Reading non-alphabetic script can be a serious challenge to second language (L2) learners with alphabetic backgrounds. Many L2 learners of Japanese or Chinese who are fluent in speaking the language do not necessarily acquire an advanced-level reading ability. The aim of my thesis was to investigate the development of L2 word recognition ability, one of the most important abilities that learners need to develop for efficient reading, among English-speaking learners of Japanese. By analysing the results of behavioural tests and a verbal protocol administered to both L1 and L2 readers of Japanese, the study described the changes in developing L2 learners’ kanji recognition skills and their awareness of the structure and function of characters at the different stages of L2 exposure. / The overall findings suggest that the changes in processing patterns demonstrated by the participants in the present study may be fundamentally similar to those of L1 children, which have been found to be similar regardless of the types of script involved. The changes in L2 readers’ developing kanji recognition were accounted for by the transformation of the internal processing system; this transformation seems to occur by continuous link formation through learning corresponding information, and information processing based on the learned information. The process of transformation, which is affected by the frequency of exposure and the amount of practice, and therefore appears to be item-based, generally progresses on a stage-based developmental trajectory; the processing begins with local and incomplete information and progresses via intentional and analytical processing to develop into sophisticated attention-free processing. / Although the developmental trajectory may be universal, the findings of the present study suggest that, when L1 and L2 are orthographically distant, L2 readers repeat the developmental phases due to lack of their ability to process script-specific information. L2 readers with alphabetic backgrounds cannot simply transfer the recognition skills and awareness that they have acquired in their L1 in the new environment of character recognition. The findings of the study suggest that script-specific recognition skills and awareness develop over time as the L2 readers’ internal processing system undergoes successive transformations. By identifying several critical skills and awareness, the present study has discussed the possibility of enhancing character recognition ability with the use of explicit instruction at critical moments.

This research aims to study the dynamic effect of emigration on the human development of the sending countries. For this, emigration is measured through low-skilled and high-skilled emigrants, as well as remittances. Additionally, human development is understood as having a decent standard of life, long healthy life, and education. This research is not concerned with why migrants choose to move. Instead, the concern here is to assess what happens to the human development of the sending countries when they exit their home countries. This work is based on the New Economics of Migration theory and uses Latin America as the sample of sending countries. The data are analyzed through Feasible Generalized Least Squares, Panel Corrected Standard Errors, and GMM-IV. The period covered in this research goes from 1970 to 2015. 5-year-averages are employed in order to calculate the long-run effect of emigration on human development. From the results obtained through the statistical analysis, it can be said that the impacts of emigration on human development are heterogeneous, and that depend on the type of emigration (high-skilled or low-skilled) and on time (short-run or long-run). The findings suggest that there are important short-term benefits of emigration on the access to a decent living standard and to education. However, there are also some worrying negative short-term effects, mostly on a long healthy life. Nevertheless, most of these negative short-run effects revert in the long-run and become more positive. Furthermore, the results show that high-skilled emigration has more positive effects on living standards and on a long healthy life than the low-skilled emigration. On the other hand, in the case of education, it seems like low-skilled emigration has more positive long-run effects when compared to the high-skilled one. / Esta pesquisa visa estudar o efeito dinâmico da emigração no desenvolvimento humano dos países de origem. Para isto, a emigração é mensurada através de emigrantes pouco qualificados e altamente qualificados, bem como remessas. Além disso, o desenvolvimento humano é analisado através de um nível de vida decente, vida longa e saudável, e educação. Esta pesquisa não estuda o porquê os migrantes escolhem se mudar. Em vez disso, a preocupação aqui é analisar o quê acontece com o desenvolvimento humano dos países de origem quando os migrantes saem dos seus países de origem. Este trabalho baseia-se na teoria da Nova Economia da Migração e usa a América Latina como a amostra dos países de origem. Os dados são analisados através de Feasible Generalized Least Squares, Panel Corrected Standard Errors, and GMM-IV. O período abrangido por esta pesquisa é desde 1970 até 2015. São empregadas médias de 5 anos para calcular o efeito de longo prazo da emigração no desenvolvimento humano. A partir dos resultados obtidos através da análise estatística, pode-se dizer que os impactos da emigração no desenvolvimento humano são heterogêneos e que dependem do tipo de emigração (altamente qualificados ou pouco qualificados) e do tempo (curto ou longo prazo). Os resultados desta pesquisa mostram que sugerem que há benefícios importantes no curto prazo no acesso a um nível de vida decente e na educação. No entanto, também há alguns efeitos negativos preocupantes, principalmente em uma vida longa e saudável. No entanto, a maioria desses efeitos negativos no curto prazo se revertem no longo prazo e tornam-se mais positivos. Além disso, os resultados mostram que a emigração altamente qualificada tem efeitos mais positivos sobre o nível de vida e sobre uma longa vida saudável do que a emigração pouco qualificada. Por outro lado, no caso da educação, a emigração pouco qualificada tem efeitos mais positivos no longo prazo quando comparada com a emigração altamente qualificada.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) and its partners are determined to prevent and manage preventable causes of morbidity and mortality in mothers, neonates and children. In the last decade, special emphasis has been given to increasing the number of health facilities that provide maternal and child health services (MNCH), huge production of skilled birth attendants (SBAs), and equipping the health facilities to improve the utilisation of quality services. This study investigated the community perspectives of health service utilisation and proposes a framework for improving the utilisation of the available SBA and postnatal care (PNC).The purpose of this study was to develop a framework for the utilisation of skilled care for delivery and postnatal care by women of childbearing age (15-45). The study used a Sequential explanatory Mixed Methods Approach to investigate the utilisation of SBA and PNC in a district in Ethiopia. The Delphi Technique helped to solicit input from maternal health care experts on the development of a Framework for utilisation of SBA and PNC. This study utilised the Anderson Health Utilisation Model. In the study, 79.8% and 248 (71.5%) of the women who delivered within 12 months prior to this study received ANC and skilled birth attendance respectively from SBA. Fifty five (15.8%) mothers and 131 (38%) babies received Postnatal care from SBA with in 45 days after delivery. The study further found that women who can read and write and were educated are more likely to utilise SBA and receive quality health care services. The study showed that certain factors such as disrespecting service users, abusing service users’ lack of trust on the SBA by service users, religion and superstition contribute negatively to the use of SBAs. None of the predisposing, enabling and need factors predicted the use of SBA for PNC by the mothers. Nevertheless, through the focus group discussions (FGDs) and individual interviews (IDI), it was revealed that there was a widespread knowledge and perception gaps in the community related to the importance of postnatal period and PNC. Religious sanctification also have imperative role in hampering PNC service use by the mothers. The Health care workers (HCWs) also lacked the keenness and orientation to provide the service. Babies born from families with monthly income equal to 500 or above USD were more likely to use PNC within 45 days. There was a widespread misconception in the community that Babies do not need PNC before 45 days of birth except for vaccination purpose. To examine their role in health service utilisation for SBA and PNC, researches can integrate social support and social network to the Andersen’s health- ervice utilisation model. A framework for utilisation of SBA and PNC is proposed. The researcher recommends developing an utilisation tool kit that specifies the detail operationalisation of the framework. / Health Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies)

