The Migration of Women from Northern China: A Gender-oriented Choice?

Since the late 1990s, a little-known wave of Chinese migrants has been making its way to France. Coming from regions with no tradition of international mobility, it differs from classic migratory flows in that it consists mainly of urban middle-class women in their forties who are affected by the reform policy. Drawing on the point of view of these female migrants regarding developments in the job market, their economic resources, and changes in family relations, this article examines the transformations in social norms and gender roles that affected these people before their departure. It considers whether these developments have had an impact beyond China’s borders, and whether they may have influenced the gender configuration of this migratory flow making its way to Europe

An Evaluation of the Diversity of the Film Market for Cinema and Video Recordings in France and in Europe

The issue of cultural diversity is examined from the point of view of the diversity of the market for films shown in cinemas and films released as video recordings in the 2000s, based on a new sample of 5,600 films shown in cinemas, and 6,500 video film recordings. For both markets, the method used consisted of measuring diversity based on the criteria of variety, balance and range. The issues of increased supply (films), distribution (copies) and demand (number of tickets or video recordings sold) are covered for 6 European countries, namely: France, Denmark, Spain, Poland, the UK and Sweden. The video film market is covered for France only. The method used tends to indicate that France has the most diverse cinema film market, whilst its video film market is considerably less diverse. It confirms differences in diversity according to marketing channels whilst new research shows a higher level of diversity within the internet video film market

Move Abroad to Move Forward? Self-Assessments of Chinese Students and Undocumented Migrants in France

Migrants' self-assessments refer to their perceptions of social mobility and positioning. These assessments are often ambivalent and counterintuitive for observers. To overcome contradictory first impressions, we propose a comprehensive approach to migrants’ self-assessments that goes beyond the opposition between objective and subjective social mobility and links the transnational context, various social spheres, actors' migratory projects, and their reflexivity. The empirical materials in this article draw on two studies on Chinese migrants in France and confront the trajectories and viewpoints of undocumented migrants and international students. Beyond the differences between their experiences and their legal, economic, and social statuses in France and China, we highlight several common points: First, both groups considered migration a lever to improve their social status. Second, their evaluations link their regions of origin and destination as well as various social spheres. Third, in a transnational context, many factors at different scales influence migrants' subjective self-assessments of the success or failure of their migration. The migrants' assessments can vary according to their emphasis on professional, personal, or family trajectories, or on their choice of reference groups. They are shaped by the complexity of translations of status from one country to another and by rapid social transformation in China. Thus, many interviewees estimate that they are simultaneously in situations of social progression and regression

« Migrer pour l’enfant »

Parmi les migrants originaires du nord de la Chine installés de manière temporaire à Paris, les femmes divorcées sont majoritaires. Parties seules, elles ont confié leur enfant unique à leurs proches. Justifier leur choix tout en échappant au stigmate de « mauvaise mère » les conduit à élaborer défendre leurs motivations migratoires. Elles mettent en avant certaines raisons considérées comme légitimes et en atténuent d’autres. Elles associent parentalité et migration et expliquent que leur départ leur permet de mieux remplir leur rôle de mère

La migration des Chinoises du Nord : une alternative genrée ?

Depuis la fin des années 1990, une vague peu connue de migrants chinois se dirige vers la France. Provenant de régions sans tradition de mobilité internationale, elle se démarque des flux migratoires classiques car elle est constituée majoritairement de femmes urbaines quadragénaires appartenant à une couche moyenne de la société, touchée par la politique des réformes. À travers le point de vue des migrantes sur les évolutions du marché de l’emploi, de leurs ressources économiques et des modifications des relations familiales, cet article questionnera les transformations des normes sociales et des rôles sexués qui ont touché avant leur départ ces personnes. Il se demandera si ces évolutions ont eu un impact au-delà des frontières du pays et ont pu influencer la configuration sexuée de ce flux migratoire à destination de l’Europe

Chiffonniers ou prostituées

À Paris, certains migrants chinois, originaires du nord de la Chine et arrivés depuis la fin des années 1990, sont de plus en plus visibles sur les trottoirs de Belleville ou aux abords du marché aux puces de Montreuil. Leur présence comme leurs activités dans l’espace public, liées au commerce du sexe et de la biffe, dérangent. Confrontés à une constante pression policière visant à les empêcher d’accéder à la rue, chiffonniers ou prostituées ont été amenés à élaborer des stratégies paradoxales d’utilisation de l’espace public

La migration des Chinoises du Nord : une alternative genrée ?

