiques”, “archaïques” et “traditionnelles” qui attirent une certaine catégorie de visiteurs, comme c’est souvent le cas du tourisme rural. L’évolution du phénomène touristique est le résultat des intersections complexes des divers acteurs, les migrants jouant un rôle important. Une grande partie des remises de fonds provenant des migrants est investie dans le tourisme rural, d’une manière directe ou indirecte. De plus, ceux-ci fonctionnent comme des médiateurs culturels pour les activités touristiques. La participation à une pratique, tel le tourisme rural ou la migration, facilite souvent l’accès à l’autre, générant ainsi des tensions et clivages sociaux. La croissance continue du tourisme et de la migration est en même temps cause et effet d’une interdépendance entre les modèles culturels et économiques de l’Est et de l’Ouest. / The goal of this PhD research is to show the connection between two parallel mobility phenomena that have the potential to dramatically change a local society. There are two strongly linked “mobility corridors” in Maramures. Incoming mobility, i.e. the arrival of foreigners, largely involves tourists, whilst outgoing mobility consists mostly of labour migration. Rural tourism is embedded in a particular social, political and historical context. The alleged specificity of this area is a well-preserved authenticity, with a strong background of national discourse. Maramures is seen as an “authentic”, “archaic” or “traditional” area, so it attracts a particular category of visitor, as is often the case in rural tourism. The evolution of this tourism phenomenon is the result of the complex intersection of different actors’ interests, and migrants play a major role. A large part of the labour migrants’ remittances is invested in rural tourism, directly or indirectly. Moreover, these migrants function as cultural brokers for tourism-related activities. Participation in either rural tourism or migration often facilitates access to the other. However, it also creates tensions and social gaps. The steady growth of tourism and migration is both cause and effect of an interdependence between the cultural and economic models of Eastern and Western societies.

La Province de Caserta, en Campanie, est un lieu de concentration des flux migratoires au Sud de L’Italie. Les migrant qu’y arrivent « illégalement » ou « irrégulièrement », du Nord de l’Afrique comme de l’Europe orientale, trouvent dans ce territoire des opportunités de travail et d’habitation, grâce à la présence d’un marché du travail au noir et d’un marché immobilier déréglementé, résultat de l’urbanisation sauvage et des spéculations. Les travailleurs immigrés se trouvent à vivre une condition existentiale marquée par la marginalisation, la pauvreté, l’exploitation et la violence : cette condition à des effets sur leur santé, physique et mentale. Cette étude veut analyser la relation entre migration, santé et inégalité sociale, è travers une ethnographies des services sanitaires pour les immigrés. Cependant, en Campanie ces services sont réalisé et gérés è traves des accords entre les institutions sanitaires locales et les association de bénévolat et les organisation humanitaires internationales, comme Médecines Sans Frontières. Cette ethnographie, donc, est aussi une analyse du rapport entre gestion humanitaire de la migration et politiques de citoyenneté en Italie, un rapport qui semble caractériser de plus en plus le gouvernement des migrations. Enfin, étant le territoire de la Province di Caserta caractérisé per la présence des organisations criminelles mafieuse, j’analyserais les effets de cette présence, soi en ce qui concerne la migration, soi en ce qui concerne la vie des citoyens italiens.

Many people have migrated between East and West Europe in recent decades. The daily life of these migrants is crucial not only for the migrants themselves but also for the development of future migration. The aim of this thesis is to explore the interaction between migration motives, integration, social networks and migration, and how this affects international migration processes in general. This is done using migration between Sweden on the one hand and Russia, Poland and the Baltic States on the other as a case study. The thesis consists of three empirical studies which derive from different sources of data: the first (Paper I) draws on individual Swedish register data while the second and third are based upon a questionnaire survey. Paper I explores aspects of transnational social spaces in the context of migration from the non-Baltic former Soviet republics to Sweden before and after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. The results of this paper show rather limited migration and a lack of a more developed transnational social space. This is partly due to weak integration on the labour market, a high degree of intermarriage, no existing migrant community and limited return migration. The following two papers (II, III) focus on migrants from Russia, Poland and the Baltic States to Sweden after 1990. Paper II analyses migration motives and the outcome of the migration decision, and reveals significant gender differences in the motives for migrating and in how men and women adapt in their new country of living. While men mainly came for economic reasons, the majority of women came for intermarriage in Sweden; however, the migration motives have changed over time towards more economic ones. The final paper (III) shows significant gender differences in the migrants’ perceived sense of belonging in Sweden. Women report a stronger sense of belonging than their male counterparts, and while men’s sense of belonging is mainly affected by duration of stay in Sweden, language proficiency and citizenship, women’s sense of belonging is shown to be mostly affected by local social networks. In sum, the results in this thesis show that migration systems and transnational social spaces between Sweden and the respective countries have not yet emerged. This is partly due to the specific migrant composition and integration that characterize this migration process. The immigrants mainly function as weak bridgeheads, and do not facilitate the development of any further migration. However, with a changing migration flow, including migrants with different motives and migration agendas, future migrants can be stronger bridgeheads and facilitate further development of migration systems and transnational social spaces.

Olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) are glial cells that are an attractive candidate for neural repair after spinal cord injury and for remyelination of axons in diseases such as multiple sclerosis. OECs appear to migrate within the adult mammalian central nervous system (CNS) in animal models of spinal cord injury, but until recently there has been no systematic examination of the factors inducing or guiding this migration. Previous work in our lab (V.Skihar) implicated microglial reactivity in the generation of a migratory signal(s) inducing OECs to migrate towards an ethidium bromide-induced focal demyelination in the adult rat spinal cord. The long-term objective of this research project was to test the hypothesis that reactive microglial provide a migratory signal(s) driving the migration of OECs within the spinal cord of adult rats.<p>The first set of experiments determined the time-frame in which Wallerian degeneration (WD) induced microglial reactivity occurs in the right dorsal corticospinal tract (dCST) of adult rats at the level of T11 following aspiration of the contralateral sensorimotor cortex. This timing data from this study demonstrated a prominent microglial activation in the right dCST of T11 eight weeks after sensorimotor cortex injury indicating the microglial response to WD of dCST axons was very slow to appear. The second set of experiments determined whether OECs were induced to migrate in response to WD-induced microglial reactivity in the dCST, which based on the first set of experiments was known to occur within 8 weeks of lesioning the left sensorimotor cortex. This second set of experiments also examined the migratory path taken by OECs with respect to the location of reactive microglia (i.e. inside vs outside the right dCST). For these experiments, the left sensorimotor cortex was damaged 8 weeks prior to grafting the OECs at T12. <p>The next group of experiments examined the contribution of TNF-á induced microglial reactivity to generation of a migratory signal. First we identified concentrations of TNF-á that when injected into the DF of the T11 spinal cord segment of an adult rat induced microglial reactivity either along at least a 5 mm distance from the injection site or confined to the immediate vicinity of the injection site. The result of this experiment identified a concentration of 1 ng/µl and 0.01 ng/µl TNF-á as appropriate concentrations to induce the appropriate amount of microglial reactivity, respectively. The final set of experiments used these two concentrations to determine whether TNF-á induced microglial reactivity that is initiated 5 mm rostral to a DiI+ve OEC graft generates a migratory signal(s) inducing OECs to migrate towards the rostral part of T11 and whether the migratory signal(s) was present only if the microglial reactivity extended the full 5 mm distance between the TNF-á injection and the OEC graft. <p>The major findings were: i) there was a significantly higher density of DiI+ve OECs within the right dCST of rats in which there was WD-induced microglial reactivity as compared to the right dCST of rats in which there was no microglial reactivity; ii) the migratory path taken by DiI+ve OECs was preferentially within areas containing reactive microglia (i.e. dCST) and towards the site of TNF-á induced microglial reactivity (i.e. rostral to cell graft as opposed to caudal); iii) significantly more DiI+ve OECs migrated towards the site of a TNF-á injection when the microglia were reactive along the entire length of the migratory path between the cytokine injection and cell graft; and iv) minocycline treatment both dampened microglial reactivity and significantly reduced the number of migrating DiI+ve OECs. The major conclusions are that the migration of OECs within the adult rat spinal cord occurs in response to migratory signal(s) arising as a result of microglial activation and that this migration occurs preferentially along the path of microglial reactivity.

As the number of cores integrated on a single chip continues to increase, communication has the potential to become a severe bottleneck to overall system performance. The presence of thread sharing and the distribution of data across cache banks on the chip can result in long distance communication. Long distance communication incurs substantial latency that impacts performance; furthermore, this communication consumes significant dynamic power when packets are switched over many Network-on-Chip (NoC) links and routers. Thread migration can mitigate problems created by long distance communication. This thesis presents Moths, which stands for Mobile Threads. Moths is an efficient run-time algorithm that responds automatically to dynamic NoC traffic patterns, providing beneficial thread migration to decrease overall traffic volume and average packet latency. Moths reduces latency by up to 28.4% (18.0% on average) and traffic volume by up to 24.9% (20.6% on average) across a variety of commercial and scientific benchmarks.