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Feasibility of an antiproton catalyzed fission fragment rocket

Description: The purpose of this project was to investigate the feasibility of an antiproton catalyzed fission fragment rocket (FFR). The FFR is characterized by the extraction of fission fragments from the fissile fuel, and the utilization of their kinetic energy for thrust generation. A significant drawback to previous FFR designs was the requirement to maintain a critical nuclear pile as the fission fragment source. The author examined the possibility of replacing the critical pile with a sub-critical pile driven by antiprotons. Recent experiments have revealed that antiprotons stimulate highly energetic fissions in {sup 238}U, with a neutron multiplicity of 13.7 neutrons per fission. This interaction was used as a throttled neutron source. The pile consisted of layers of fissile coated fibers which are designed to allow fission fragments to escape them, where the fragments collide with a fluid. The heated fluid is then ejected from the rocket to provide thrust. The calculations performed indicate that each antiproton injected into the pile can stimulate 8 or more fissions while maintaining a neutron multiplication of less than 0.4. Based on the results seen, the engine design presented is inadequate. Limitations introduced by the reaction fluid far outweigh the simplicity-of-design gained. Despite this, the basic idea of using the antiproton-U interaction as a source of spacecraft propulsion warrants further study.
Date: March 1, 1992
Creator: Hdinger, D.S.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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A linear, time-varying simulation of the respiratory tract system

Description: These results show that regional deposition efficiencies of inhaled particles are highly dependent on the level of physical activity in all the spectrum of thermodynamic and aerodynamic aerosol particle sizes; also it was shown that for particles in the aerodynamic size range, the values of regional deposition efficiencies at the inner regions of the lung are highly dependent on age. In addition, the shape of regional deposition efficiency curves as a function of particle size have a similar behavior for all ages; thus, any variation of the airway geometry and respiratory physiological parameters such as tidal volumes and breathing frequencies due to age difference do not cause a change in the fundamental mechanisms of deposition. Thus, for all the cases of physical activity and age dependency, the deposition of ultrafine aerosol particles is highly enhanced by diffusive processes in all regions of the respiratory tract, and for very large aerosol size particles this behavior is repeated again due to impaction and sedimentation mechanisms. Although the results presented at this work, are the result of computer simulations based on different sources of experimental data, the structure of the computer simulation code BIODEP is flexible enough to the acquisition of any kind of new experimental information in terms of biokinetic analysis and regional deposition parameters. In addition, since the design of BIODEP was intended for easy access to the users, then with exception of the subroutine DIVPAG, at this moment, the modular design of BIODEP using FORTRAN 77 allows the implementation of all the subroutines of BIODEP to be used in a interactive mode with any microcomputer.
Date: November 1, 1992
Creator: Hernandez, O.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

A quasi-static polynomial nodal method for nuclear reactor analysis

Description: Modern nodal methods are currently available which can accurately and efficiently solve the static and transient neutron diffusion equations. Most of the methods, however, are limited to two energy groups for practical application. The objective of this research is the development of a static and transient, multidimensional nodal method which allows more than two energy groups and uses a non-linear iterative method for efficient solution of the nodal equations. For both the static and transient methods, finite-difference equations which are corrected by the use of discontinuity factors are derived. The discontinuity factors are computed from a polynomial nodal method using a non-linear iteration technique. The polynomial nodal method is based upon a quartic approximation and utilizes a quadratic transverse-leakage approximation. The solution of the time-dependent equations is performed by the use of a quasi-static method in which the node-averaged fluxes are factored into shape and amplitude functions. The application of the quasi-static polynomial method to several benchmark problems demonstrates that the accuracy is consistent with that of other nodal methods. The use of the quasi-static method is shown to substantially reduce the computation time over the traditional fully-implicit time-integration method. Problems involving thermal-hydraulic feedback are accurately, and efficiently, solved by performing several reactivity/thermal-hydraulic updates per shape calculation.
Date: September 1, 1992
Creator: Gehin, Jess C.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

An analysis of monojet data in p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.8 TEV

Description: An analysis is presented of events with a single jet and significant missing transverse energy selected from 4.7 pb{sup {minus}1} of data collected at the Fermilab Tevatron with the CDF detector. The goal is to identify events of the type p{bar p} {yields} Z{sup 0} + jet; Z{sup 0} {yields} {nu}{bar {nu}}. Event selection and backgrounds are discussed. The number of observed monojet events is compared to the number of observed Z{sup 0} {yields} e{sup +}{sup {minus}} events in which the Z{sup 0} is accompanied by a jet. We measure the number of light neutrino species to be N{sub {nu}} = 2.2{plus_minus}1.5 and we place an upper limit on the number of neutrino species at N{sub {nu}} < 5 (90% C.L.).
Date: December 31, 1992
Creator: Markeloff, R.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

