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The REarranged in Transfection (RET) tyrosine kinase is an important signalling protein for the development of neural crest-derived tissues such as the enteric and sympathetic nervous systems. RET is constitutively activated in multiple human tumour types, such as thyroid carcinomas and some non-small cell lung cancers. RET has 3 distinct isoforms, RET9, RET43 and RET51, which are named after the lengths of their unique C-terminal tails. Here, we investigate the role of RET in the TT thyroid carcinoma cell line, where it is a driver of tumourigenesis, and in the MiaPaCa-2 pancreatic carcinoma cell line, where RET is not driving tumour initiation, but may nonetheless have a profound effect on tumour progression. We generated lentiviral constructs for shRNAs that target either RET9 or RET51 specifically, or a common region shared by all RET isoforms. TT and MiaPaCa-2 cells were transduced using these lentiviral particles to create stable cell lines containing knockdowns of total RET, RET9, or RET51. Using a variety of morphological and biochemical assays, we found that RET expression is critical for TT cell survival, and that both RET9 and RET51 play significant roles in driving cell proliferation in TT cells. Conversely, RET is not critical for MiaPaCa-2 cell survival, and RET knockdown had no effect on MiaPaCa-2 proliferation. MiaPaCa-2 cells instead underwent dramatic morphological changes, from their normal spindle-like mesenchymal appearance to an increasingly flattened and epithelioid character, in response to RET9, RET51 or total-RET knockdown. The observed morphological changes were coupled with significantly reduced invasiveness through matrigel towards a source of chemoattractant, suggesting a critical role for RET in mediating cell invasiveness. These results suggest that RET may not only drive tumourigenesis, but can also enhance disease progression when expressed in other tumour types. We predict that RET may play critical roles in perineural invasion in pancreatic cancers, a process where cells invade along peripheral nerve fibers by following an increasing concentration of chemoattractants secreted by nerve and glial cells. Thus, RET may be a valuable target to slow, or stop this process, which would have significant clinical implications in a wide variety of cancers. / Thesis (Master, Pathology & Molecular Medicine) -- Queen's University, 2013-08-30 11:45:41.969

Duplications and changes made on code segments by developers form code clones. Cloned code segments are exactly the same or have a particular similarity. A set of cloned code segments that have the same similarity with each other become a clone group. A clone genealogy contains several clone groups in different revisions and time periods. Based on different textual similarities, there are three clone types, i.e., Type-1, Type-2, and Type-3. Clone mutation contains the changes of clone types in the clone evolutions. Clone migration is known as moving cloned code segment to another location in the software system. In this thesis, we build clone genealogies by clone groups in two empirical studies. We conduct two studies on clone migration and clone mutation in clone genealogies. We use three large open source software systems in both studies. In the first study, we investigate if the fault-proneness of clone genealogies is affected by different patterns of clone mutation and different evolution patterns of distances among clones in clone groups. We conclude that clone groups mutated between Type-1 and Type-2 and between Type-1 and Type-3 clones have higher risk for faults. We find that modifying the location of a clone increases its risk for faults. In the second study, we study if the fault-proneness of migrated clones is affected by clone mutation with different changes on clone types. We examine if the length of time interval between clone migration and the last change of the cloned code has an impact on the faultiness of migrated clones. Our results show that the clone migration associated with clone mutation is more fault-prone than the clone migration without clone mutation. We find that a longer time interval between clone migration and the last change makes the migrated clones more fault-prone. / Thesis (Master, Electrical & Computer Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2013-09-01 22:10:47.925

Background Cape Verde has produced migrants over the centuries. Its history and geography have compelled males and females to leave their homeland in search of resources to invest in their family s survival and development. Literature on parental investment has evidenced the association between investment in embodied capital during infancy and early childhood and its outcomes at later stages. However, these studies seldom address migrant population. Aim This study aims to gain a better understanding of the relationship in a migratory context between parental investment in infancy and its outcomes in prepuberty embodied capital, among Cape Verdean children living in Cova da Moura, a deprived neighbourhood in Lisbon Metropolitan Area, Portugal. Methods A mixed method s approach combining quantitative with qualitative studies - is used. The prepubertal capital of the 221 schoolchildren attending the basic school located in Cova da Moura is assessed through Anthropometry and educational records analysis. The parental investment in infancy of 75 is analysed through interviews with parents and combined documentation (e.g. health booklets, reports, legislation). Results The key findings are: 1)Children are born and raised between 1997 and 2002, a time characterized by a favourable socioeconomic development in Portugal in general and Cova da Moura in particular. 2)In spite of living in a so called deprived neighbourhood , the school children linear growth falls into the healthy range of the III NHANES growth reference, and it is slightly better than the linear growth of other groups of children measured in Portugal in late 1980s and early 2000. School-oriented cognitive development is not adequate, however. A third of the students have not a regular school performance. 3)Parental investment in infancy is significantly associated to prepubertal physical growth and school-oriented cognitive development. The size effect is, however, small.

This thesis brings a focus to food and its cultural geographies by examining the ways that diasporic communities forge networks of distribution and the role of homesickness in shaping tastes in consumer societies. It also adds food (as material and immaterial culture) to diasporic geographies by highlighting the importance of food practices for migrant identities and sense of belonging. Through an investigation of food practices among Brazilians in London this research also contributes to an understanding of how this recent, numerous but under researched South American group experience migration in an everyday basis in London. The investigation undertaken includes desk research on food provision systems, semi-structured interviews and documentary field research with Brazilian food providers across London, focus group discussions with Brazilian migrants, periods of observational research in case study shop and restaurant outlets, and ethnographic domestic research with case study Brazilian households in Harlesden, Brent (an area of London with marked Brazilian immigration over the last decade). My analysis considers ‘Brazilianess' as a category and cultural-culinary form being made and contested in London. An overview of the dynamics of Brazilian food provision in London shows that this making and contesting operates through both the material culture of food provision and the social lives of public spaces such as restaurants, cafes and grocery shops. Brazilian food consumption thus operates in a number of different registers linked to practicality, emotion and ethnic identification. A closer look at public Brazilian food consumption spaces reveals how such places create collective migrant spaces of belonging by translocalizing Brazilian life. In the domestic settings, food narratives and observation reveal the materialities and practices of migrant home making in mixed households and the processes through which consumption practices are negotiated and contested by different household members.