Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Florida, 2009. / Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 212 pages. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

The Census provides spatially detailed information on internal migration within the UK. It is only available decenially, however, so during inter-censal years it is necessary to rely on the NHSCR as an alternative measure of population movement. The value of the NHSCR in the analysis of migration and its suitability as an input to the procedure for projecting sub-national populations remains uncertain. This thesis examines the relationship between NHSCR and Census-derived migration data for a common period (1980/81) and illustrates the conceptual and measurement differences and similarities between the two. Although a strong correlation between the respective patterns of migration is evidenced, significant spatial and age-sex discrepancies in the measured levels of population movement are observed. The presence of Armed Forces and student moves and the phenomenon of multiple/return migration, particularly amongst young adults, are cited as major reasons for the differences. Given an understanding of the characteristics of each type of data, the thesis undertakes to illustrate spatio-temporal patterns and trends in migration since 1970 using both transition and movement information. A reduction in the level of migration throughout the seventies and early eighties has been followed by an increase in the general propensity to migrate, with increasing decentralisation processes moving people away from the most densely populated areas, but with an increasing attractiveness of the South East, particularly Greater London, to young, mobile adults and a net loss of migrants from North to South. The illustration of contemporary trends in migration using time-series data highlights the potential shortcomings of a sub-national population projection model based primarily on 1981 Census information. The thesis critically examines a number of features of the migration component of the OPCS/DOE projection procedure using NHSCR migration data, and suggests possible improvements to the methodology.

The purpose of this dissertation was to develop the C⁺⁺ program Emergency Dose to calculate transport of radionuclides through indoor spaces using intermediate fidelity physics that provides improved spatial heterogeneity over well-mixed models such as MELCOR[trademark] and much lower computation times than CFD codes such as FLUENT[trademark]. Modified potential flow theory, which is an original formulation of potential flow theory with additions of turbulent jet and natural convection approximations, calculates spatially heterogeneous velocity fields that well-mixed models cannot predict. Other original contributions of MPFT are: 1) generation of high fidelity boundary conditions relative to well-mixed-CFD coupling methods (conflation), 2) broadening of potential flow applications to arbitrary indoor spaces previously restricted to specific applications such as exhaust hood studies, and 3) great reduction of computation time relative to CFD codes without total loss of heterogeneity. Additionally, the Lagrangian transport module, which is discussed in Sections 1.3 and 2.4, showcases an ensemble-based formulation thought to be original to interior studies. Velocity and concentration transport benchmarks against analogous formulations in COMSOL[trademark] produced favorable results with discrepancies resulting from the tetrahedral meshing used in COMSOL[trademark] outperforming the Cartesian method used by Emergency Dose. A performance comparison of the concentration transport modules against MELCOR[trademark] showed that Emergency Dose held advantages over the well-mixed model especially in scenarios with many interior partitions and varied source positions. A performance comparison of velocity module against FLUENT[trademark] showed that viscous drag provided the largest error between Emergency Dose and CFD velocity calculations, but that Emergency Dose’s turbulent jets well approximated the corresponding CFD jets. Overall, Emergency Dose was found to provide a viable intermediate solution method for concentration transport with relatively low computation times. / text

A main trend of demographic change – urbanisation – has a quiet companion called counter-urbanisation which is designated to the migration of groups and individuals from urban to rural areas. Counter-urbanisation is valuable for the rural culture in decline as well as for contributing to solving the arising challenges of urban areas. However, the rural area of Sweden is large and finding a place to settle might be hard. Both migrants and authorities promoting this migration may have an interest in the mapping of preferable habitats in rural areas from a counter-urbanisation perspective. Therefore, this report investigates the possibilities of procuring a method for said rural mapping. Contemporary Swedish research is consulted for specific counter-urban migrants’ choices of where to migrate. The preferred places found in the study are analysed with the geographic information system software ArcGIS. Results show a method for mapping rural areas preferred by a hypothetical statistically compiled individual can be procured. / I skuggan av urbaniseringen pågår den trend vilken benämnts kontraurbanisering som betecknar migrationen av grupper och individer från tätort till glesbygd. Kontraurbaniseringen är välbehövlig för att bibehålla levande landsbygd och mildra tätortsproblematik. Men glesbygden är stor till ytan och potentiella platser att migrera till kan vara svåra att hitta, om de alls existerar. Både migrerande individer och grupper och samhällsansvariga organisationer kan därför ha nytta av en kartlagd glesbygd i kontraurbaniseringens perspektiv. Den här rapporten frågar sig därför om det går att utforma en metod för sådan kartläggning. Detaljerna ur kontraurbaniseringens perspektiv eftersöks i samtida svensk forskning på kontraurbanisering. De för kontraurbana migranter föredragna platser funna i undersökningen bearbetas genom rasteranalys i GIS-programmet ArcGIS. Resultaten visar att en metod kan utvecklas för kartläggning av föredragna platser av en statistiskt sannolik hypotetisk kontraurban migrant.

