Search

This thesis examines the role of internet use in migrants’ participation in, and articulation of, rising Chinese modernity. It explores the ways in which transnational subjectivity is produced through this process. It investigates how migrants’ various uses of the internet construct and make sense of their connections with China. It demonstrates a new generation of subjectivity among Chinese transnationals that is tech-savvy, modern and triumphal – a subjectivity embedded in the exchange between the (macro) political economy of China’s rise and the (micro) everyday practices surrounding the internet. This is an ethnographic study focusing on an emerging population within the broader Chinese diaspora; that is, mainland Chinese professionals who migrated for higher education and professional training in recent years as a result of China’s reform and economic power. This study locates its enquiries in three offline-grounded institutions – ethnic organisations, states and families. These institutions pre-date the internet but increasingly turn to the technology for transnational and local connections. Regarding Chinese organisations, utilising the internet to build co-ethnic sociality is read as a symbolic practice that signals the users’ belonging to a technologically-advanced, mobile and wealthy sector within the broader idea of the Chinese community. On the role of the state, internet use provides new modes of migrants’ access to China’s state-led development projects, thus opening up new spaces for the state’s disciplinary power to be exercised. This digital governance is enabled by a discourse of Chinese triumphalism constructed by both the state and the migrants. Regarding families, the digitalisation of the gendered division of labour in transnational families provides evidence of the segmented nature of China’s digital modernity and disrupts the triumphal portrait of transnational modernity constructed among the elite-stratum migrants. Overall, this study develops a dialogue between two literatures. On the one hand, it adds to diasporic internet studies by introducing an offline-grounded, geographically-informed approach and by bringing transnational modernity into its research agenda. On the other hand, it draws on Nonini and Ong’s (1997) theorisation of Chinese transnationalism as alternative modernity and further adds to this theorisation with a focus on internet technology and a discussion of the impacts of China’s rise. It contributes to human geography by revisiting a key concept in this discipline – transnationalism – with a discussion of the interweaving impacts of information technology and the geopolitical shift of China’s rising modernity.

Have you ever wondered what to wear for the current weather and later when you go outside you confirm that you were too optimistic about your ability to endure the cold? Wearther: an iOS Mobile Application for Women is an iOS Mobile Application designed to help women choose the proper outfit that matches the weather outside. It is an interaction design and visual design project. Unlike other dressing related application, "Wearther" is not a clothing organizer or a fashion adviser. It is not a weather app either, although it emphasizes weather. The concept of this project is to analyze real fabric information and then to suggest proper clothing from the user's personal wardrobe based on weather condition. The application provides two options for the user to add their clothing items into the Wardrobe section: from photo and scan barcode. Users can set the time that they are preparing outfits for, and then the application will provide a pool of proper clothing based on the weather condition at the selected time. After wearing the outfit, the user can log how she felt about the outfit. The application will then learn from the user's feedback to adjust and provide more personalized suggestions next time.

Nucleic acids and proteins are abundant linear biopolymers in living organisms. Much of my research focused on developing new antisense agents targeting an important class of nucleic acids known as ribonucleic acids (RNA). A number of such antisense agents have been developed over the years, including peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) – nucleic acid analogs that utilize 2-aminoethylglycine linkages in place of the negatively charged phosphodiester nucleic acid backbone. A key feature of PNAs is their ability to tightly bind complementary RNA sequences and either block or alter protein synthesis. One potential limitation of PNAs as an antisense agent, however, is that at least one equivalent of PNA is required for each target RNA inhibited. This is particularly problematic for translational suppression given the multiple copies of RNAs present in cells. One way to overcome this limitation is an enzymatic degradation antisense strategy. Conjugating PNA with RNA cleavage motifs has been shown to enhance the rate of RNA hydrolysis. Chapters 2 and 3 are focused on our attempts to develop an RNA-cleaving PNA based on this approach.Chapter 2 describes the initial design, synthesis, and the RNA cleavage activity of this new class of RNA-cleaving PNA. Polyamines are known RNA cleavage agents. Two different PNA monomers harboring a diamine cleavage arm were incorporated into PNA oligomers via a modified solid-phase peptide synthesis. The resulting PNAs retain the high binding affinities of the parent PNAs, but also exhibit the ability to cleave complementary RNA sequences. The extent of cleavage appears to depend on the position of the diamine scissor. A PNA oligomer harboring the synthetic PNA-diamine monomer at its N-terminus (the 3’-side of the complementary RNA) exhibits a high RNA cleavage efficiency. However, a PNA-diamine adduct with the cleavage arm in the middle of the PNA oligomer cleaves its RNA target only partially. An “in-line attack” hypothesis to explain the reduced cleavage activity of the internal diamine group is proposed, as are potential strategies to overcome this limitation.Chapter 3 explores one strategy to overcome the poor cleavage activity of our PNA oligomers with internal diamine cleavage sites. The strategy explored is based on the assumption that the extremely stable PNA-RNA helix structure hinders the internal PNA-diamine catalyzed RNA cleavage reaction. A potential solution is suggested by the RNA AAUAA bulge region of the self-cleavage group I intron. The bulge region allows RNA to adopt an “in-line attack” conformation on the backbone, thereby facilitating the cleavage reaction. In contrast, the PNA-RNA duplex lacks such a bulge, and appears to adopt a “cleavage-resistant” conformation. To explore whether introducing bulges into the RNA cleavage site could enhance the cleavage rate, the RNA cleavage activity of a PNA-diamine oligomer was examined for four different complementary RNA substrates – a parent complementary RNA strand, as well as those containing different A, C, and AC bulges. Notably, enhanced cleavage of RNAs with bulge-loops by the PNA-diamines is observed. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that a perturbation of the enzyme-substrate ground state configuration may enhance the RNA cleavage rate. Chapter 4 details a distinct project focused on the structure of a new protein – the Methanosarcina barkeri trimethylamine methyltransferase (MttB). The MttB plays a critical role in the growth of M. barkeri on trimethylamine. What makes this enzyme unusual is that, like other methylamine methyltransferases found in M. barkeri, this enzyme contains an in-frame UAG (amber) codon that is ultimately used to incorporate pyrrolysine, the 22nd genetically-encoded amino acid found in nature. The X-ray crystal structure of trimethylamine methyltransferase (MttB) is reported. The protein exists as a homohexamer with the D3 symmetry, and each subunit adopts a TIM-barrel fold. The structure is compared to the other structurally characterized pyrrolysine containing protein, M. barkeri monomethylamine methyltransferase (MtmB), as well as a non-pyrrolysine exhibiting MttB homology.