Prior research shows that race remains a significant factor of inequality in the U.S. The extent to which Asian Americans face discrimination in the labor market is also a subject of considerable debate. Thus, studying labor market inequality of Asian Americans is important for our better understanding of current/future race relations in the U.S. In doing so, the role of region and migration remain key factors that have not been much taken into account in the prior research, although they play an important role in assessing whether Asian Americans have reached labor market parity with non-Hispanic whites. This research therefore investigates migration and regional aspects affecting the wages of Asian American men. More specifically, this study investigates whether wage determination and regional migration are indeed interrelated among Asian Americans, and the extent to which important migration and regional characteristics of Asian Americans differ from those of whites. Because prior research has limited scope examining these important factors, this study investigates various hypotheses together, to broadly understand the complicated processes across migration patterns, regional aspects, and labor market outcomes among Asian American men. Using the 5-Percent Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) from the 2000 U.S. Census and the 2003 National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG), the results indicate the significance of region of residence and migration processes for understanding the wages of Asian American men, as well as the extent to which they differ from whites. For example, this research finds that region and regional distribution matter in the wages of Asian Americans, because cost of living expense is significantly higher for Asian Americans. Indeed, this study finds that Asian American men do not face a substantial disadvantage in the U.S. labor market, net of cost of living, demographic, and class factors. Prior research shows that Asian Americans had faced significant direct and overt racial discrimination in the labor market before World War II. Then this achievement of parity represents a historic change for Asian Americas. Namely, racial and ethnic discrimination in the post-Civil Rights era has been ameliorated at least for Asian Americans. Findings of this research show that taking regional migration into account does not alter this fundamental and significant conclusion. Furthermore, the regional aspect (i.e., higher cost of living for Asian Americans) does not explain why Asian Americans have socioeconomic parity with whites. Although what this conclusion implies about race relations for other minority groups remains debatable, the post-Civil Rights era appears to be characterized with the greater acceptance of Asian Americans, rather than the extensive and persuasive occupational disadvantages and other forms of discrimination that were commonly found in the pre-World War II era. / text

Public opinion tends to look at Zambia as some mythical land of promise, predestined to enjoy for years to come the same sort of economic bliss as during the copper price boom of 1964 -75. But there can be little doubt that one of the most striking facts of Zambia's economic history since 1964 has been poor macroeconomic performance. Since the mid 1970's Zambia's economy has experienced negative economic growth, high unemployment, rapid inflation and a weak balance of payments. This problem is crucial in the context of two-gap models. This thesis discusses the main facts about this worrying development and advances a line of argument which may well account for most of the observed facts. Prior to the Third Republic Zambian politicians tended to blame external forces for the current problems. My main contention is that that is wrong Economic difficulties arose from a combination of policy failures: growth of 'nonmarketable output', the government's politically induced tendency for crisis management, coupled with its well known propensity to delay taking corrective action, against a background of difficult initial conditions. However, since this is a thesis, both the scope and the method of investigation are limited by the time allowed for the study. What we do is to use historical data and use econometric analysis to shape my arguments, and to make them plausible. Inadequate domestic savings reflected in investment slumps, coupled with foreign exchange shortages, are shown to be the ultimate constraint on economic growth performance. The new government's liberal attitude and the fact that there is export potential in the economy offers some hope for success but the thesis draws attention to the structural rigidities which will remain a major constraint to export diversification in the short to medium term. In the long run, non-traditional exports would have to grow by some 30 percent annually if they were to become the new engine of growth. We stress that success will depend crucially on the government's macroeconomic policies being both conducive to the promotion of investment spending and supportive to the objective of restoring viability in the balance of payments.

