Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has become an important tool for remote sensing of the environment. SAR is a set of digital signal processing algorithms that are used to focus the signal returned to the radar because radar systems in themselves cannot produce the high resolution images required in remote sensing applications. To reconstruct an image, several parameters must be estimated and the quality of output image depends on the degree of accuracy of these parameters. In this thesis, we derive the fundamental SAR algorithms and concentrate on the estimation of one of its critical parameters. We show that the common technique for estimating this particular parameter can sometimes lead to erroneous results and reduced quality images. We also employ time-frequency analysis techniques to examine variations in the radar signals caused by platform motion and show how these results can be used to improve output image quality.

Among the many types of organic films, covalently-attached organosulfur monolayers have attracted a great deal of attention. The authors have focused their interest on the fundamental characterization of spontaneously adsorbed organosulfur monolayers. An introductory chapter presents general aspects of monolayer preparation and characterization, followed by a few examples that illustrate the range of applications of these films. This thesis contains two papers. In the first paper, three analogous monolayer precursors are studied to determine their similarities and differences in the monolayer structure. A GC-MS analysis of products form the chemisorption process and open circuit potential measurements are used to derive possible mechanisms behind monolayer formation. The second paper focuses on monolayers formed from thioctic acid, including its characterization and application to cytochrome c electrochemistry. Although thiols and disulfides have been extensively studied as monolayer precursors, thioctic acid is particularly interesting because the disulfide functionality of this asymmetric molecule is contained in a strained five-membered ring. Given the ring strain, steric bulk and asymmetry of the molecule, the study of these monolayers lend insight into the factors important for the formation of organosulfur monolayers. This thesis concludes with a general summary and directions for future studies. 40 refs.

Pure stands of Ryegrass were in their third year of growth in the field, exposed to either ambient (355 {mu}mol mol{sup -1}), or elevated (600 {mu}mol mol{sup -1}) atmospheric CO{sub 2} concentration. A Free-Air CO{sub 2} Enrichment (FACE) system was used to maintain the elevated CO{sub 2} concentration whilst limiting experimental constraints on the field conditions. The theoretically predicted increase in the net rates of CO{sub 2} uptake per unit leaf area (A {mu}mol mol{sup -1}) as a consequence, primarily, of the suppression of photorespiration by CO{sub 2} a competitive inhibitor of RubP oxygenation by Rubisco, was observed for the Lolium perenne studied. Also observed was a general decline in leaf evapotranspiration (E) consistent with observations of increased water use efficiency of crops grown in elevated CO{sub 2}. Enhancement of leaf A in the FACE grown L. perenne ranged from 26.5 1 % to 44.95% over the course of a diurnal set of measurements. Whilst reductions in leaf E reached a maximum of 16.61% over the same diurnal course of-measurements. The increase in A was reconciled with an absence of the commonly observed decline in V{sub c}{sub max} as a measure of the maximum in vivo carboxylation capacity of the …

In the leukemia case the unseparated B and T lymphocytes had a high translocation frequency even after 0.0014, respectively. After purging all clones from the data, the translocation frequencies for Bio 8 and Bio 23 were 0.00750.0014 and 0.0073 metaphases were scored for chromosomal aberrations,, specifically reciprocal translocations, using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Metaphase spreads were used from two healthy, unexposed individuals (not exposed to radiation, chemotherapy or radiotherapy) and one early B- precursor acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) patient (metaphase spreads from both separated T lymphocytes and unseparated B and T lymphocytes were scored). All three individuals had an abnormally high translocation frequency. The high translocation frequencies resulted from clonal expansion of specific translocated chromosomes. I show in this thesis that by purging (discounting or removing) clones from the data of unexposed individuals, one can obtain true background translocation frequencies. In two cases, Bio 8 and Bio 23, the measured translocation frequency for chromosomes 1, 2 and 4 was 0.0124 purging all of the clones from the data. This high translocation frequency may be due to a low frequency of some clones and may not be recognized. The separated T lymphocytes had a higher translocation frequency than expected.

Atmospheric iron (Fe) is thought to play an important role in cloudwater chemistry (e.g., S(IV) oxidation, oxidant production, etc.), and is also an important source of Fe to certain regions of the worlds oceans where Fe is believed to be a rate-limiting nutrient for primary productivity. This thesis focuses on understanding the chemistry, speciation and abundance of Fe in cloudwater and aerosol in the troposphere, through observations of Fe speciation in the cloudwater and aerosol samples collected over the continental United States and the Arabian Sea. Different chemical species of atmospheric Fe were measured in aerosol and cloudwater samples to help assess the role of Fe in cloudwater chemistry.