Best Selling Books by Jen Wang

"The influences of ZnO nanoparticles on cellular responses to activation of muscarinic receptors were studied in Chinese hamster ovary cells expressing the human M3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor. ZnO particles (20 nm) induced cytotoxicity in a time and concentration-dependent manner: following a 24 h exposure, toxicity was minimal at concentrations below 20 [mu]g/ml but virtually complete at concentrations above 28 [mu]g/ml. ZnO particles did not affect antagonist binding to M3 receptors or allosteric ligand effects, but increased agonist binding affinity while eliminating guanine nucleotide sensitivity. At a noncytotoxic concentration (10 [mu]g/ml), ZnO increased resting [Ca2]i from 40 to 130 nM without compromising calcium homeostatic mechanisms. ZnO particles had minimal effects on inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3)- or thapsigargin-mediated release of intracellular calcium from the endoplasmic reticulum, but strongly inhibited store operated calcium entry (capacitive calcium entry). The latter effect was seen as 1) a decrease in the plateau phase of the response and 2) a decrease in Ca2 entry upon introduction of calcium to the extracellular medium following thapsigargin-induced depletion of calcium from the endoplasmic reticulum (EC50''s [approximately] 2 [mu]g/ml). Thus, ZnO nanoparticles interfere with two specific aspects of the M3 signaling pathway, agonist binding and store operated calcium entry"--Abstract, leaf iii

The current class of amorphous Fe-based alloys, also referred to as amorphous steels, possess some outstanding physical properties, including high specific strength, elastic modulus, and excellent corrosion resistance, as well as maintaining fairly low cost. However, thermally-induced embrittlement and insufficient overall ductility are detrimental factors that prohibit amorphous steels from being widely used as structural materials for civilian and military applications. Also, the desire to continuously enlarge the physical size of amorphous alloys, which requires significant improvement of the glass formability, is another hurdle that requires more scientific understanding in order to promote their future application. Consequently, obtaining systematic and detailed characterizations of amorphous alloys from structural and electronic aspects are important for future improvements in their development. In this research, two directions are focused on in characterizing these effects. First, studying the crystallization processes can help gain insight as to the alloy''s overall stability. Measuring formation kinetics of crystalline phases that result and the atomic segregation mechanisms associated with devitrification can be employed to interpret the factors contributing to the glass formability. Second, examining the electronic and atomic structures in the vitrified state can assist in determining effects associated with bonding strength and electronic interactions among the various elements, which can be correlated with glass formability and the alloy''s fracture behavior when key elements are added to bring the alloy through the ductile-to-brittle transition. The characterization methods utilized in this research involve the complementary studies of crystallization sequences, phase identification, growth kinetics, chemical and structural analyses, as well as the atomic and electronic structure examination in the vitrified state of the alloys. Differential thermal analysis (DTA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), three-dimensional atom probe (3DAP), and conventional and analytical transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are employed to carry out these studies. Detailed investigation on the atomic and electronic structure in the undercooled amorphous region of the alloys is implemented with XRD, and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS).

We show that investment under financing constraints can be modeled as a one-sided deviation from a frictionless investment level, and that effects of financing constraints can be identified and quantified by imposing a distributional assumption on the effects. Panel data on Taiwanese manufacturing firms between 1989 and 1996 are used in the estimation. This period chronicles important financial reforms in the Taiwanese markets, thus providing a unique opportunity to test the financing constraint hypothesis. Estimation results show that cash flow not only have the first order effect of reducing the level of constraints, but also has the second order effect of reducing the variance of the constraints. The use of the quantitative measures of financing constraints in the post-estimation analysis yields two interesting findings: (1) Some of the sorting criteria used in the literature do not have significant and monotonic relationships with the degrees of financing constraint, resulting in problematic sample separations. (2) The effects of financial liberalization in Taiwan are such that the investment efficiency improved over time for a typical firm, and the improvement was particularly large for smaller firms.

Final issue! The Floop Master is revealed, and Cake takes on the rest of the tournament!

Ash has always felt alone. Adults ignore the climate crisis. Other kids Ashs age are more interested in pop stars and popularity contests than in fighting for change. Even Ashs family seems to be sleepwalking through life. The only person who ever seemed to get Ash was their Grandpa Edwin.