Atherosclerosis is one of the main diseases responsible for the high global mortality rate involving heart and blood vessel disorders. The build-up of fatty materials in the inner wall of the human artery prevents sufficient oxygen and nutrients reaching the organs of the body. Atherosclerosis is a chronic, long term condition, which develops and progresses over time; however, the disease does not present any symptoms until an advanced stage is reached, which results in potential permanent debility and sometimes sudden death. This thesis is concerned with the progression of atherosclerosis in an artery with mild stenosis that has resulted in a 30% reduction in its diameter. To this end, data on the low wall shear stress has been correlated with the atherosclerotic prone region. In a stenosed artery, this region corresponds to the separation zone that is formed distal to the lumen reduction. Atherosclerosis is a complex phenomenon, and not only involves wall shear stress, but also cellular interactions. Previous research has shown that even in the absence of wall biological effects, the blood cell distribution is strongly influenced by the hydrodynamics of the fluid. The mechanisms of blood cell distribution and the dynamic behaviour of the blood flow were investigated by developing a physical model of the stenosed artery, and by using particles to represent the presence of the blood cells. Particle Image Velocimetry system was employed and the size of particles were the 10μm and 20μm. The flow field was characterised and the particle distribution was measured. The characteristics of steady flow in the stenosed artery at Reynolds numbers of 250 and 320 revealed the importance of fluid inertia and the shear gradient distal to stenosis. Unequal distribution of the particles modelling the blood cells was observed, as more particles occupied the recirculation zones than the high shear region and central jet. The particle migration was found to depend on the particle size, particle concentration and fluid flow rates. The results suggested that the presence of similar effects in the real human arterial system may be significant to the progression of atherosclerotic plaques. At lower Reynolds number of 130, a particle depleted layer was observed at the wall region. In physiological flow the cell free layer will prevent the transport of oxygen and nitrogen oxide (NO) to the muscle tissues. A numerical method was used to simulate the flow characteristics measured in the experiment. The numerical results revealed the importance of the hydrodynamic mechanism of particle migration. Drag and lift forces were found to affect the residence time of particles in the recirculation region. The findings of this work have suggested that for a complex geometry like a large stenosed artery at physiological flow rates, hydrodynamic forces are important in cell migration in the flow separation zone. Even without biological forces, the cells migrate to the low wall shear stress region. For computational dynamics studies, this study has demonstrated the need for higher-order modelling at the cellular level in order to establish the particle migration mechanisms.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / Laszlo Kulcsar / Nepali women are often barred from going abroad through discriminatory state policies, and the women engaging in foreign employment are generally perceived as "loose" women in Nepalese society. The female migrant workers are also represented as lacking "agency" and "victims" of sex trafficking in the Nepalese media. Despite the unfavorable socio-political contexts, a substantial number of Nepali women have engaged in transnational labor migration in the last two decades, often "illegally" by using the open Nepal-India border to reach the destination countries. The study investigates the impact of women's migration on the dominant discourse relating to female workers' sexuality and agency by analyzing the experiences of female workers from Chitwan, Nepal, who have returned after working as housemaids in the Persian Gulf. The study finds that the dominant discourse is both contested and reproduced during the emigration process and after the return of female workers. However, the dominant discourse is overall restructured in the emigrant communities due to women's participation in foreign employment and return with diverse experiences. As women's varied migration experiences are hardly reported in the national media, the discursive change in the local communities does not necessarily bring a (similar) change in the national discourse. While violence prevailed against female workers in the Gulf, most acts of violence were indirect and non-physical. The extreme forms of violence, such as physical and sexual abuses, which are usually reported in the media, were somewhat uncommon. The major complaints of the respondents were low wages, withholding and non-payment of wages, withholding of passport, extremely long hours of work, constant criticism, lack of adequate rest, and the feeling of confinement. The violence against the housemaids was largely facilitated by the sponsorship-based labor recruitment system in the Gulf that bound the migrant workers with their employers. At the micro level, the living arrangement (having to live with the employers) was also a contributing factor to violence against the female workers. The female workers who were employed in a household with multiple housemaids were less likely to experience violence than those who were the only maid in the employer's house.

