What part does migration play in the construction and reconstruction of social identity? What kind of social relations are produced and reproduced through the migration process? What are the manifestations of power involved in the process of constructing and negotiating social identities through space? These are the central questions in this research. This research not only draws upon current literature on migrant women, but also expands it to address the complexity of construction of social identities and places through migration processes by incorporating critical social theories and feminist geography into the research. I examine embodied geographical experiences and the geography of emotions, by looking at current Taiwanese migrant women’s everyday practices in Toronto. This research provides concrete examples – from a substantial sample of individuals – to support feminist geographers’ arguments on women’s experiences in space. I employ Bourdieu’s concept of habitus to illustrate how personal and private space is constructed and reconstructed by a complex interplay between different discourses and practices, and how new spaces and practices are created for new identity claims. I also examine how the dynamics of habitus shifts through displacement. By looking at the generative aspect of habitus, this research extends the existing scope of the notion of habitus. Collecting more than 125 hours of in-depth interviews with Taiwanese migrant women in Toronto, I examine multidimensional re-configurations of the everyday practices of Taiwanese migrant women in Toronto. Research findings regarding the hidden geography of everyday language practice, the reconstruction of food culture and the exploration of culinary practice, the negotiation of home practice, and the creation of new spaces for new identity claims provide a complicated picture that grasps the contingency and fluidity of identity construction. In addition to concepts of ‘third space’ and ‘paradoxical space,’ my research shows that metaphoric expressions, what I call ‘glass wall’, ‘comfort zone’, ‘unlocked spaces’, ‘dialogical space’ and ‘provocative space’ are important to unveil dynamic pictures of geographical experiences along migration. Indeed, space plays an integral role in the making of social identity.

SUMMARY Clinical nursing RESEARCH ON NURSES‘ MIGRATION TO OTHER COUNTRIES Vilma Rastenienė Scientific advisor Prof. Habil. Dr. Žilvinas Padaiga. Kaunas Medical University, Nursing Faculty, Nursing and Social Care Department. – Kaunas, 2005. -58p. Research goal is to determine basic reasons of studying nurses‘ intention for leaving to other countries and to foresee main directions of health care reform reducing nurses‘ migration. Objectives: 1) to find out structural and quantitative changes of nurses in Lithuania during the period 1991 – 2003; 2) to carry out analysis of nursing specialists‘ education in pre-graduation studies at the period 1996 – 2003; 3) to identify migration causes of the studying nurses and their link with sociodemographic indicators and the acquired professional qualification; 4) to analyse attitude of the studying nurses to nursing practice changes, that could be motivating for nursing specialists not to leave the country. Research methods. Research object – reasons of the studying nurses‘ intention for leaving to other countries. Data base analysis of Lithuanian Health Information Centre (1996-2003) was carried out and transnational comparison with other countries data was performed, together with analysis of nursing specialists‘ education during pre-graduation studies (1996-2003) and studying nurses’ questionnaire survey with quantitative data analysis was accomplished. Nurses‘ questioning was carried out from March 31 till May 11, 2005... [to full text]

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Mast cells are granulocytes that require signaling from the receptor protein-tyrosine kinase Kit and its ligand stem cell factor (SCF) for their maturation and function. In addition to providing growth and survival signals, the Kit receptor is involved in crosstalk to β1 integrins leading to mast cell adhesion, spreading, and migration on fibronectin (FN). Previous studies reported the involvement of the non-receptor protein-tyrosine kinases Fps/Fes and Fer in signaling downstream of the high affinity IgE receptor in mast cells and identified cell migration defects in Fer-deficient bone marrow-derived mast cells (BMMCs). Fps/Fes also becomes phosphorylated downstream of the Kit receptor in BMMCs, and this involves the action of the Src family kinase Fyn as an upstream activator of Fps/Fes. In this study, the Fps/Fes SH2 domain was observed to bind the phosphorylated Kit receptor in vitro, suggesting that the SH2 domain plays a role in the activation mechanism of Fps/Fes. To investigate the function of Fps/Fes in Kit signaling, BMMCs were generated from wild-type and Fps/Fes-null mice. Analysis of downstream effectors revealed that Fps/Fes is required for maximal p38 MAPK signaling. Further examination of Fps/Fes-deficient BMMCs revealed increases in adhesion, spreading, and a defect in cell polarization on full-length FN (a ligand for multiple β1 integrins), compared to wild-type BMMCs. Similar phenotypes are observed using an α5β1 integrin-specific FN fragment (9-11) as the matrix. Reduced phosphorylation of the putative Fps/Fes substrate HS1 (a cortactin homologue involved in actin regulation) is observed in Fps/Fes-deficient BMMCs, compared to control cells, and this may contribute to the observed cytoskeletal defects. Restoring Fps/Fes expression in Fps/Fes-deficient BMMCs by retroviral transduction results in a rescue of cell spreading, polarization, and chemotaxis defects to levels similar to those of wild-type cells. This thesis provides novel insights into the potential mode of Fps/Fes activation downstream of the Kit receptor, and a role for Fps/Fes in regulating crosstalk between Kit and α5β1 integrins to promote cytoskeletal reorganization and motility of mast cells. / Thesis (Master, Biochemistry) -- Queen's University, 2009-01-28 15:05:04.056