Spoken communication is only one of many types of human interaction with the environment. The aim of this thesis is to propose a theory of spoken communication based on basic principles of cognition, which govern all our behaviour. To this end, two established theoretical positions are integrated: 1) the skilled intentionality framework (an enactive view of cognition) and 2) a discriminative approach to human communication. According to the resulting theory, communication is a skilful shaping of an interlocutor's envi- ronment which serves to fulfil the agent's positively biased expectations about her own situation. Language is presented as an assemblage of sociomaterial regularities that make this skilful behaviour possible. The suggested perspec- tive is radically action-oriented, in contrast with traditional representational, content-based approaches. The proposed view is then applied to two specific phenomena widely studied within speech sciences (namely categoricality of speech and turn taking) and is confronted with selected empirical findings. Possibilities of empirical testing of the suggested theory are discussed.

My thesis The Benefits of Loss: Life Strategies and Negotiations of Identity amongst Indian Transmigrants in Melbourne, Australia is a study of a community of transmigrants of prevailingly Indian origin who immigrated to Melbourne Australia. The majority of these persons came to Australia on overseas student visas in order to pursue a university education; this later created an opportunity for them to obtain permanent residency in Australia through The General Skilled Migration program. This specific migration flow of persons with high skill and education has been supported by the Australian government in the last decade as a reaction to the increased mobility of population in the globalized world. The study focuses on the life strategies and negotiations of particular individuals attempting to show how these global trends are mediated in specific stages of their lives. At the centre of my interest lies a social network of 14 friends who constitute a transnational community in Melbourne, their motivations of migration, the stories capturing their experiences of the migration process, life strategies in the territory of a foreign nation-state and everyday negotiations of both individual and collective identity.

This thesis entitled "Impact of Collective Action in Controlling Migratory Flows: Understanding Migratory Flows within the European Union" analyses the various factors which impact upon migration decision-making and remigration potential among Slovak migrants who entered the Czech Republic after the country acceded to the European Union. The thesis utilizes a meta- theoretical approach which provides wide latitude for the inclusion of theoretical approaches which transcend disciplinary boundaries. Through a discussion of various policy approaches the work demonstrates that attempts to limit flows via legislative changes or the implementation of European Union directives has had little impact on aggregate flows in the specific case of the Czech Republic. Data from a survey conducted by the author is analysed and discussed from various perspectives in the form of a descriptive case study. The case study determines that employment, personal choice and family reunification are significant rationales for mobility related decision making and that long term settlement among this particular group is likely to occur.