International labor migration has become an increasingly common livelihood strategy in rural Cambodia, in some villages becoming a defining and normative part of community life. This dissertation is an ethnographic study of one such rural community, where migration to Thailand has become a primary livelihood strategy over the past decade. Drawing on three years of fieldwork in Chanleas Dai, a commune (khum) in Northwest Cambodia, my research explores the complexities of the migration decision-making process, and the meanings of migration for rural households. This work is motivated by debates within the dialogues of migration and development, most of which seek to understand the potential for migration to promote development by focusing on the impacts of migration. My work departs from previous studies by focusing explicitly on decision-making, seeking to understand how and why families make developmentally important migration decisions. This is a critical area of inquiry, as the potential that migration has to promote or sustain development rests on a series of individual choices, for example who migrates, or how households invest remittances. Yet research tends to focus on the outcomes of these choices, neglecting a sufficient understanding of why they were made. In Chanleas Dai individuals are deeply ambivalent about migration, understanding it as both a constituent cause of insecurity and also the best path to security, mobility, and status. Whereas migration is perceived as low-risk and high-reward, village-based livelihoods are widely perceived as insufficient, impossible, or too financially risky to be meaningful. These perceptions are strongly linked to the recent history of environmental distress in the area. As a result, households often prioritize investment in further migrations, rather than using wages earned abroad for local investment or production. This is particularly true among youth, who see few potential worthwhile strategies to "make it" at home. Credit and agriculture programs theorized to curb migration, and/or promote local investment have not substantively challenged these perceptions. My conclusions discuss these findings in terms of their implications for the migration and development dialogues, definitions and understandings of development, and rural development policies both within and outside of Cambodia. / text

Central America and Mexico are characterized by high levels of poverty. In response, labor migration has emerged as a major strategy among families through the sending of earnings (or remittances) to households back home. Large amounts of remittances are sent, with over $13 billion to Central America and more than $23 billion to Mexico in 2011. While remittances to Mexico have been studied extensively, much less is known about the factors associated with remittances to Central America. This mixed methods study examined remittance sending and use patterns of Mexican and Central American labor migrants to the United States. Data on remittance behaviors were drawn from two major surveys, the Latin American Migration Project and Mexican Migration Project. Quantitative analyses were conducted using multiple regression to examine family-level predictors for the decision to engage in labor migration, whether remittances were sent, amount of remittances sent, and the purposes for remitting. Qualitative analysis involved focus group interviews of Mexican and Central American migrants in the United States who currently remit to their families back home. These interviews helped to discern the meaning of remittances for migrants and their families. The quantitative results suggest that top purposes for remitting include food and daily maintenance, education, health, and housing. Additionally, remittance sending patterns differed by region of origin. Mexican migrants were more likely to send remittances and to remit larger amounts. Additionally, individuals from Mexico had increased odds of sending funds for housing expenditures while Central Americans had greater odds of remitting for education and consumer goods. According to respondents who participated in the qualitative study, increasing costs of food, health, and education coupled with limited employment options contribute to a reliance on labor migration in both regions. For many, remittances have emerged as an essential source of income for economic wellbeing and even survival. A key implication for social work of this study on the larger population patterns on remittances is that at the family level, migrants carry a dual responsibility to settle into a new country while also maintaining the economic wellbeing of family left behind. / text

Over the past thirty years, China’s transition to a semi-open market economy has manifested as a process of rapid urban development. Low-income, migrant populations who arrive in the city in search of better work opportunities are being integrated into a class of new urban poor and must contend with limited housing options. Urban villages, which are recognized as rural, collectively owned land located within the urban boundary, are now becoming targeted for government supported urban renewal. Because the urban villages’ land lies outside the regulatory reach of the municipal government, these areas tend to develop in an informal manner and attract low-income migrant tenants. However, urban village tenants are being excluded from the renewal process. The aim of this research is to examine these widely debated concerns within the case of the ongoing Caiwuwei urban village renewal project in Shenzhen. Through this research, I reconsider the functionality of power relations within China’s rapid economic growth, particularly between the urban development decision makers and the marginalized migrant tenant groups. These groups of migrant workers who rent housing units in urban villages have a stake in the urban renewal process because they participate in the urban village social network supporting the need of cheaper supply from the surrounding area. By applying theories of public participation to the process of giving avenue to speak up what they need, which is empowering from the urban village tenant groups, I identify challenges and possibilities for the inclusion of public voices in future government processes in China. I suggest that the project finance model of a public-private partnership could be structured around this collaborative process of renewal, in order to develop a platform for ongoing public participation, particularly in the provision of social services and institutions within the urban village community. Such an arrangement for urban redevelopment will facilitate the balancing of influence among disparate income groups. / text

