Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Electron Attachment To Molecules In Very High Pressure Gases, Ronald Earl Goans

Doctoral Dissertations

Introduction: The study of low energy electron attachment to molecules is of fundamental importance in both the physical and biological sciences. These processes are important in the physical sciences because many molecular parameters can be directly or indirectly determined from electron attachment studies. Such parameters include electron affinities of molecules, electron attachment rate constants and cross sections, autoionization lifetimes of transient negative ion species, bond dissociation energies, and shapes of molecular and negative ion potential energy curves. Electron attachment studies are important in biology because of the large number of low energy electrons that are produced when ionizing radiation interacts …

Environmental Study Of A Portion Of The Middle Ordovician In Sequatchie Valley, Eastern Tennessee, Ernest Wilson Blythe Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

A detailed depositional environmental analysis of a portion of Middle Ordovician Carters Limestone and Hermitage Formation in Sequatchie Valley in East Tennessee was made using six stratigraphic sections as closely spaced as permitted by reasonably complete outcrops. The approximately 60 feet of rocks of this stratigraphic interval include 18 distinct lithologies as determined from a field study and examination of samples collected at one foot intervals and closer with changes in lithology. Two bentonite beds generally accepted as being isochronous units offer a time framework. In all 565 samples were collected and of these 447 were cut, polished, and an …

The Chemical And Electrochemical Oxidative Decarboxylation Of Methyliminodiacetic Acid In Acid Media, Rita Kathleen Hessley

Doctoral Dissertations

"Methyliminodiacetic acid (MIDA) is oxidized with cerium. (IV) in both perchloric and sulfuric acids to give sarcosine, formaldehyde, and carbon dioxide"--Abstract, page 2.

Cross Sections For Photoionization Of The 6²P-Fine Structure Levels Of Cesium, John Daniel Jones

Doctoral Dissertations

"The cross sections for photoionization of excited cesium from the 6²P_3/2- and 6²P_1/2-fine structure levels have been measured using a triple crossed-beam apparatus. Two photon beams, one for excitation and one for ionization, impinge upon an atomic beam and produce ions at the point of intersection. The relative cross section is determined from a knowledge of the ion count rate and the relative photon flux of the ionization light. The results are normalized to available theoretical calculations and compared with recombination measurements in cesium plasmas. The present cross sections are found to decrease with …

A Study Of The Kinetic And Thermodynamic Properties Of Carbon Acids In Methanol, Dennis L. Filger

Doctoral Dissertations

The thermodynamic acidity (pK_a) of iodoform in methanol was determined at 25°C and 35°C; the values are 18.74 and 18.05, respectively . These acidity constants were determined by a modification of the equilibrium quenching technique which involves the conversion of the conjugate base of iodoform, present at equilibrium, to the radioactively labelled acid.

The rate constants for the methoxide-catalyzed hydrogentritium exchange of chloroform, iodoform, 9-phenylfluorene and indene were determined in methanol at various temperatures. The second-order rate constants obtained from these studies were shown to be the rate constants for removal of a triton. The activation parameters (ΔH …

On Interaction In The Two-Way Aov Model Without Replication Including Power Comparisons Of Two Tests For Non-Additivity, Victor John Hegemann

Doctoral Dissertations

"Data analysts have long been concerned with the problem of giving a complete analysis of the two-way crossed classification design with one observation per cell when interaction is present in the data. Conventional tests of hypotheses and statistical inferences are not applicable in this case since an estimate of the error variance is not available. Transformation of the data to additive data has been one solution to this problem; however, interpretation of the physical units of the transformed data is difficult. Recent contributions to the analysis of this design include a test for interaction, a test for testing differences in …

Metal Salt Catalyzed Carbenoids Ii, Robert Stephen Mcdaniel Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

"The interaction of diazomalonic esters with olefins in the presence of homogeneous Cu(II) catalyst species has been examined relating to olefin structure effects and catalyst structure effects using partial rate data as a method of determining the mechanistic aspects of the various reactions.

It has been possible to examine the mechanistic details of cyclopropanation, C-H insertion, and both "dimer" forming reactions.