A correlation between soil descriptions and {sup 226}Ra concentrations in Florida soils

Description: The soil radium content in Florida is highly variable. The range in radium concentrations, where the samples involved in this study are concerned, is from 0.1 pCi/g to 18.5 pCi/g. Low {sup 226}Ra concentrations (0.1 to 5 pCi/g) are evidenced in sands, moderate concentrations (5 to 11 pCi/g) are found in silt and gravel, and high {sup 226}Ra concentrations (>11 pCi/g) are found in soil horizons with shell, clay, and strata with phosphate. Strata containing phosphate yields a high concentration of {sup 226}Ra. The information obtained in this study, soil descriptions with their corresponding {sup 226}Ra concentrations, comes from geological cores drilled by geotechnical consultants with gamma spectrometry analysis performed by high resolution gamma spectroscopy. Concentration; of {sup 226}Ra generally increase with depth. These cores are usually terminated at 20 feet deep, with some cores being shallower than this due to hitting bedrock or encountering the water table. These frequency distributions give the core-logging geologist an approximate concentration of {sup 226}Ra based on the description of the soil. Since the correlation of {sup 226}Ra and soil descriptions can be used as a tool in assigning indoor radon potential, this study is of importance to land managers, contractors, developers, and regulating agencies who are attempting to place standards on tracts of land with {sup 226}Ra concentration used as a criterion.
Date: December 31, 1992
Creator: Harrison, D. P.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Growth and characterization of isotopically enriched {sup 70}Ge and {sup 74}Ge single crystals

Description: Isotopically enriched {sup 70}Ge and {sup 74}Ge single crystals were successfully gown by a newly developed vertical Bridgman method. The system allows us to reliably grow high purity Ge single crystals of approximately 1 cm{sup 3} volume. To our knowledge, we have grown the first {sup 70}Ge single crystal. The electrically active chemical impurity concentration for both crystals was found to be {approximately}2 {times} cm{sup {minus}3} which is two order of magnitude better that of {sup 74}Ge crystals previously grown by two different groups. Isotopic enrichment of the {sup 70}Ge and the {sup 74}Ge crystals is 96.3% and 96.8%, respectively. The residual chemical impurities present in both crystals were identified as phosphorus, copper, aluminum, and indium. A wide variety of experiments which take advantage of the isotopic purity of our crystals are discussed.
Date: October 1, 1992
Creator: Itoh, Kohei
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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High resolution photoelectron spectroscopy and femtosecond intramolecular dynamics using supersonic molecular beams

Description: High resolution He I{alpha} photoelectron spectroscopy of formaldehyde and ketene and their deuterated compounds, are reported. The combination of a (H2CO) double-pass high-resolution electron-energy analyzer and effective rotational cooling of the sample by supersonic expansion enable the spectroscopy of these molecular cations. The vibrational autocorrelation functions are calculated from the high-resolution photoelectron spectra, shedding light on the ultrafast intramolecular dynamics of the molecular cations. This study reveals much more vibrational structural detail in the first electronic excited state of H2CO cations. The first electronic excited state of H2CO cations may have nonplanar equilibrium geometry. Strong isotope effects on vibronic (vibrational) coupling are observed in the second electronic excited state of H2CO. Vibrational autocorrelation functions are calculated for all four observed electronic states of H2CO. The correlation function of the first electronic excited state of H2CO shows a slow decay rate on the femtosecond time scale. The ultrafast decay of the H2CO cations in the third electronic excited state implies that dissociation and intramolecular processes are the main decay pathways. The present spectra of the ground states of ketene cations have more fine structure than before. The AIEs of the first and fifth excited states are determined unambiguously more accurately. The doublet-like fine structures present in the lint excited state of ketene implies the excitation of a ``soft`` mode not observed before. The vibrational autocorrelation functions are calculated for 4 of the 6 observed electronic states. The dynamics of the ground states of the cations are characterized by a wave packet oscillating with small amplitude around the minimum on the upper PES. The decay dynamics of the first and the fifth excited states of ketene are characterized by ultra-fast intramolecular processes like predissociation.
Date: September 1, 1992
Creator: Niu, B.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

