China's Sovereign Wealth Fund : Weakness and Challenges

The establishment of sovereign wealth funds in large developing countries has generated hot debate among participants in the international financial market. When accumulated foreign exchange reserves surpass a sufficient and an appropriate level, the costs, risks and impacts on the macro-economy of countries holding reserves need to be considered. The Chinese Government established China Investment Corporation (CIC) in 2007 to diversify its investment of foreign reserves and to raise investment income. However, because of certain conflicts of interest and institution-design caveats, CIC possesses some internal weakness, including a vague orientation, mixed investment strategies and inefficient bureaucratic style. Although the subprime crisis has softened certain regulations and lessened rejection by the USA of CIC potential investments, the increased volatility and uncertainty of the market means that CIC is facing some new challenges in terms of its investment decisions. Moreover, CIC is competing with other Chinese investment institutions for injections of funds from the Chinese Government.CIC, external challenge, internal weakness, foreign exchange reserve management, sovereign wealth fund

A Computational Model of Quantitatively Measuring the Alzheimer's Disease Progression in Face Identification

There are numerous large-scale biomedical and pharmacological research projects to study Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), and potential drugs and therapeutic interventions to improve this severe disease. Of significant importance are life quality of AD patients.In particular, AD patient’s ability to recognize intimate family members and nurses’ faces largely decides their life quality. The broad objective of this research is focused on providing methods to determine the extent of disease progress from the viewpoint of recovering as much cognitive ability as possible.Specifically, this research would computerize the AD patient’s diseased brain and retrained the brain with focus on recovering the visual recognition ability of family member and medical care personnel. Likewise, potential recommendations for the patients’ family members and others who interact with the patients, in order to help improve quality of life and daily interactions

How Fashion Teaches Philosophy about Beauty?

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThis dissertation can be divided into three parts: (1) the study of delithiation process of Li-Mg alloy as anode for Li-ion batteries by both experiments and theoretical modeling, (2) the investigation of the feasibility to study Li spatial distribution

Study of the roles of two pore channels (TPCs) in metabolism

Second messengers play roles in communication between and within cells and are critical in various physiological functions at cellular level. As an important second messenger, Ca2+, through spatiotemporal changes in its cytosolic concentration in the cell, regulates multiple physiological processes. One source of cytosolic Ca2+ is the intracellular Ca2+ stores which mainly include the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and the endolysosomal system. In past decades, research has identified the different triggers and mechanisms of Ca2+ release from different organelles. NAADP, as the most potent trigger, initiates Ca2+ release from the endolysosomal system, and there is evidence that two pore channels (TPCs), a type of cation channel located in endolysosomes, can mediate such Ca2+ release. Much previous research has successfully investigated the functions of TPCs in various physiological and pathological processes. In my studies, I have employed TPC gene-edited animal and cell models to investigate the function of TPCs in metabolism, particularly adipocyte differentiation, and pancreatic digestive enzyme secretion. Obesity and related metabolic diseases have become a major problem; in the UK they are estimated to affect around 25% of adults and around 20% of children. Drug treatments with a minimum of adverse reactions could be an important tool alongside preventative measures. TPCs were investigated as a potential target for anti-obesity treatment in two different aspects: adipogenesis and lipid absorption. The studies were based on unpublished evidence that Tpcn1-null mice are leaner with less lipid absorption in the intestine; also, the differentiation from mesenchymal stem cells to adipocytes in a Tpcn2 knock-down cell line is significantly reduced. In this study I showed that pancreatic acinar cells isolated from Tpcn1-null mice have reduced lipase activity, and also that activities of other pancreatic enzymes are reduced. Moreover, Raman spectroscopy of Tpcn1/2 double-knockout pancreatic acinar cells show a reduction in the abundance of cytochrome C, which is the first study that connects TPCs with cytochrome C and should further lead to understanding of the relationship between TPCs and cell apoptosis. With regard to adipocyte differentiation, a shRNA knock-down mesenchymal stem cell model as well as preadipocytes isolated from Tpcn2-null mice showed reduced adipogenesis and the reduction seems to be led by an alteration in cyclic AMP signalling levels that induces Tpcn2 gene expression with calpain as a downstream modulator. In addition, hepatocytes isolated from Tpcn1-null mice were used as a model for SARS-CoV-2 pseudo-virus infection study, and the results showed that TPC1 may have functions in the infection of senile high-fat diet mice, and TPC1 may be regulating expression of TIMP-1 after infection. The study of TPCs’ role in lipid metabolism has expanded our understanding of this pathophysiological process and could lead to the identification of new therapeutic drug targets for anti-obesity treatment