With the growing popularity of the ability to customize your characters in video games, cosmetic items are becoming a big part of the gaming experience; games let players pick and choose what to equip on characters and what colors to use. In this study, skilled Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2 players were interviewed to gain a deeper understanding of the players’ experiences with the cosmetic items in their respective games. The games were chosen based on their well established system for cosmetic items and the authors’ previous knowledge of the games. The result yielded individual answers from ten different experienced players and were reviewed and divided into categories based on the patterns seen in the answers. From what could be seen from the results, the skilled players have a positive outlook on cosmetic items and believe that they have more than an aesthetic meaning, like for example that they can be a way to gauge player skill. / I takt med att förmågan att kunna skräddarsy karaktärer i spel har blivit populär, håller så kallade cosmetics på att bli en stor del av spelupplevelsen; spel låter spelare välja utrustning och färger i stor utsträckning. I den här studien blev erfarna Team Fortress 2- och Dota 2-spelare intervjuade för att ge en djupare förståelse för dessa spelares syn på kosmetiska förmål. Spelen valdes ut på grund av deras väletablerade system för kosmetiska föremål och författarnas tidigare kunskap om spelen. Alla de individuella svar som samlades in från de tio erfarna spelarna lästes igenom och delades upp i kategorier utifrån mönster som kunde utgöras från svaren. Från vad som kunde tydas har de erfarna spelarna en positiv syn på cosmetic items och antyder även att de har mer än en estetisk betydelse, till exempel att de kan vara ett sätt att tyda spelares kunskaper.

We develop a model to explain two-way migration of high-skilled individuals between countries that are similar in their economic characteristics. High-skilled migration results from the combination of workers whose abilities are private knowledge, and a production technology that gives incentives to firms for hiring workers of similar ability. In the presence of migration cost, high-skilled workers self-select into the group of migrants. The laissez-faire equilibrium features too much migration, explained by a negative migration externality. We also show that for sufficiently low levels of migration cost the optimal level of migration, while smaller than in the laissez-faire equilibrium, is strictly positive. Finally, we extend our model into different directions to capture stylized facts in the data and show that our baseline results also hold in these more complex modelling environments.

This thesis analyzes the political discourse on skilled labour migration in Germany between 2005 and 2009 and investigates how and why skilled labour migration polices are negotiated in the Federal Republic of Germany. In particular the thesis highlights the significance of underlying policy maker motives within the policy formation process of Germany s 2009 Action Programme on Skilled Labour Migration as well as their ultimate imprint on the legislation. The critical discourse analysis of parliamentary debate in Germany between 2005 and 2009 in conjunction with interviews with relevant national policy makers, institutional actors, labour market stakeholder, and independent policy advisors reveals that there is a significant discrepancy between policy maker intent in regards to skilled labour migration legislation and the stated intent of the 2009 Action Programme. While the stated aim of the Action Programme is to facilitate and promote skilled labour migration to Germany, the analysis of relevant political debate and the stakeholder interviews reveals that German policy makers are primarily motivated to protect and promote preferential labour market access for domestic workers while at the same time restricting undesired labour migration to Germany. As a result, the policy measures of the 2009 Action Programme on Skilled Labour Migration have a strong protectionist and restrictionist emphasis. Moreover, the thesis reveals that the complex and multilayered power-negotiations over skilled labour migration legislation between the various policy makers, institutional actors, and labour market stakeholders are largely shaped and framed by domestic political considerations. Notwithstanding the widely acknowledged global competition over skilled workers and the need for German labour market to maintain competitive within the global economy, immigration policy makers in Germany are primarily motivated by factors that are firmly embedded within the national political sphere and that aim to control, limit, and restrict territorial access of foreign workers into the national labour market. This in turn highlights the need for migration scholars to reposition and re-conceptualize the role of the nation-state and as an active agent in shaping international labour migration flows.

I analyze the causes of highly skilled emigration, otherwise known as Brain Drain, in the three countries of the Southern Cone: Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. These three upper-middle income countries have similarities in culture and level of economic development, which serve as the grounds for an effective comparison. I find that Chile has been especially successful in combatting Brain Drain while Argentina has been especially unsuccessful. Uruguay has been neither successful nor unsuccessful, but still faces a significant Brain Drain problem due to uncontrollable factors (for example, its small population). I recommend that the Argentine and Uruguayan governments broaden their current anti-Brain Drain policies, with the aims of (a) reducing the emigration rate of highly skilled workers, (b) promoting return migration among highly skilled workers in all sectors, and (c) maintaining connections with members of their respective diasporas. I find that the policies that directly address the issue of highly skilled migration are not necessarily the most effective. Thus, I emphasize potential policies to reduce Brain Drain that address economic issues that indirectly cause Brain Drain, in addition to addressing migration directly.