Chez les mammifères, le foie se développe à partir d’une région de l’endoderme ventral antérieur. Les hépatoblastes, qui constituent le bourgeon hépatique primordial, prolifèrent et traversent la lame basale qui les sépare du septum transverse, de manière à envahir ce dernier. Ils se différencient ensuite en hépatocytes et en cholangiocytes en interagissant avec des cellules mésenchymateuses et endothéliales. Les hépatocytes s'organisent progressivement en travées, achèvent leur différenciation et remplissent les fonctions métaboliques du foie, alors que les cholangiocytes délimitent les canaux biliaires. Le développement du foie est orchestré par un réseau de facteurs de transcription et de signaux intercellulaires. Les facteurs de transcription HNF-6 et OC-2, qui appartiennent à la famille Onecut, interviennent dans la différenciation des hépatoblastes en hépatocytes ou cholangiocytes, dans la maturation hépatocytaire et dans la morphogenèse biliaire. Toutefois, leurs fonctions au stade initial du développement du foie n’ont pas encore été élucidées. Au cours de cette thèse, nous avons caractérisé le rôle d’HNF-6 et OC-2 dans le développement précoce du foie par l'étude du phénotype de souris transgéniques déficientes pour ces deux facteurs. Nous avons découvert qu’HNF-6 et OC-2 sont requis transitoirement pour la migration des hépatoblastes hors du bourgeon primordial, et qu’ils participent à un réseau de gènes contrôlant l’adhérence et la migration des hépatoblastes. En effet, ils stimulent l’expression de l’ostéopontine et inhibent celle de la thombospondine-4 et l’E-cadhérine, trois protéines impliquées dans l’adhérence et la migration cellulaires. Nous avons complété notre travail en portant notre attention sur les mécanismes effecteurs de la migration des hépatoblastes. Nous avons plus particulièrement étudié le rôle des métalloprotéinases matricielles (MMP) et identifié celles qui sont exprimées dans le bourgeon hépatique et le mésenchyme du septum transverse au moment de l’initiation de la migration des hépatoblastes. Au moyen d'une nouvelle méthode de culture d'explants de foie embryonnaire, nous avons démontré que les MMPs sont essentielles à la migration des hépatoblastes. En conclusion, la présente thèse identifie une nouvelle fonction pour les facteurs de transcription HNF-6 et OC-2 et révèle le rôle des MMPs dans la migration des hépatoblastes. Elle complète notre compréhension des mécanismes régulateurs et effecteurs du développement du foie.

