Migration and the concomitant crossing of borders is a growing world wide theme in literature. This phenomenon can be attributed to growing mobility and globalisation which allow people to move freely across national borders. Mobility is a key concept for the 21st century and can be used as an umbrella term for the crossing of borders and migration, also connecting with concepts such as displacement, diaspora, nomad, travel, exile and (post)colonialism. Migration as demographic phenomenon does not only include the borders of countries but also social, cultural, psychological and language borders. Memory as border can be added to this since it acts as a link between time and space. The crossing of (national) borders also holds certain consequences, amongst others the problem of origin and identity, outsidership and/or marginalization as well as the experience of loss. Two novels which can be classified as migrant literature – Idil, een meisje (Yasmine Allas) and De reis van de lege flessen (Kader Abdolah), and one novel which explores the problem of migration thematically – Anderkant die stilte (André P. Brink) – are analysed in this dissertation. Idil, een meisje (Yasmine Allas) portrays a female perspective by a female migrant writer, while De reis van de lege flessen (Kader Abdolah) offers a male perspective by a male migrant writer. Anderkant die stilte (André P. Brink) adds an additional dimension to gender analysis since a female perspective is portrayed by a male writer. These three novels, one from Afrikaans and two from Dutch literature, will be analysed to determine the manifestation of migration and displacement and the outcome(s) thereof with emphasis on gendered experience in these literature texts. / Thesis (MA (Afrikaans en Nederlands))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

As aging occurs, safely maintaining an active lifestyle is critical for health and independence. Independent mobility is influenced by one???s ability to perform three essential tasks of daily living: transitioning from a seated to standing posture, maintaining upright stance and walking. In spite of the apparent similarities in the predictive utility of these different tasks, there are few studies that have explored the specific relationship between these tasks that define independent mobility within individuals to determine if they reflect unique challenges to control. The thesis focused on two studies to advance understanding of the determinants of independent mobility in older adults. Study 1 explored the association between measures of standing, transitions and walking in 28 older adults. An important element was the assessment using portable low-cost measurement technology (Wii force boards and wearable accelerometers) so that testing could be done in the community. The results of this study revealed the potential importance of sit-to-stand performance as an independent measure of function in older adults. One important outcome was the need for a more detailed measurement of the sit-to-stand task, which is characterized by different phases that have unique control challenges. As a result, Study 2 was designed to evaluate different measurements of the sit-to-stand phases in order to provide a measurement tool that could be used in community and clinical testing. Ground reaction forces were found capable of identifying the different sit-to-stand phases and therefore afford the ability to quantify this behavior using portable technology. Identifying the underlying control mechanisms and relationships between these mechanisms allows clinicians to prescribe targeted and potentially more effective interventions focused on behavior specific control challenges.

Underground coal fires commonly metamorphose or melt surrounding rocks at temperatures exceeding 1000°C. Numerous “baked” sandstone clinker deposits occur in the Cretaceous sedimentary rocks exposed in the San Rafael Swell, UT. This study examines clinker in three main localities: 1) East Carbon, UT, 2) Helper, UT, and 3) Emery, UT. The extent of pyrometamorphism in these areas is variably developed, but reached high enough temperature in Helper, UT to initiate melting and the production of paralavas. These paralavas were examined compositionally and mineralogically to determine melting conditions, peak temperatures, and mobility of different metals as a result of pyrometamorphism. X-ray diffraction and petrographic analysis showed that paralavas in the Helper locality contain the high temperature SiO2 polymorphs tridymite and cristobalite which alone indicate temperatures exceeding 875°C in several samples. Paralavas containing diopside+tridymite and cordierite+mullite+cristobalite provide more restrictive estimates of temperature as they form cotectic and eutectic assemblages in the SiO2-Mgo-CaO and SiO2-MgO-Al2O3, respectively. The assemblages indicate minimum temperatures of melting and metamorphism of 1330–1465ºC. The high temperatures of the paralavas generate increased metal mobility, potentially signifying a hazard if leached out into the environment

Foreign graduates have been part of the success stories of many developed countries. This is as a result of their immeasurable deposit of ideas, knowledge, and innovation in the host country. Though the process of these foreign graduates penetrating and integrating into the labour market of the host country could be slow and rough as they encounter some obstacles on the way; they still strive to break through and be part of the country’s workforce because they foresee some opportunities therein. This research study is about the obstacles and opportunities foreign graduates meet in Dalarna labour market. The study investigated and identified the obstacles and opportunities foreign graduates meet in Dalarna labour market. For a thorough execution of this research, we collected primary data by handing questionnaires to 65 foreign graduates searching for jobs in Dalarna region and interviewed eight people, among which seven were foreign graduates and one of them was a staff at Arbestförmedlingen (Employment Agency) to give us a general view of the Dalarna labour market. We read previous research works and related articles to understand the topic in order to get an overview of the terminologies and concept to apply. This study concluded that language is a major obstacle foreign graduates meet in the Dalarna labour market. Other possible obstacles include culture, poor integration policies, lack of a placement bureau, lack of trust, limited opportunities, favoritism, lack of jobs, lack of references and experience. On the other hand factors like job availability, outgoing labour force and unskilled labour are possible opportunities foreign graduates meet in the Dalarna labour market. Furthermore flexible work time, good working atmosphere, experience, social security/welfare, good standard of living, family friendly region, higher wages, job security and cheap cost of living are also possible benefits that foreign graduates get in Dalarna.