The joining development, metallurgical study and characterisation approach of brazed joints between tungsten and fusion related materials for divertor applications

The design of brazed joints between tungsten to other fusion related materials is a significant challenge in developing fusion reactors, largely due to the dissimilar physical metallurgy of the materials to be joined. Under extreme thermal loading and plasma irradiation conditions, selecting suitable materials is very restricted and poses a significant challenge to the design. The candidate brazing filler materials for fusion related materials are often unconventional and lack material data and design experience. The work presented in this thesis focuses on the design and fabrication of dissimilar brazed joints between tungsten and fusion relevant materials with novel gold-based fillers. Vacuum furnace brazed joints of tungsten-tungsten, tungsten-Eurofer 97, tungsten - copper and tungsten-SS316L are successfully joined with a novel gold-based Au80Cu19Fe filler. Metallurgical and interfacial studies have been carried out for each brazed joint to understand their microstructural properties, and nanoindentation testing was performed at the joints to generate mechanical properties of the brazed layers. Optimised brazing procedures for vacuum furnace brazing and induction brazing were developed to limit the defects within the brazed layers with an equivalent Au80Cu20 filler. The brazing developments showed that the gold-based fillers could be used to fabricate qualified brazed joint between tungsten and the dissimilar materials considered. The brazing process design has been used for the proof-of-concept study of divertor mock-up fabrications, and the findings have contributed to the limited test data on fusion relevant materials. Finally, due to the substantial procurement costs of the gold-based filler material and the inability to generate macro scale properties from the braze layer, the use of conventional Cu60Zn40 fillers allowed a casting and brazing process methodology to be developed to correlate the in situ mechanical properties within the brazed layer to the properties generated by macro-level mechanical testing. The findings showed that this methodology could be used for predicting the mechanical properties of the brazed layer by the cast and heat-treated macro-level filler metal specimens, which are applicable to brazed joints in a range of applications.The design of brazed joints between tungsten to other fusion related materials is a significant challenge in developing fusion reactors, largely due to the dissimilar physical metallurgy of the materials to be joined. Under extreme thermal loading and plasma irradiation conditions, selecting suitable materials is very restricted and poses a significant challenge to the design. The candidate brazing filler materials for fusion related materials are often unconventional and lack material data and design experience. The work presented in this thesis focuses on the design and fabrication of dissimilar brazed joints between tungsten and fusion relevant materials with novel gold-based fillers. Vacuum furnace brazed joints of tungsten-tungsten, tungsten-Eurofer 97, tungsten - copper and tungsten-SS316L are successfully joined with a novel gold-based Au80Cu19Fe filler. Metallurgical and interfacial studies have been carried out for each brazed joint to understand their microstructural properties, and nanoindentation testing was performed at the joints to generate mechanical properties of the brazed layers. Optimised brazing procedures for vacuum furnace brazing and induction brazing were developed to limit the defects within the brazed layers with an equivalent Au80Cu20 filler. The brazing developments showed that the gold-based fillers could be used to fabricate qualified brazed joint between tungsten and the dissimilar materials considered. The brazing process design has been used for the proof-of-concept study of divertor mock-up fabrications, and the findings have contributed to the limited test data on fusion relevant materials. Finally, due to the substantial procurement costs of the gold-based filler material and the inability to generate macro scale properties from the braze layer, the use of conventional Cu60Zn40 fillers allowed a casting and brazing process methodology to be developed to correlate the in situ mechanical properties within the brazed layer to the properties generated by macro-level mechanical testing. The findings showed that this methodology could be used for predicting the mechanical properties of the brazed layer by the cast and heat-treated macro-level filler metal specimens, which are applicable to brazed joints in a range of applications

Density Functional Theory Study on the Electrical Properties of α-CsPbX3 (X=I, Cl, Br)

All-inorganic perovskite solar cells have become more important in the commercialization of the photovoltaic devices. In this study the structural, electronic properties of inorganic metal halide cubic perovskites CsPbX3 (X = I, Br, Cl) for perovskite solar cells are simulated using first-principles Density Functional Theory (DFT). The newly adjusted parameters make the calculations more accurate. These compounds are semiconductors with direct band gap energy. Results suggest that the α-CsPbX3 (X=I, Cl, Br) have a wide bandgap adjustment range with potential application in solar cells and other optoelectronic energy devices. On the basis of the electronic properties, one can expect that the α-CsPbI3 would be a better used to perovskite solar cell. α -CsPbCl3 and α-CsPbBr3 better suitable for others photovoltaic device