Cyclopropanation proceeds via a transition state including olefin, copper (II), ligands, and carbene C-H insertion results from hydrogen abstraction prior to collapse of the transition state. "Dimer" is formed by the attack of diazo compound on the carbenoid carbon, …

Methods And Applications Of The Mean-Variance Portfolio Selection Model, John W. Marsh

Doctoral Dissertations

"The Mean-Variance portfolio selection model, or Efficient Market model, is examined in terms of the small investor. The performance is first tested on the small sample space of the thirty Dow Jones Industrials. The results show that it is possible to outperform the market by investing in the minimum-variance, or safest, portfolio. The Critical-Line algorithm as developed by Markowitz and modified by Sharpe is used in this analysis.

Since the Critical-Line algorithm is very time-consuming and does not always converge to a solution, an alternate algorithm is developed. This algorithm, referred to as the “Simplified Algorithm”, is designed to find …

Base-Induced Reactions Of P-Nitrobenzyl Compounds, Paul Henry Ruehle

Doctoral Dissertations

"The base-induced reactions of several p-nitrobenzyl compounds were studied. The products varied with changes in the leaving groups. With relatively poor leaving groups (Cl, S⁺(Me)₂), p,p'- dinitrostilbene was produced in good yield. The products of the reaction of p-nitrobenzyl chloride and hydroxide ion in 50% aqueous dioxane were 52.0% p,p'-dinitrostilbene, 43.9% cis- and trans-p,p'-dinitrostilbene oxides, 3.2% p-nitrobenzyl alcohol, and traces of other compounds. With dissolved oxygen, no stilbene was produced; the main product was 88% cis- and trans-p,p'-dinitrostilbene oxides. The addition of small amounts of di-t-butyl nitroxide caused a decrease in both the rate of the reaction and the amount …

Kinetic And Thermodynamic Acidities Of Selected Weakly Acidic Hydrocarbons, Darrell R. Strait

Doctoral Dissertations

"The kinetic and thermodynamic acidities in methanol for bromoform and phenylacetylene have been determined at various temperatures. The thermodynamic acidities of phenylacetylene were obtained through a quench method which involved tritium tagging of the phenylacetylene anions present at equilibrium. With the use of this method, a pK_a of 18.34 for phenylacetylene at 0ºC was obtained. Through the use of these acidities, it was shown that the kinetics for these proton exchange processes are not diffusion controlled.

Isotope effects ( k_H/ k_D) were obtained for chloroform, bromoform and phenylacetylene at three temperatures (0ºC, -10ºC and -20ºC). …

On Integrability And L¹ Convergence Of Certain Cosine Sums, John William Garrett

Doctoral Dissertations

"Rees and Stanojevic altered the standard cosine series and obtained a necessary and sufficient condition for integrability of the altered sum. Here these sums are generalized, and it is shown that such sums converge in L¹-norm"--Abstract, page iv.

Solvability Of Differential Systems Near Singular Points, Leon M. Hall

Doctoral Dissertations

"Functional analysis techniques are used to prove a theorem, analogous to the Harris-Sibuya-Weinberg theorem for ordinary differential equations, which yields as corollaries a number of existence theorems for holomorphic solutions of linear functional differential systems of the form z^Dy'(z) = A(z)y(z) + B(z)y(αz) + C(z)y'(αz) in the neighborhood of the singularity at z = 0"--Abstract, page 2.

Double Reflection Dips - From Grating Ruled Semiconductors, Le-Fu Teng

Doctoral Dissertations

"The double dips, previously observed by Fischer, Anderson, et al., which appeared in the reflection spectra of grating surfaces on the Te-doped semiconductors GaAs and InSb around the plasmon and phonon frequencies have been measured in more detail. In the plasmon region, several possible explanations of the phenomenon are discussed. A simple equation checked with the rigorous theory is proposed and is shown to fit the data well. In the phonon region, the extra dip is calculated and identified as being caused by surface phonons"--Abstract, page ii.

Surface Electromagnetic Waves With Damping I. Isotropic Media Ii. Anisotropic Media, Gary Shannon Kovener

Doctoral Dissertations

Paper 1: “Surface electromagnetic wave (SEW) dispersion curves are usually calculated using a simple equation derived from Maxwell’s equations and boundary conditions. When complex dielectric functions are used for the two media, the component of the propagation vector along the surface k_x becomes infinite as the frequency ω approaches the surface polariton frequency ω_s if ω is considered complex and k_x real. On the other hand, if k_x is considered complex and ω real, the dispersion curves bend back toward smaller k_x as ω approaches ω_s. We have previously demonstrated that both types …