Most Popular Books by Michael Wolff

This is the 5th adventure in the Sandra Swift adventures. A criminal organization is systematically stealing plutonium from nuclear power plants and laboratories all over the United States. While a nationwide investigation goes on, concerns are rising that the next target will be the Citadel: the atomic research facility built and operated by Swift Enterprises. Tom Swift Sr. is confident that the Citadel''s security will be sufficient to defend it, but he''s soon proven wrong as the thieves strike. Not only is plutonium stolen, but it''s suspected that the thieves are also linked to the murder of an Enterprises robotics scientist. Suspicions point to someone working within the Swift organization. A resourceful individual who remains behind the scenes, and who can outthink even the brilliant minds operating the Citadel. And Sandra Swift soon finds herself facing her most dangerous and calculating opponent.

Covers more than 4,000 games and more than 100 MUDs, MUSHes, and MOOs.

The 2nd adventure in this new series. Two experimental robots have vanished while undergoing field tests on the surface of the Moon. All evidence points to the presence of an unknown person in the area, but no one can reasonably account for how the person could have been there. Sandra Swift decides to investigate and, accompanied by Bud Barclay, travels to the Swift Enterprises Moonbase. From there they go to the last reported position of the robots, but suddenly end up falling through a narrow crevice. Now trapped deep beneath the surface of the Moon, Sandy and Bud struggle for survival, exploring a vast system of underground caverns as they attempt to contact help. But they soon encounter additional mysteries in the form of a lost human colony living in a ruined spaceship, as well as an insane woman bent on revenge. Fighting to stay alive, Sandy and Bud join forces with the lost colony, squaring off against an adversary who will stop at nothing . . . including nuclear annihilation . . . to kill anyone who stands in her way.

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NetOut is the first directory to all the gay resources--chat, archives, photos, information, entertainment--available online. Sponsored and co-authored by OUT magazine, the largest gay- and lesbian-oriented periodical in the country, this book includes over 5,000 entries and sites, and covers AOL, CompuServe, the Internet, and MS Network.

Follow and trade stocks electronically, calculate your mortgage or research your new car purchase. With over 5,000 personal finance sites covering every conceivable finance topic, "NetMoney" promises a strong return on investment. "NetMoney" has a companion Website and e-mail newsletter users can access for the latest updates at no additional cost.

Throughout history, methodological innovations have resulted in breakthroughs in our understanding of biology. Methods for determining static protein structures, as well as those for probing protein dynamics, are well-established. Nonetheless, visualizing molecules as dynamic entities that respond to their environment is still an outstanding challenge. Specifically, it is challenging to measure the spatial position of all the atoms within a molecule as a function of time. That challenge is the broad focus of this dissertation.In chapter one, I begin by diving into modern crystallographic techniques that enable one to solve protein structures from sub-micron-sized crystals. I compare and contrast two methods, serial crystallography and electron crystallography, asking how each technique affects the protein''s structure. A primary factor differentiating these two methods is the temperature of the sample during the experiment. Despite this difference, both methods enable one to solve high-resolution structures from small crystals. This is advantageous for time-resolved experiments. Since there are fewer molecules in a small crystal, the perturbation is more uniform, which provides a clearer time-resolved signal. In chapter two, I investigate temperature-jumps as a generalized perturbation for resolving the energy landscape of proteins. In this work, I focus on solution scattering experiments, which allow one to examine large-scale perturbations to a protein, as well as changes in the solvent shell surrounding the molecule. By mutating selected residues, we inhibited specific protein motions. Comparing these mutants to the wild-type protein allowed us to resolve the motions driven by an infrared laser. Nonetheless, we wished to gain all-atom spatial resolution, which required us to perform a temperature-jump within the context of crystallography rather than solution scattering.In chapter three, I expand upon the temperature-jump detection method described in chapter two. By adapting this method to accommodate X-ray diffraction images, I demonstrate that we can detect temperature-jumps within a crystalline context. This is a crucial step in the development of a generalized perturbation for time-resolved crystallography. Given the timescale of the measurements, reading out the temperature directly from the X-ray data is the only effective way to track the sample''s response. Thus, our method offers proof-of-principle that IR laser-based temperature-jumps are feasible for time-resolved crystallography. While measuring the diffuse scattering signal is useful for temperature-jump detection, the diffuse signal also holds the potential to inform our understanding of protein dynamics.In chapter four, I review the field of macromolecular diffuse scattering, as of late 2017. I begin by considering data collection practices, which requires extremely careful and controlled measurements. Then I examine different group''s approaches to processing the data, as well as their models of the disorder that drives it. Finally, I consider the broader impact of diffuse analysis upon the field, ranging from the improvement of molecular dynamics forcefields to improved phasing and resolution extension. While these impacts hold exciting implications, it is clear that collecting high-quality is the first challenge to solve.In chapter five, I examine the challenges of collecting high-quality diffuse scattering from protein crystals. I describe how parasitic scattering can confound our ability to develop rigorous models of the crystalline disorder that gives rise to the diffuse signal. Then I work through experimental measures that we took to minimize parasitic scattering while maximizing diffuse scatter driven by protein motions.

Perovskite solar cells have become one of the most studied systems in the quest for new, cheap and efficient solar cell materials. Within a decade device efficiencies have risen to u003e25% in single-junction and u003e29% in tandem devices on top of silicon. This rapid improvement was in many ways fortunate, as e. g. the energy levels of commonly used halide perovskites are compatible with already existing materials from other photovoltaic technologies such as dye-sensitized or organic solar cells. Despite this rapid success, fundamental working principles must be understood to allow concerted further improvements. This thesis focuses on a comprehensive understanding of recombination processes in functioning devices. First the impact the energy level alignment between the perovskite and the electron transport layer based on fullerenes is investigated. This controversial topic is comprehensively addressed and recombination is mitigated through reducing the energy difference between the perovskite conduction band minimum and the LUMO of the ...

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) represents an important pathway for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in order to mitigate climate change. However, there is significant uncertainty about how the technology will be accepted by the public, which is difficult to predict for relatively unknown technologies such as CCS. As such, this thesis explores the use of a similar but better known technology-hydraulic fracturing-as an analogue for learning lessons about public acceptance of the geologic storage component of CCS. The thesis asks two questions: (1) What factors are associated with public acceptance of geologic storage? And (2) What actions should communities, regulators, and stakeholders take to ensure the safe and efficient deployment of CCS technology? The thesis investigates these questions using three separate but related analyses. A series of regressions explores links between states'' history of fossil fuel extraction and current regulatory attitudes toward hydraulic fracturing. A comparative case study characterizes trends in the development of laws and regulations related to hydraulic fracturing in three states: Pennsylvania, New York State, and Colorado. Finally, a survey identifies factors associated with positive and negative public perceptions of both hydraulic fracturing and CCS. The survey includes an experimental question that measures the extent to which compensation can be used to improve public acceptance for facility siting. Through these analyses, the thesis reaches several conclusions. States with an extensive history of fossil fuel extraction are more likely to regulate hydraulic fracturing with a moderate level of regulatory stringency, and similar tendencies toward CCS are likely. Municipalities are playing an increasingly significant role in the regulation of hydraulic fracturing, and are likely to be important stakeholders for CCS projects as well. A number of demographic and worldview factors are associated with public acceptance, but none were found to have substantial predictive power. However, the amount of compensation offered to nearby residents was found to have a moderate effect on public acceptance. Developers should therefore consider compensation a tool for increasing the likelihood of acceptance among residents nearby a potential project site. Policymakers should in turn institute market incentives such as robust carbon prices to foster a financial environment that encourages developers to engage with municipalities and residents.