The impact of social environment on mobility status and occurrenceof falls in older adults. International comparisons

Human populations are aging all over the world and decline in mobility is an age-related problem that limits older adults’ quality of life. One major risk factor for mobility disability in is falls. There are some modifiable risk factors for falls and identifying these factors can help public health professionals to devise proper prevention strategy. […]

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A new beetle species associated with honey bees (Vietnam)

Beetles, possibly of an undescribed species, frequently inhabit honeybee (Apis cerana) hives in Vietnam. They walk over and around honeybees in their nest with no apparent harm to the bee colony. Surveys of beekeepers and their hives will enable us to determine the distribution and incidence of the beetles. A number of biossays will provide […]

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Comparisons: Learning English as an Additional Language (EAL) in a Dominantly Non-English vs. a Dominantly English Speaking Culture

This research project will capture and analyze various aspects of the authentic Chinese education culture in the grade school English language learning environment, namely, the selected décor and physical layout of the classroom; the relationships between a student and his or her teacher and his or her peers; the resources and methods used to enhance […]

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A Mixed Methods Cross-Cultural Investigation of Conversational Turn-Taking in Families of Children with Hearing Loss

Parent-child interaction significantly impacts child language learning and influences what is considered appropriate when communicating with others, which can vary from culture to culture. These caregiver-child interactions become extremely important when the child has a hearing loss. However, if the expectations of the family differ from those of the therapist serving the child, there could […]

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Helping socially-withdrawn Chinese children: The protective role ofparents

A three-wave longitudinal study will be conducted to examined the social, emotional, and academic implications of shyness and unsociability in Chinese children as well as the potential protective role that authoritative parenting plays. Participants in the initial sample consisted of 1500 grade 3 to 6 students, randomly selected from four primary and junior high schools […]

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Visualizing Cultural Reproduction In Sikkim: A Material Culture Approach

Sikkim has preserved quite unique cultural artifacts of Tibetan Buddhism, and among those the most renowned is the thangka paintings. Through this project I would attempt to understand the cultural phenomenon of thangka paintings, how it has transformed in recent times. Thangka paintings portray the cosmology of Tibetan Buddhism, and it has captured the popular […]

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Seismic Risk Assessment of High-Speed Railway Bridge System in China

The proposed research project is to develop a robust performance-based earthquake engineering (PBEE) methodology to quantify the seismic risks of large network of infrastructure such as the high-speed railway system in China. The project is anticipated to accomplish many goals. First, it will develop accurate numerical model to predict the seismic behavior of standard-span length […]

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Effect of surface pretreatment and zinc coating on the corrosion behaviour of Mg alloys for biodegradable applications.

Magnesium alloys are good candidates for the development of biodegradable implants for cardiovascular and orthopedic applications. A biodegradable implant would perform its desired function and then disappear, avoiding long-term complications and the need of a second surgery to withdraw the implant. Magnesium is biocompatible and its alloys have good mechanical properties, which are required properties […]

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Synthesis and Testing of Industrial Catalysts for Carbon dioxide (CO2)Reforming of Methane (CH4) in Coal Delivered Gases.

CO2 reforming of CH4 is a mean of converting greenhouse gases (environmental pollution gases) to useful industrial syn gas (fuel) through chemical reaction. This reaction cannot take place without the help of good performing catalysts. After synthesizing a stable catalyst at the laboratory level, our next step towards commercialization is to make it into shape […]

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Optimizing synergies in Eco-Industrial Parks: A multi-objective model to minimize effects of the uncertainty on sustainable design of EIP

A sustainable system is supposed to satisfy its stakeholders’ social, financial, and environmental requirements. Although there are many studies to optimize design decisions in a sustainable system, limited research is found to consider multiple objectives in sustainable system design. We study Eco-Industrial Parks (EIPs) as a sustainable system where businesses and local communities collaborated together […]

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Evaluating the Impact of a Mobile Unit in a Cancer Screening Program Among Vulnerable Populations in Brazil

In Brazil, inequities in accessing healthcare are linked to socioeconomic disparities. Poor and middle-income countries – like Brazil – bear the highest burden of cancer morbidity and mortality; yet typically do not have structured screening programs. My research aims to evaluate an innovative program in Brazil for screening breast, cervical, prostate and skin cancer. To […]

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Yeast Mitochondrial Threonyl-tRNA Synthetase (MST1) as a Model Enzyme for Studying High Fidelity Information: a Multi-scale Computational Chemistry Study

In order for the body to function properly, information from DNA must be translated correctly into proteins. One group of enzymes critical to this process is the aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRS). These enzymes attach an amino acid to its cognate tRNA, which delivers them to make proteins. Although this process is critical to the survival of […]

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