Emotion talk (ET), an emotion socialization practice theorized to promote childrens emotion understanding and emotion regulation, has been linked to better socioemotional adjustment in diverse samples. Immigrant children face developmentally unique challenges and opportunities related to their multi-lingual and multi-cultural experiences. The present study aimed to identify sociocultural correlates of parent ET in two groups of low-income immigrant families with preschool-age children: Mexican American (MA) and Chinese American (CA) families. In 90 parent-child dyads (child age = 38 to 70 months, 59% girls; 46 Mexican American and 44 Chinese American) recruited from Head Start programs, parents (mostly mothers) ET quality and quantity (i.e., use of emotion words, emotion questions and explanations, and overall elaborateness of ET) were coded from verbal transcripts of a shared picture book reading task. First, we found similarities and differences in ET across the two groups. Both MA and CA parents used emotion words, emotion questions, and emotion reasoning, whereas linking the story to personal emotion experience was infrequent. MA parents used more negative emotion words, emotion reasoning, and engaged in more elaborate ET than CA parents. Second, we examined the unique relations of multiple socio-cultural factors (SES, cultural orientations, parent and child demographics) to parent ET. Parent education and child age were associated positively with emotion questions, income was associated positively with emotion reasoning, and parents heritage culture orientation was associated positively with the elaborateness of ET. The findings highlight the need to consider socio-cultural variations in emotion socialization practices when adapting and disseminating socioemotional learning interventions.

The DNA microarray technology has contributed widely in biological studies. Recently, a method to detect the effects of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins on cells using microarray was developed. In this dissertation, the microarray technology was applied to study the effects of ECM proteins on human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) differentiation, and to identify the best growth- supporting ECM conditions for glioblastoma, and to create a method for efficient small molecule drug screening. The importance of ECM on hMSCs is well known. Numerous studies have shown that the ECM deposed by specific types of cells could induce differentiation in hMSCs. However, clinical application of cell-deposited ECM could carry risks such as contamination, immune rejection and batch-to-batch variation. An artificial ECM could avoid these problems. In this dissertation, the effects of ECM proteins were screened on the hMSCs differentiation using the microarray technology. The myogenic and neurogenic differentiation profiles are reported. This information can contribute to the selection of optimal differentiation-inducing coating on the muscle or nerve tissue engineering scaffolds. Cell culture has always been a fundamental tool in cancer research. However, most primary cancer cells are very difficult to maintain. In this dissertation, ECM protein combinations were tested for their efficacy in supporting the growth of glioblastoma cells. Twelve best combinations were identified. The result may lead to successful maintenance of the primary cells of glioblastoma and other types of cancerous tumors. The results may yield larger quantities of the primary cancer cells, which are heretofore limited in supply, and thus facilitate the advancement of cancer research. Genetic marker-based personalized medicine has attracted much attention. However, our understanding of the genes is still limited. A direct drug efficacy screening on the diseased cells of an individual patient may complement the gene-based personalized medicine. In this study, a small-molecule drug microarray method is reported. This method is able to screen a large number of drugs and their combinations by using a very small mount of patients' diseased cells, making it possible to design personalized drug cocktails

In China, discussions of defense transparency usually revolve around China’s defense affairs and those of its counterparts, with little comment on the actions of other countries. This brief touches upon the basic evolution of Japan’s defense transparency and its current status, and analyzes three differing Chinese perspectives on Japan’s defense transparency.

Lanthanide (Ln) elements are generally found in the oxidation state +II or +III, and a few examples of +IV and +V compounds have also been reported. In contrast, monovalent Ln(+I) complexes remain scarce. Here we combine photoelectron spectroscopy and theoretical calculations to study Ln-doped octa-boron clusters (LnB₈^-, Ln = La, Pr, Tb, Tm, Yb) with the rare +I oxidation state. The global minimum of the LnB₈^- species changes from C_s to C_7v symmetry accompanied by an oxidation-state change from +III to +I from the early to late lanthanides. All the C_7v-LnB₈^- clusters can be viewed as a monovalent Ln(I) coordinated by a η⁸-B₈^2- doubly aromatic ligand. The B₇^3-, B₈^2-, and B₉^- series of aromatic boron clusters are analogous to the classical aromatic hydrocarbon molecules, C₅H₅^-, C₆H₆, and C₇H₇⁺, respectively, with similar trends of size and charge state and they are named collectively as "borozenes". Lanthanides with variable oxidation states and magnetic properties may be formed with different borozenes.

While boron forms a wide range of metal borides with important industrial applications, there has been relatively little attention devoted to lanthanide boride clusters. Here we report a joint photoelectron spectroscopy and quantum chemical study on two octa-boron di-lanthanide clusters, Ln₂B₈^- (Ln = La, Pr). We found that these clusters form highly stable inverse sandwich structures, [Ln-B₈-Ln]^-, with strong Ln and B₈ bonding via interactions between the Ln 5d orbitals and the delocalized σ and π orbitals on the B₈ ring. A (d-p)δ bond, involving the 5dδ and the antibonding π orbital of the B₈ ring, is observed to be important in the Ln-B₈ interactions. The highly symmetric inverse sandwich structures are overwhelmingly more stable than any other isomers. Upon electron detachment, the (d-p)δ orbitals become half-filled, giving rise to a triplet ground state for neutral La₂B₈ In addition to the two unpaired electrons in the (d-p)δ orbitals upon electron detachment, the neutral Pr₂B₈ complex also contains two unpaired 4f electrons on each Pr center. The six unpaired spins in Pr₂B₈ are ferromagnetically coupled to give rise to a septuplet ground state. The current work suggests that highly magnetic Ln…B₈…Ln inverse sandwiches or 1D Ln…B₈…Ln nanowires may be designed with novel electronic and magnetic properties.