International migration and national development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Viewpoints and policy initiatives in the countries of origin

Zoomers A, van Naerssen T. International migration and national development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Viewpoints and policy initiatives in the countries of origin. COMCAD Arbeitspapiere - working papers, 32. Bielefeld: COMCAD - Center on Migration, Citizenship and Development; 2007

International migration and national development in Sub-Saharan Africa: viewpoints and policy initiatives in the countries of origin ; paper presented at the conference on ‘Transnationalisation and Development(s): Towards a North-South Perspective’, Center for Interdisciplinary Research, Bielefeld, Germany, May 31 - June 01, 2007

Der vorliegende Beitrag stellt die Ergebnisse eines Projektes vor, in dem es zum einen um die Beziehung zwischen Migration und Entwicklung aus Entwicklungsländerperspektive geht und zum anderen um die Minimierung der negativen Effekte dieser Beziehung. Dabei stehen die Länder Afrikas südlich der Sahara im Mittelpunkt des Interesses. Zunächst erfolgt ein kurzer überblick über die Inhalte und Methoden des Projektes. Anschließend werden die Ergebnisse vorgestellt, wobei zunächst eine Typisierung der internationalen Arbeitsmigration nach Zielländern erfolgt. Im Anschluss daran werden die unterschiedlichen Migrationswege und -arten untersucht. Danach widmen sich die Autoren den Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschieden in den Herkunftsländern. Abschließend erfolgt ein Überblick über politische Initiativen in einzelnen Ländern sowie über die Diasporagemeinden in den Niederlanden. (ICD)Contents: Acknowledgement; 0. Background; 1. Summary of project results; 1. Introduction; 2. The characteristics of international labour migration: towards a typology; 3. Migration routes from sub-Saharan Africa and recent trends; 4. Viewpoints in the areas of origin: common issues; 5. Issues on the policy agenda: a country overview; 6. A summary of concrete policy initiatives; 7. Intermezzo: African diaspora organisations in the Netherlands and development; 8. Final reflections, recommendations and suggestions for follow up; Appendix 1: Suggestions for follow-up research (in line with the policy recommendations); 1. Migration hubs and transit migration; 2. Migration as a booming business; 3. The image and reputation of various EU-countries as areas of destination; 4. Migrants as competitors and rivals; 5. Embassies, diplomatic relations and the institutionalisation of migration; 6. International migration, land speculation/ foreign-fundia and land titling; 7. Migrant and diaspora organisations (in relation to civil society); Appendix 2: Ideas for PhD projects; Project 1: International Migration and European Borders; Project 2: Migration and Home: settlement and removal in the EU; Project 3: Migration and Transnational Networks: diasporas within the EU, new networks and the impact for development

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Complex systems are an unavoidable problem in the field of biology. One of the ways that scientists have tried to overcome this problem is by building mathematical models—manageable representations designed to look at specific physical phenomena. The Wnt Signaling Pathway is a complex system known to regulate cell-to-cell interactions, play a crucial role in Embryonic Development, and has been implicated in the study of cancer. Typically, the Wnt signal is observed through the behavior of a protein called beta-Catenin (β-Catenin). In 2003, Lee et al. built a model of the Wnt pathway which caused β-Catenin to increase over time. However, in 2010, Jensen et al. built a different model of the Wnt pathway which caused β-Catenin to oscillate over time. This project called for model reduction on the Jensen et al. model to identify the phenomenological parameter combinations that determined features of the Wnt oscillations. The method used to reduce the model is called the Manifold Boundary Approximation Method, which is a geometric, parameter-independent method of reducing the model one parameter at a time. Reduction of the model showed that there were 5 variables and 8 parameters which drove the oscillating behavior of the system. After comparing our results to the Lee et al. reduced model of the Wnt pathway done by student Dane Bjork, a minimal model was constructed which predicted a novel class behavior of the Wnt system: biological adaptation

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