<p>It is estimated that 22 000 contaminated areas exist in Sweden today. In order to classify the risk of contaminant migration from these areas and to prioritize which of these contaminated areas should first be treated, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has designed a method, for the investigation of contaminated areas (MIFO). One of these contaminated areas is the landfill Gräsötippen outside Köping. The landfill has been used by both Yara AB and the Köping municipality between the years 1945 and 1975, and both industrial and household waste have been deposited there. The aim of this report is to survey which contaminants that can be found in the soil and water in the landfill Gräsötippen and to evaluate the migration of these contaminants. With help of this information, the landfill will then be risk classified according to MIFO. The goal is that this report will provide a basis for future studies and remedial measures at the landfill.</p><p>To get a picture of what has been deposited at the landfill Gräsötippen, employees and former employees at Yara and others with connection to the landfill have been interviewed. Piezometers have been installed in and around the landfill so as to provide information on groundwater levels and movement, and for the collection of groundwater samples. Soils samples were collected as well. The water and soil samples were analyzed with regard to metals, organic compounds and nutrients. Furthermore, groundwater flow has been modeled using VS2DI, in order to get a picture of the groundwater’s flow direction and velocity under the landfill.</p><p>In the water samples, only lead was detected with levels over the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) from the EPA. Relatively high levels of nutrients were also detected. In the soil, carcinogenic PAH, PCB, aliphatic hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons, arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury and zinc were detected over the EPA MCL. The landfill Gräsötippen has a good location in an area with deep clay, which prevents rapid spreading of contaminants. No high levels of contaminants are leaching out today. The spreading of the contaminants is minor; most of the contaminants are fixed in the soil and do not spread to the surroundings. The water flow’s primary direction from the landfill is south but there are also flows to the west and east. Today, there are a number of proposals with regard to decreasing the risk for future contaminant dispersal from the landfill and to keep control of the water that is used in the area. A few of these proposals are to finally cover the landfill, to analyze the grass and plants in the enclosed pasture on the landfill, and to continuously analyze the water in the installed piezometers and drinking water wells on and around the landfill. The landfill Gräsötippen is classified to risk class 3, moderate risk, according to MIFO.</p> / <p>Det uppskattas idag finnas 22 000 förorenade områden i Sverige. För att kunna riskklassa dessa förorenade områden och prioritera vilka som först bör efterbehandlas har Naturvårdsverket utarbetat en Metodik för Inventering av Förorenade Områden (MIFO). Gräsötippen utanför Köping är ett av dessa förorenade områden. Deponin har använts av både Yara AB och Köpings kommun mellan åren 1945-1975 och fungerat som deponi för både industri- och hushållsavfall. Syftet med denna rapport är att kartlägga vilka föroreningar som finns i mark och vatten i Gräsötippen och tolka föroreningarnas spridning. Utifrån den informationen ska deponin sedan riskklassas enligt MIFO. Målet är att rapporten ska kunna fungera som underlag för framtida åtgärdsplaner för Gräsötippen.</p><p>För att få en bild över vad som har deponerats på Gräsötippen har anställda och före detta anställda vid Yara samt andra som har haft anknytning till Gräsötippen intervjuats. Grundvattenrör har installerats i och runtom deponin för att det skulle kunna tolkas hur grundvattnet rör sig under deponin och för att det skulle kunna tas prover på grundvattnet och jorden. De vatten- och jordprover som togs, analyserades med avseende på metaller, organiska föreningar och närsalter. Dessutom har en modellering utförts i VS2DI för att få en bild över grundvattnets flödesriktning och hastighet under deponin.</p><p>I vattenproven detekterades endast bly över Naturvårdsverkets riktvärde samt relativt höga halter av närsalter. I jorden detekterades cancerogena PAHer, PCB, alifater, aromater, arsenik, bly, kadmium, kvicksilver och zink över Naturvårdsverkets riktvärden. Gräsötippen är bra placerad i ett område med tjock lera som förhindrar snabb spridning och idag lakas inga höga halter av föroreningar ut. Spridningen av föroreningar är liten, istället ligger de flesta föroreningarna fast i marken och sprids därmed inte till omgivningen. Vattenflödets huvudriktning från deponin är söderut, men det sker även flöden åt både väster och öster. Det finns i dagens läge en del förslag på åtgärder som bör utföras på Gräsötippen för att minska risken för framtida spridning och upprätthålla kontroll på det vatten som används i närområdet. Några av dessa åtgärder är att sluttäcka deponin, att analysera gräs och växter i hagen på deponin samt att kontinuerligt analysera vattnet i grundvattenrören och brunnarna på och runt Gräsötippen. Vid riskklassningen av Gräsötippen enligt MIFO, klassas den till riskklass 3, måttlig risk.</p>