Abstract not available. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005

In parallel computing, MPI is heavily used due to its support of popular cluster based parallel machines and the Single Program Multiple Data (SPMD) model. Normally cluster nodes are dedicated to a single parallel job/application but MPI could also be used with nodes that are concurrently shared by multiple users. In this case, nodes could become overloaded with work from other users. Even a few overloaded nodes can result in application slowdown. Thus, it is desirable to relocate affected processes in a running application to lightly loaded nodes by partial checkpointing and migrating of those processes. In some MPI applications, groups of processes communicate frequently with one another. Such groups must be near one another to ensure communication efficiency. Thus, if any member of a group is to be checkpointed and migrated, all should be. It must therefore be possible to identify such groups. I have built a prototype, using LAM/MPI, that supports partial checkpoint, migration and restart of MPI processes. To identify process groups for checkpoint and migration, I adapted TEIRESIAS (an algorithm for pattern discovery from bioinformatics) to identify frequent, recurring patterns of communication using data gathered by LAM/MPI. I then created predictors that use the discovered patterns to predict groups of communicating processes that should be checkpointed and migrated together. I have assessed the effectiveness of my technique using synthetic and real communication data (for a small set of representative applications) to show that my predictors can accurately predict process groups for those applications. Additionally, I have created a simple simulation system to allow me to explore scenarios related to network characteristics and overload conditions under which my system might provide useful speedup. Not all MPI applications will benefit from my approach (e.g. those with unpredictable communication patterns or large groups of frequently communicating processes). However, my experimental and simulation results suggest that my technique should be effective for a number of common application types, network characteristics and overload conditions. Using partial checkpoint and migration should therefore allow many long running applications to finish faster than if a subset of their processes was left running on overloaded nodes.

Directed immune cell migration plays important roles in immunosurveillance and immune responses. Understanding the mechanisms of immune cell migration is important for the biology of immune cells with high relevance to immune cell trafficking mediated physiological processes and diseases. Immune cell migration can be directed by various guiding cues such as chemical concentration gradients (a process termed chemotaxis) and direct current electric fields (dcEF)(a process termed electrotaxis). Microfluidic devices that consist of small channels with micrometer dimensions have been increasingly developed for cell migration studies. These devices can precisely configure and flexibly manipulate chemical concentration gradients and electric fields, and thus provide powerful quantitative test beds for studying the complex guiding mechanisms for cell migration. In the research of this thesis, a PDMS-based and a glass-based microfluidic devices were developed for producing controlled dcEF and these devices were used to analyze electrotaxis of activated human blood T cells. Using both devices, we have successfully demonstrated that activated human blood T cells migrate toward the cathode of the applied dcEF. Furthermore, a novel microfluidic device was developed to configure better controlled single or co-existing chemical gradients and dcEF to mimic the complex guiding environments in tissues and this device was used to investigate the competition of chemical gradients and dcEF in directing activated human blood T cell migration.

