This report discusses the following topics on support minimized inversion of acoustic and elastic wave scattering: Minimum support inversion; forward modelling of elastodynamic wave scattering; minimum support linearized acoustic inversion; support minimized nonlinear acoustic inversion without absolute phase; and support minimized nonlinear elastic inversion.

For the last decade, the Trahanovsky research group has focused on the study of various reactive molecules such as o-quinodimethanes (o-QDM`s) and p-quinodimethanes (p-QDM`s) derived from benzene, furan, and thiophene. These types of molecules are reactive and dimerize or polymerize at room temperature. One of the group`s interests is to understand the dimerization mechanism of these molecules. Paper 1 describes the preparation and dimerization product analyses of 2-ethylidene-5-methylene-2,5-dihydrothiophene. Insights provided by these results into the mechanism of the dimerization of 2,5-dimethylene-2,5-dihydrothiophene are discussed. In paper 2, a convenient synthesis of cyclooctadecane is presented.

Problems with MoSi{sub 2} include low-temperature fracture toughness, high-temperature creep resistance, and ``pest`` phenomena. Oxygen introduced by powder processing may be the cause of some of these problems. This study led to the following conclusions: Supplied powders have significant oxygen present prior to processing (up to 2.5 %), in the form of silica on the surface. This oxygen contamination did not increase by exposure to air at room temperature. An improved powder processing method was developed that uses glass encapsulation. Analysis of microstructures created from powders that contained 4900 to 24,100 ppM oxygen showed that the silica was transferred to the fully dense MoSi{sub 2} as SiO{sub 2} inclusions. A method of producing MoSi{sub 2} with less oxygen was attempted.

After introducing the subject of conjugated polymers, the thesis has three sections each containing a literature survey, results and discussion, conclusions, and experimental methods on the following: synthesis, characterization of electroluminescent polymers containing conjugated aryl, olefinic, thiophene and acetylenic units and their studies for use in light-emitting diodes; synthesis, characterization and study of conjugated polymers containing silole unit in the main chain; and synthesis, characterization and study of silicon-bridged and butadiene-linked polythiophenes.

Highly dispersed transition metal catalysts are used in numerous commercial processes such as hydrocarbon conversions. For example, the use of Pt supported on acidic alumina or silica-alumina for reforming of naphtha in the production of gasoline is well known. Another use of supported catalysts is in automobile emission control where supported Pt-Rh bimetallic catalysts are used. Supported Ru can be used in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis for the production of higher hydrocarbons from synthesis gas. While many of these catalyst systems have been in commercial operation for several decades there is still a lack of consensus regarding the exact role of the catalyst on a molecular level. In particular, little is known about the mechanisms operating on the catalyst surface at the high pressure and high temperature conditions typically used in commercial operations. This report contains the general introduction and conclusions and an appendix containing the operating instructions for a microcalorimeter. Three chapters have been processed separately. They are: the effect of K on the kinetics and thermodynamics of hydrogen adsorption on Ru/SiO{sub 2}; hydrogen adsorption states on silica supported Ru-Ag and Ru-Cu bimetallic catalysts investigated via microcalorimetry; a comparative study of hydrogen chemisorption on silica supported Ru, Rh, and Pt.

This dissertation explores in large part the development of a few types of spectroscopic methods in the analysis of water. Methods for the determination of some of the most important properties of water like pH, metal ion content, and chemical oxygen demand are investigated in detail. This report contains a general introduction to the subject and the conclusions. Four chapters and an appendix have been processed separately. They are: chromogenic and fluorogenic crown ether compounds for the selective extraction and determination of Hg(II); selective determination of cadmium in water using a chromogenic crown ether in a mixed micellar solution; reduction of chloride interference in chemical oxygen demand determination without using mercury salts; structural orientation patterns for a series of anthraquinone sulfonates adsorbed at an aminophenol thiolate monolayer chemisorbed at gold; and the role of chemically modified surfaces in the construction of miniaturized analytical instrumentation.

This report contains a general introduction which discusses solid-phase extraction and solid-phase micro-extraction as sample preparation techniques for high-performance liquid chromatography, which is also evaluated in the study. This report also contains the Conclusions section. Four sections have been removed and processed separately: silicalite as a sorbent for solid-phase extraction; a new, high-capacity carboxylic acid functionalized resin for solid-phase extraction; semi-micro solid-phase extraction of organic compounds from aqueous and biological samples; and the high-performance liquid chromatographic determination of drugs and metabolites in human serum and urine using direct injection and a unique molecular sieve.

This thesis describes an experiment in which a neutral atom laser trap loaded with radioactive {sup 21}Na was improved and then used for measurements. The sodium isotope (half-life=22 sec) is produced on line at the 88in cyclotron at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The author developed an effective magnesium oxide target system which is crucial to deliver a substantive beam of {sup 21}Na to the experiment. Efficient manipulation of the {sup 21}Na beam with lasers allowed 30,000 atoms to be contained in a magneto-optical trap. Using the cold trapped atoms, the author measured to high precision the hyperfine splitting of the atomic ground state of {sup 21}Na. She measured the 3S{sub 1/2}(F=1,m=0)-3S{sub 1/2}(F=2,m=0) atomic level splitting of {sup 21}Na to be 1,906,471,870{+-}200 Hz. Additionally, she achieved initial detection of beta decay from the trap and evaluated the prospects of precision beta decay correlation studies with trapped atoms.

None