Two-tier macrocell-femtocell network is considered an efficient solution to enhance area spectral-efficiency, improve cell coverage and provide better quality-of-service (QoS) to mobile users. However, interference and mobility management are considered to be the major issues for successful deployment of macrocell-femtocell network. In this thesis, a unified framework is developed for interference management, resource allocation, and call admission control (CAC) for two-tier macrocell-femtocell network. Fractional frequency reuse (FFR) is considered to provide both link-level and call-level QoS measures for mobile users. In this framework, joint resource allocation and interference coordination problem is formulated as an optimization problem to obtain design parameters for sectored FFR. The CAC problem is formulated as Semi-Markov Decision Process and Value Iteration Algorithm is used to obtain optimal admission control policy. Performance of this framework is evaluated through simulations. The performance evaluation results show that the proposed framework outperforms traditional non-optimized FFR scheme in two-tier network.

Sensor networks consist of small sensing devices that collaboratively fulfill a sensing task, such as monitoring the soil in an agricultural field or measuring vital signs in a marathon runner. To avoid cumbersome and expensive cabling, nodes in a sensor network are powered by batteries and communicate wirelessly. As a consequence of the latter, a sensor network's communication is affected by its radio environment, i.e., the environment's propagation characteristics and the presence of other radio devices. This thesis addresses three issues related to the impact of the radio environment on sensor networks. Firstly, in order to draw conclusions from experimental results, it is necessary to assess how the environment and the experiment infrastructure affect the results. We design a sensor network testbed, dubbed Sensei-UU, to be easily relocatable. By performing an experiment in different environments, a researcher can asses the environments’ impact on results. We further augment Sensei-UU with support for mobile nodes. The implemented mobility approach adds only little variance to results, and therefore enables repeatable experiments with mobility. The repeatability of experiments increases the confidence in conclusions drawn from them. Secondly, sensor networks may experience poor communication performance due to cross-technology radio interference, especially in office and residential environments. We consider the problem of detecting and classifying the type of interference a sensor network is exposed to. We find that different sources of interference each leave a characteristic "fingerprint" on individual, corrupt 802.15.4 packets. We design and implement the SoNIC system that enables sensor nodes to classify interference using these fingerprints. SoNIC supports accurate classification in both a controlled and an uncontrolled environment. Finally, we consider transmission errors in an outdoor sensor network. In such an environment, errors occur despite the absence of interference if the signal-to-noise ratio at a receiver is too low. We study the characteristics of corrupt packets collected from an outdoor sensor network deployment. We find that content transformation in corrupt packets follows a specific pattern, and that most corrupt packets contain only few errors. We propose that the pattern may be useful for applications that can operate on inexact data, because it reduces the uncertainty associated with a corrupt packet. / WISENET

Neoliberal reforms alter cities all the way down to their very urban form. This research expands our knowledge of residential mobility brought on by neoliberalizing forces by examining two particular approaches to housing reform that resulted in intense periods of residential mobility- the closure and demolition of public housing projects and relaxed regulations on mortgage lending practices which contributed to bursting the housing bubble and a steep rise in foreclosures. These events brought significant change to Atlanta's neighborhoods, leaving some with high rates of vacancy. Through GIS and qualitative research involving the analysis of semi-structured interviews with forty residents of four affected neighborhoods on the southwest side of Atlanta- Pittsburgh/Mechanicsville, English Avenue, Beecher Hills, and Greenbriar, this research will tell the story of how residents of these neighborhoods experienced being left behind by both outward residential mobility and the government agencies that no longer have the resources available to support neighborhood stability.

Several statistical studies show that women in developed countries, taken to be facing equal opportunities, are more environmentally benevolent in transport choice than men, as well as shape more environmentally benign (i.e. smaller) mobilities. Some researchers contend that a greater inclusion of women is needed in matters furthering sustainable development within the transport sector, because they believe women to be intrinsically more environmentally conscious. However, few qualitative studies explore the actual reasons behind women's more environmentally sustainable behavior in the transport sector. This qualitative study, conducted in Uppsala, aims to uncover the situation in present-day Sweden, a country renowned for its high level of sustainability and gender equality initiatives. Fourteen in-depth interviews were carried out (allowing for greater insight into the factors informing individuals' transport choices and mobility patterns) with a sample of individuals pertaining to two demographically different neighborhoods (providing an observation of the influence that other demographic and socio-economic factors might have). While the results show certain gendered undertones in the organization of the interviewed individuals' lifestyles, the reasons behind making certain transport choices and shaping one's mobility are reported by the study's subjects to be the same for both men and women. The primary factors guiding the interviewees' choices are predominantly linked to convenience, saving money, and saving time. Although the interviewees speak of facing equal opportunities, however, these appear to be to an extent still influenced by gender, mainly in the meaning ascribed to automobility and an unequal division of labor.

In recent years, spatial data derived from cell phones has become increasingly recognized as a valuable data source for urban analysis. Using a sizeable dataset depicting the physical movements of several million Swedish and Danish cell phones during 24 hours, an analysis of aggregated individual mobility levels and mobility patterns is conducted. The analysis covers two measurements of mobility, total diurnal mobility and commuting mobility. Findings indicate that phone data may provide seminal insights on otherwise scarcely accessible information on how space is experienced and interacted with depending on the individual's residential location. The data is analysed using a broad set of spatial analysis techniques incorporating both statistical and visual representations of spatial mobility and spatial relationships.

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