Exploring livelihood change in upland rural Hmong villages in Maguan County, Yunnan, China

My Master’s thesis will investigate how ethnic minority livelihoods, specifically those of ethnic minority Hmong (Miao) , have changed in rural Southwestern China over the last 20 years. Hmong communities have traditionally made their livelihoods around household based semi-subsistence agricultural production, based primarily on rice or maize. However, new state policies, technologies, and opportunities are […]

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Extreme climatic events revealed by tree-ring anomalies in temperate mixed forests of Central China

In dendrochronology, tree-ring widths are used in environment and climate reconstructions. In addition to tree-ring width, wood anatomy and tree-ring anomalies are becoming increasingly valuable as sources of proxy data. The disruption of normal tree growth resulting in various tree-ring anomalies including frost rings, false rings or light rings have been related to climate events […]

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Testing of Offshore Wind Turbine Positional Controller

A previous mathematical model of an offshore wind turbine was established and then, a positional controller was designed and simulated for a single Wind Turbine in order to provide movement around an area using the force of air that acts on the wind turbine. The goal of my research project is to validate this Position […]

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Plurilingual Competence and Language Practice in English for Academic Purposes

Research in second language education has raised an overarching question regarding what kind of language practice that should be in the place to respond to the changing global landscape of higher education. Though the notion of plurlingual competence has gained increasing attention in recent years, there has been scarce literature focusing on (and comparing) educators’ […]

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Financing China’s Industrial Adjustment

The research project examines how social and political groups make critical policy choices in a challenging economic context. Focusing on the sub-provincial cases in China, the project aims to examine the process of financial reform during a period of declining economic growth. Examining the government-business relations, the research addresses the challenges that the Chinese political […]

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Sustainable Food Systems for Future Cities: The Potential of Urban Agriculture from a Case Study in Nanjing, China

Urbanization is increasing rapidly worldwide, predominantly in developing countries, and thus becoming an issue in addressing food security. In addition to the conflict between sustaining rural agricultural production and the rapid consumption of land by growing urban activities, agricultural areas within or around cities are also being transformed. This is creating a need for diverse […]

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Development of Morphing Skin

Parallel mechanisms/robots have been developed for numerous applications. At Ryerson University, it has been implemented in morphing wing mechanism design. However, an ideal morphing skin is required to create a functional morphing wing. In addition to morphing wings, other applications may require parallel robots to be covered due to environment requirements, for example, medical, industrial, […]

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Mapping the connections between spinal interneurons and motoneurons with super-resolution microscopy

Motility is an essential characteristic of many aquatic and terrestrial animals. In vertebrates, self-contained and autonomous neuronal networks in the spinal cord can produce patterned and rhythmic locomotor outputs in the absence of higher brain centres and sensory inputs. Spinal locomotor networks comprised of interneurons differentially control the outputs of respective motoneuron subtypes that exclusively […]

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Characterization of the regional groundwater quality evolution in an over-exploited volcanic aquifer system using multi-parameter analysis

Le Mexique est actuellement confronté à un sérieux problème d’épuisement de ces nappes phréatiques. La vallée de Toluca qui héberge la cinquième plus grande agglomération du pays n’est pas épargnée. Des populations croissantes ont accès à des ressources en eau potable de plus en plus limitées. Toutefois, si la qualité, en plus de la quantité, […]

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The health effects of separation on transnational families: A multi-country study of temporary farm workers in Canada and their families in Mexico

With increasing rates of economic and forced migration globally, there is a great need to deepen our understanding of the relationship between health and family separation due to migration. Under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program, farm workers from Mexico are hired to work in Canada for up to eight months a year. From a social […]

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