At the end of the US Civil War, thousands of former Confederates refused to live in a Reconstructed South, packed up their belongings, and left the country. The vast majority of these Southerners went to Mexico, Brazil and British Honduras. This thesis focuses on a settlement of Confederate families in Tuxpan, Veracruz, Mexico. By studying one settlement in depth, I demonstrate that the migrants were not all economic refugees or war refugees who uniformly returned to the United States. Instead, it shows the complex ideologies that prompted the creation of the settlement and promoted its development. The efforts of the settlers hinged heavily on race, making the settlement an important place to examine the way that race is created and utilized internationally. Accustomed to framing themselves as white in opposition to US blacks, the Southerners in Mexico had to reconstruct their whiteness in opposition their non-white Mexican neighbors. At the same time, they shaped an exoticized form of whiteness for their “Spanish” Mexican neighbors in order to prove to their friends and family in the United States that Mexico was a sufficiently civilized place. / text

No description available.

This dissertation consists of three papers that explore the geographic context of elections. Through case studies of migration and same-sex marriage, this research demonstrates how elections are the products of stratified social, economic, and political environments that area highly variable across space. This dissertation also details the implications for local, state, and national elections.The first two papers of this dissertation explore how compositional effects of migration fundamentally alter political landscapes. In addressing this research question, Appendix A tackles the primary obstacle of compositional migration research--collecting migration data containing individual party identification. This paper makes a significant contribution by serving as the first study to pioneer a methodological approach that predicts individual partisanship of migrants according to socioeconomic characteristics with logistic regression state models. The results underscore the importance of migrant origins and destinations in considering the political effectiveness of migration flows.Relying on the methodological framework in Appendix A, Appendix B calls attention to the oversimplified, undertheorized, and highly problematic definitions of migration responsible for the cursory understanding of migration's compositional effects. Specifically, the paper suggests what recent U.S. migration trends portend for compositional changes in Democratic and Republican partisanship at the state level through a concept of `political effectiveness'. This research makes several important contributions to the existing literature, including clearly illustrating the complexity of migration through the different ways it produces partisan gains.Approaching electoral analysis through a contextual perspective, Appendix C examines the interrelationship of political strategies used by gay rights advocates in campaigns against constitutional bans of same-sex marriage. Through a comparative analysis of Arizona Propositions 107 and 102, this research examines the interrelationship and basis of political strategies between voters' rejection of Proposition 107 (2006) and passage of Proposition 102 (2008). Additionally, considering that vote choice is largely influenced by discursive political cues, including messaging, it is imperative to examine the basis of political strategies and assess how local context influences political strategies and voting constituencies. Findings from this research also provide important considerations for both gay rights and political strategy literatures.

This dissertation is about the movement of people and the system of order underpinning the movement. In undertaking a comparative study of Canada and France between 1989 and 2005, the study explores a widespread phenomenon that security studies and migration scholars would have considered an anomaly only two decades ago: understanding the movement of people as an existential security threat. How is it that nation-states around the globe are cracking down on migration for security reasons? How do we know if migration has been securitized - and which criteria should we employed to guide our analysis? What are the social mechanisms at play in the interaction between movement and order? Does a variation in levels of securitized migration exist - and if so, what are the key determinants of the variation? These questions are at the heart of the present study. My argument is twofold. First, I contend that a constructivist perspective is useful in gaining a better understanding of the social mechanisms involved in the securitization of migration as it highlights discursive power, ideational factors, and cultural/contextual elements. Second, I argue that securitization theory - the current benchmark in securitization research - remains silent on the issue of variation in levels of securitized migration. As such, securitization theory, as currently applied and organized, cannot explain empirical findings of my study - a weak securitization in Canada versus a strong securitization in France. Underscoring the necessity to amend securitization theory, I investigate the impact of cultural factors - and especially the role of domestic audience - to account for the variation.

During C. elegans embryogenesis, myoblasts initially form two rows along the left and right lateral midlines and at ~290 min of development migrate dorsally and ventrally to form the four muscle quadrants present upon hatching (Sulston et al, 1983). As the myoblasts migrate they are still dividing, as are many other cells in their immediate environment. This means the cell-cell contact of cells during migration is dynamic and can vary from animal to animal (Schnabel et al, 1997). This situation creates an environment where the extracellular matrix (ECM) and cell surface contacts are in constant flux, which begs the questions as to how these cells navigate unerringly to their final destination. In an attempt to identify genes mediating these migrations, I performed an RNAi based screen targeting 776 genes predicted to be members of the extracellular matrix (ECM), or one of its receptors. Using both feeding and injection based RNAi, I was able to identify three genes of interest. Knockdowns of F56B3.2 resulted in paralyzed animals with detached muscle, making it a good candidate for a new component of the muscle attachment complex. F33G12.4 knockdowns resulted in an embryonic arrest phenotype with an abnormal muscle lineage, possibly stemming from polarity defects. The only knockdown that resulted in muscle migration defects was that for lam-2, which encodes for the laminin gamma subunit. Analysis of the lam-2 knockdown, as well as knockdowns for the other laminin subunits, revealed dorsal/ventral migration defects as well as a posterior displacement of the anterior-most ventral muscle cells. Investigation of this posterior displacement has led to the identification of a previously un-described anterior muscle migration event and its dependency upon the extension of muscle processes from the leading cells.

This thesis explores the experiences of transnational agricultural migrant workers in Canada’s guestworker programs. Examined through a gendered lens, it focuses on migrant’s experiences as parents to children whom they must leave behind in their communities of origin when they migrate. Drawing on interview and ethnographic data, this thesis argues that transnational parents, especially mothers, face a unique set of challenges and barriers as participants in these programs. It explores how the injustices that migrants suffer impact parents’ ability to focus on their primary motivation to migrate— their children— thereby limiting their ability to fulfill their roles as parents and hindering their parent-child relationships.