S100A4 is a member of the S100 family of proteins and increases the motility of many cell types. This is also thought to explain its association with the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a developmental program re-activated during tumourigenesis. Mechanistically, S100A4 interacts with a number of targets including Smad3 and liprin-β1; however, the best characterised is non-muscle myosin IIA (NMIIA) which regulates many aspects of the cytoskeleton. There is a large body of in vitro data indicating that S100A4 promotes the monomeric state of NMIIA; however, in vivo evidence for the interaction in cells is lacking. Accordingly, the first aim of this study was to determine if S100A4 interacts with, and promotes the monomeric state of NMIIA in A431 cells undergoing SIP1-induced EMT. Intriguingly, co-localisation analysis of S100A4 and NMIIA in A431-SIP1 cells using immunoelectron microscopy indicated that NMIIA is present in a folded, 10S state, and unfolded 6S state, and S100A4 interacts with both. This represents the first evidence of 10S and 6S states of NMIIA in non-muscle cells. In addition, FRAP analysis demonstrated that cells with attenuated expression of S100A4 turned over NMIIA with a slower rate, consistent with S100A4 promoting the monomeric state. The second part of the study explored the mechanism of the S100A4-NMMIA interaction. In vitro analysis of phosphomimetic S1916D and S1943D NMIIA showed no differences in binding affinity with S100A4 compared to WT NMIIA, contrary to the published literature. Based on the NMR structure of S100A4 and NMIIA, V77 and C81 were identified as key S100A4 residues that mediated the interaction with NMIIA. Mutation of these sites abolished the interaction with NMIIA, an effect reflected in null-phenotypes for both proteins when over-expressed in A431 cells compared to WT S100A4. In conclusion, this study suggests S100A4 is an important regulator of NMIIA dynamics in cells.

This study explores the experiences of female athletes from New Zealand and Australia who migrate temporarily to play cricket in England. It locates the migration network of female cricket within the modern global sport space and challenges the overall perception of what the typical global athlete is today. The game of cricket has long been regarded as the ‘gentleman’s’ game and originated in England as an aristocratic sport, a symbol of wealth and hierarchy among the British elite. It has diffused into many Commonwealth countries and has developed into a game that is played by both sexes. This study is situated within the anthropology of sport and includes aspects of culture, identity, and gender in the globalised world we live in today. It offers a unique perspective because the research is conducted by a migrant female cricketer in the field and combines ethnographic and auto-ethnographic material. Attention to the migration of female athletes has been minimal but research into this area of the sporting world raises a number of broader questions relating to sporting migration, personal/national identity, transnationalism, cosmopolitanism, diaspora, the gender divide in sport and globalisation. This study summarises some of the key literature relating to globalisation, sports migration, identity and gender, applying it anthropologically to the experiences of the migrant female cricketer. The main finding is the movement of female cricketers from country to country is not influenced by the commodification of modern sport; instead the athletes are motivated by social and personal factors, as opposed to the material (monetary) ones that now apparently dominates contemporary sport. Movement reflects a basic migratory network that has developed between New Zealand, Australia and England, influenced by seasonal migration, and the social, cultural and historical connections between the countries. The research offers a contrasting perspective on current sporting migration literature by sharing the experiences of female athletes who migrate for sport and locating the findings within larger analytical concepts.

This PhD adopts an oral history approach to explore the importance of the Ethiopian coffee Buna ceremony in the lives of the participant Ethiopian forced miwants living in exile in London, UK. A primary objective was to place the personal oral testimonies and narratives within a rigorous research and ethical framework allowing the voice of the individual and community to be central to the process and recording the stories, histories and experiences of this much under-represented group within the field of migration and refugee studies. A central aim was to deepen our understanding of the significance of cultural traditions and rituals in the construction of identity, and to obtain a unique insight into the Ethiopian passion for the ritual 'Buna' ceremony as indicated by the fact that it remains a significant practice in exile. One of the key objectives was to explore how issues of gender, age, identity and well-being are maintained, transformed and challenged in exile within the context of re-settlement and more specifically in relation to the impact of the Buna ceremony on this complex, dynamic and challenging process. Finally, this research aims to explore the mental well-being issues facing the Ethiopian community in the UK and will focus on the use of the cultural Buna ritual as a means of alleviating some of the difficulties and challenges experienced by the participants in their attempts to settle and adapt to life in the UK. This study prioritises the complex and often-neglected issues of well-being and mental health within the Ethiopian community in exile and will contribute to the limited research on the experience of Ethiopian forced migrants in the UK.