MAYA is a prototype computerized population dynamics model designed to enhance decision making in wildlife management. Initially, the basis of scientific and philosophical design and implementation of enhanced computer modeling are discussed. This discussion forms the foundation for the development of the actual model. The model is a general population model, utilizing previously known data on seasonally migratory mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) as both an example and a test of the model's capabilities. By combining detailed sub-models at the single species level, the behavior of a larger system is mimicked. The mathematical parameters of this system are restricted to those which correspond to known biological processes. Feedback control is utilized to regulate the dynamic interplay of processes related to specific recognizable structures or physiological functions. The model maintains the identity of the individual organism as the mediator of all transactions within the system. The primary focus of these transactions is energy; specifically consumer energy budgets and their mechanisms of regulation. Equations are presented in finite difference form for digital computer implementation, utilizing a time step of unit length. The result is a Fortran program, MAYA, and a description and discussion of a number of simulation trials. This model was created with an eye not only for computer simulation, but also to raise issues, both philosophic and scientific, as to the reason for, and purpose of, computer management in our society. Thus, it is not until Chapter 4 that an actual discussion of MAYA is to be found. Logic dictates that one should understand the philosophic and theoretic approach of the person creating a model to best understand, question and, hopefully, improve upon the final product. These issues are discussed in Chapters 1 and 2. The greatest value of this model is to provide, based on the ensuing sets of assumptions in Chapter 3, the logical consequences that would otherwise take a great deal of tedious arithmetic--it is a tool to assist the imagination.

The hypothesis that emigration of individuals in excess of resource carrying capacity acts as a population regulatory mechanism was tested experimentally using the desert pupfish (Cyprinodon macularius). When emigration was prevented, four pupfish populations monitored from May 1982 to March 1984 were unable to regulate numbers to resources. Numbers increased to a mean peak size 1.4 times greater than four pools open to emigration, followed by high mortality, a decline in body condition, reduced recruitment, and stunting. The pattern of overpopulation was similar to that observed in fenced populations of rodents. In contrast, pupfish in open pools had lower numbers, higher recruitment, better condition and growth, and higher total production. Emigration patterns were similar in all four open pools. Population size, rate of increase, and temperature affected emigration rates. Nearly twice as many males than females emigrated. Emigrant pupfish usually had poorer condition factors than residents. Pupfish showed a rapid and uniform increase in emigration when resources were reduced. Nearly one-half (42.2 and 41.8%) of pupfish populations emigrated from two open pools wherein resources were suddenly reduced by 50%. Many fewer fish emigrated from undisturbed control pools (15.2 and 16.0%). The results suggest that residency-emigratory behavior of pupfish can reliably and precisely effect changes in numbers to be in consonance with resources. They support emigration as sufficient to regulate pupfish numbers to resources in open systems without the need for other factors or mechanisms.

The current research examines the relationship between the Israeli state and its migrant community in the United States. It argues that under conditions of accelerated globalization, the Israeli state has sought to reach out and re-territorialize its migrants' identities in order to strengthen their territory-based Israeli identity and, ultimately, return them to Israel. Focusing on the role played by cultural practices in the process of reterritorialization - which takes place in newly created extra-territorial spaces - it argues that a new type of transnational contract, namely diasporic citizenship has emerged that defines the relationship between the state and its citizens abroad. Cultural practices from above (state-produced) re-assert migrants' identities as national subjects and include them in the expanding incorporation regime of the Israeli state. At the same time, cultural practices from below (migrants'-produced) have been instrumental in their quest to (re)- imagine themselves as part of a trans-territorial Israeli nation. The research uses the Israel Independence Day Festival in Los Angeles to examine the extent to which it has become an extra-territorial space where state officials and migrants negotiate their often conflicting notions of Israeli culture, identity, and citizenship. It is this continuous process of negotiation, the research concludes that (re)-produces new types of affiliations between the state and its subjects overseas