Ce travail de recherche porte sur les jeunes étrangers arrivant en France sans responsable légal : les dits mineurs non-accompagnés. Il propose une investigation de leurs conditions d’accueil, comme de non-accueil, suivant une approche psychosociologique clinique. Si la Convention Internationale des Droits de l’Enfant établit la responsabilité des autorités publiques face à la vulnérabilité de leur situation, force est de constater aujourd’hui les avatars de la prise en charge de ce public. Cette recherche se concentre dans un premier temps sur l’accompagnement de ces jeunes par l'Aide Sociale à l’Enfance (ASE) ainsi que sur les tensions produites par la rencontre de deux discours opposés au sein des organisations d'accueil : celui de la protection de l'enfance et celui de régulation migratoire. De par le contexte migratoire actuel, nous sommes amenés à accorder une attention toute aussi soutenue à l’expérience des jeunes non-accueillis par l'ASE, relégués hors des murs de l’institution. Cette thèse analyse les modalités d’investissement autour de la figure du jeune migrant et s’intéresse aux effets du « désaccueil » et à l’épreuve du « rien ». Cette jeunesse, qui traverse des frontières en quête d’un lieu dans lequel elle puisse exister en tant que sujet social, se voit confrontée à des obstacles incessants qui l’empêchent d’envisager une existence pleine. Comment ces sujets vivent-ils cet environnement marqué par l’incertitude et la négation ? Quels supports mobilisent-ils pour trouver une manière d’investir leurs projets et construire leur avenir ? Nous approfondissons ces questions dans ce travail / This research focuses on young foreigners arriving in France without their legal guardians: the so-called unaccompanied minors. It proposes an investigation of their “welcoming” and “un-welcoming” conditions following a clinical psychosociological approach. If the International Convention on the Rights of the Child establishes the responsibility of public authorities regarding the vulnerability of their situation, it is for us today to observe the specificities of educational-protective work and the mishaps of the care provided to them.At first, this research focuses on the social care of these young people provided by the Aide Sociale à l’Enfance (ASE), a French institution of child protection, as well as the tensions produced by the encounter of two opposing institutional discourses within the care/host organizations: the child protection discourse and the regulation of migration discourse. Secondly, as a result of the current migratory situation, this research focuses, on the experience of young people who are not hosted by the ASE, those who are relegated outside the institution's walls. Therefore, this thesis analyzes the types of investments around this youth and focuses on the effects of a policy of “un-welcoming” referring subjects constantly to the condition of “not being". This youth who crosses borders in the search of a place to “be” an active social and political subject, found themselves confronted with the dimension of “not possible”, relegated to the margins of institutions. How do they live this environment marked by uncertainty and negation? How are they able to find the support necessary for each human being to build their professional and life projects? These are the main questions we investigate in this thesis.

acase@tulane.edu / Tyrannus is a highly diverse genus with respect to migration strategies within the largest adaptive radiation of birds in the world (Tyrannidae). Within the genus, there are Nearctic- Neotropical migrant, Neotropical austral migrant, intratropical migrant, and resident species and subspecies. The overall goal of this dissertation was to use a variety of methods to explain the diversity of migration patterns found in the New World (focusing on the Tyrannus genus) to gain a better understanding of the ecology and evolution of migration in birds. In my first chapter I developed a phylogeny to account for phylogenetic relatedness in analyses demonstrating that natural selection has acted on two morphologies relevant to the strategy-specific niches of migratory versus resident Tyrannus (wing pointedness), which may be part of a suite of co-adaptations that are adaptive for migratory populations. Then I showed that New World migratory passerines are tracking with different aspects of seasonality in the Northern versus the Southern Hemisphere, better equipping further research exploring differential impacts of climate change on different types of migrants. In my final chapter I developed a novel gas-chromatography mass-spectrometry (GC/MS) protocol to discover evidence that austral migrant Fork-tailed flycatchers had higher concentrations of oleic and linoleic acid in their diets compared to residents, demonstrating that a diet switch from insects to fruit is important to fuel spring migration, via the accumulation of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). This study has improved our understanding of the ecology and evolution of migration in birds by extending hypotheses developed for Nearctic migrants into a genus with both Nearctic and austral migrants. Taken together, my findings demonstrate important new information for proximate versus ultimate mechanisms driving the evolution of migration in birds, as well as elucidating important ecological patterns of Nearctic-Neotropical versus Neotropical austral migration that may be important for developing species distribution models and conservation plans under climate change scenarios where both future temperature and rainfall regimes are expected to change. / 1 / Maggie MacPherson

The thesis takes up the question of the representation of the migrant on the Australian screen in terms of a specific set of concerns around the notions of stereotype and self-reflexivity. The stereotype is read as a self-referential image: hence, as a question of film spectatorship and identity; in short as an unconscious reflex or self image. The text of the thesis is in two parts: part one, comprises the production of the film ‘Italians at home’. It is the major component of research and text which, for this purpose, has been copied and submitted hereto on VHS video cassette. Part two, includes an analysis and discussion of the television documentary ‘The migrant experience’, and an exegesis, of the production, narrative and reception of the film ‘Italians at home’. The migrant experience is read and discussed as an exemplary text of dominant, stereotyped discourse of cultural difference; while ‘Italians at home’ is proposed as a parallel text and a self-reflexive reading and criticism of such a text. Both the television documentary and the film, deal with the representation and problematic of homogenised representations of ethnicity. In the case of ‘The migrant experience’, it is argued, that the figure of the migrant as other and self-image, functions as an object of Australian culture and discourse of national identity within a logic of representation of binary structures; while the film ‘Italians at home’, the question of self-referentiality is seen in terms of the viewing subject and a problematic of film representation; thus, the film attempts to make such signifying structures, visual codes and agreed assumptions of otherness visible, while, at the same time, attempting to displace them or pose them as a problem of representation or reading for the viewer.

Thesis (M.S.S.W.)--University of Texas at Arlington, 2009.

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Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1975. / Bibliography: leaves 363-368. / xiv, 368 leaves ill., maps

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Australian National University, 2004. / CD-ROM contains thesis in PDF format.