Depuis la fin des années 1990, une vague peu connue de migrants chinois se dirige vers la France. Provenant de régions sans tradition de mobilité internationale, elle se démarque des flux migratoires classiques car elle est constituée majoritairement de femmes urbaines quadragénaires appartenant à une couche moyenne de la société, touchée par la politique des réformes. À travers le point de vue des migrantes sur les évolutions du marché de l’emploi, de leurs ressources économiques et des modifications des relations familiales, cet article questionnera les transformations des normes sociales et des rôles sexués qui ont touché avant leur départ ces personnes. Il se demandera si ces évolutions ont eu un impact au-delà des frontières du pays et ont pu influencer la configuration sexuée de ce flux migratoire à destination de l’Europe

Tank-treading of microcapsules in shear flow

International audienceWe investigated experimentally the deformation of soft microcapsules and the dynamics of their membrane in simple shear flows. Firstly, the tank-treading motion, i.e. the rotation of the membrane, was visualized and quantified by tracking particles included in the membrane by a new protocol. The period of membrane rotation increased quadratically with the extension of the large axis. The tracking of the distance between two close micro-particles showed membrane contraction at the tips and stretching on the sides, a specific property of soft particles such as capsules. Present experimental results are discussed in regard to previous numerical simulations. This analysis showed that the variation of the tank-treading period with the Taylor parameter (deformation) cannot be explained by purely elastic membrane models. It suggests a strong effect of membrane viscosity whose order of magnitude is determined. Secondly, two distinct shapes of sheared microcapsules were observed. For moderate deformations, the shape was a steady ellipsoid in the shear plane. For larger deformations, the capsule became asymmetric and presented a S-like shape. When the viscous shear stress increased by three orders of magnitude, the small axis decreased by 70 % whereas the large axis increased by 100% before any break-up. The inclination angle decreased from 40 • to 8 • , almost aligned with the flow direction as expected by theory/numerics on capsules and experiments/theory/numerics on drops and vesicles. Whatever the microcapsule size and the concentration of proteins, the characteristic lengths of the shape, the Taylor parameter and the inclination angle satisfy master curves versus the longest axis or the normalized shear stress or the capillary number in agreement with theory for non negligible membrane viscosity in the regime of moderate deformations. Finally, we observed that very small deviation from sphericity gave rise to swinging motion, i.e. shape oscillations, in the small deformation regime. In conclusion, this study of tank-treading motion supports the role of membrane viscosity on the dynamics of microcapsules in shear flow by both independent methods which compare experimental data with numerical results in the regime of large deformations and with the theory in the regime of moderate deformations

Incomplete devil's staircase in the magnetization curve of SrCu2(BO3)2

We report on NMR and torque measurements on the frustrated quasi-two-dimensional spin-dimer system SrCu2(BO3)2 in magnetic fields up to 34 T that reveal a sequence of magnetization plateaus at 1/8, 2/15, 1/6, and 1/4 of the saturation and two incommensurate phases below and above the 1/6 plateau. The magnetic structures determined by NMR involve a stripe order of triplets in all plateaus, suggesting that the incommensurate phases originate from proliferation of domain walls. We propose that the magnetization process of SrCu2(BO3)2 is best described as an incomplete devil's staircase.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures (main: 12 pages, 4 figures/supplemental material: 9 pages, 5 figures

Thickness dependence of the superconducting critical temperature in heavily doped Si:B epilayers

International audienceWe report on the superconducting properties of a series of heavily doped Si:B epilayers grown by gas immersion laser doping with boron content (nB) ranging from ∼3 × 1020 cm−3 to ∼6 × 1021cm−3 and thickness (d) varying between ∼20 nm and ∼210 nm. We show that superconductivity is only observed for nB values exceeding a threshold value (nc,S ) which scales as nc,S ∝ 1/d. The critical temperature (Tc) then rapidly increases with nB, largely exceeding the theoretical values which can be estimated by introducing the electron-phonon coupling constant (λe-ph) deduced from ab initio calculations into the McMillan equation. Surprisingly Tc(nB,d) is fully determined by the boron dose (nB × d) and can be well approximated by a simple Tc(nB,d) ≈ Tc,0[1 − A/(nB.d)] law, with Tc,0 ∼ 750 mK and A ∼ 8(±1) × 1015 cm−2