A study of a tissue equivalent gelatine based tissue substitute

Description: A study of several tissue substitutes for use as volumetric dosimeters was performed. The tissue substitutes studied included tissue substitutes from previous studies and from ICRU 44. The substitutes were evaluated for an overall match to Reference Man which was used as a basis for this study. The evaluation was based on the electron stopping power, the mass attenuation coefficient, the electron density, and the specific gravity. The tissue substitute chosen also had to be capable of changing from a liquid into a solid form to maintain an even distribution of thermoluminesent dosimetry (TLD) powder and then back to a liquid for recovery of the TLD powder without adversely effecting the TLD powder. The gelatine mixture provided the closest match to the data from Reference Man tissue. The gelatine mixture was put through a series of test to determine it`s usefulness as a reliable tissue substitute. The TLD powder was cast in the gelatine mixture and recovered to determine if the TLD powder was adversely effected. The distribution of the TLD powder after being cast into the gelatin mixture was tested in insure an even was maintained.
Date: November 1, 1992
Creator: Spence, J. L.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

A Klein-Gordon acoustic theory

Description: Geophysicists do not associate traveltime variation with density variation in acoustic or elastic wavefield interpretation. Rather, given a constant index of refraction, density variation within the medium of propagation is associated only with amplitudes. This point of view prevails because density does not occur as a variable in classical results such as Snell`s Law or the eikonal equation. Nevertheless, in this paper I predict, analytically, a continuum of density effects on acoustic wavefields-including a dispersive traveltime delay when density variation is rapid. I also examine the ability of a common imaging algorithm to cope with this time delay.
Date: December 1992
Creator: Anno, P. D.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Structural studies of molecular and metallic overlayers using angle- resolved photoemission extended fine structure

Description: Angle-resolved photoemission extended fine structure (ARPEFS) was used to study molecular and metallic overlayers on metal surfaces through analysis of p2mg(2{times}1)CO/Ni(110) and the p(2{times}2)K/Ni(111) adsorption. For the dense p2mg(2{times}1)CO/Ni(110) surface layer, photoemission intensities from C 1s level were measured in three directions at photoelectron kinetic energies 60-400 eV. Using multiple-scattering spherical-wave (MSSW) modeling, it was found that CO molecules are adsorbed on short-bridge sites, with adjacent CO along the [110] direction displaced alternatively in opposite directions towards the [001] azimuths to form a zigzag chain geometry. The tilt angle is 16{plus_minus}2{degree} from the surface normal for the direction linking the C atom and the center of the Ni bridge. The carbon C-Ni interatomic distance was determined to be 1.94{plus_minus}0.02{Angstrom}. The first- to second-layer spacing of Ni is 1.27{plus_minus}0.04{Angstrom}, up from 1.10{Angstrom} for the clean Ni(110) surface, but close to the 1.25{Angstrom} Ni interlayer spacing in the bulk. The C-O bond length and tilt angle were varied within small ranges (1.10--1.20{Angstrom} and 15--23{degrees}) in our MSSW simulations. Best agreement between experiment and simulations was achieved at 1.16{Angstrom} and 19{degrees}. This yields an O-O distance of 2.95{Angstrom} for the two nearest CO molecules, (van der Waals` radius {approximately} 1.5 {Angstrom} for oxygen). Two different partial-wave phase-shifts were used in MSSW, and structural results from both are in very good agreement. For the p(2{times}2)K/Ni(111) overlayer, ARPEFS {chi}(k) curves from K 1s level measured along [111] and [771] at 130K showed that the K atoms are preferentially adsorbed on the atop sites, in agreement with a LEED study of the same system.
Date: October 1, 1992
Creator: Huang, Z.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Growth, life history, and species interactions of bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus) under heavy predation

Description: The purpose of this study was, first, to compare growth and life history characteristics of an unfished population of bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus) in the presence of an abundant predator population to characteristic exhibited by bluegills in typical southeastern US reservoirs where the abundance of predators is reduced, but fishing is increased. The second objective was to determine if differences observed between populations were determined genetically or environmentally.
Date: December 31, 1992
Creator: Belk, M. C.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Perturbation theory in light-cone quantization

Description: A thorough investigation of light-cone properties which are characteristic for higher dimensions is very important. The easiest way of addressing these issues is by analyzing the perturbative structure of light-cone field theories first. Perturbative studies cannot be substituted for an analysis of problems related to a nonperturbative approach. However, in order to lay down groundwork for upcoming nonperturbative studies, it is indispensable to validate the renormalization methods at the perturbative level, i.e., to gain control over the perturbative treatment first. A clear understanding of divergences in perturbation theory, as well as their numerical treatment, is a necessary first step towards formulating such a program. The first objective of this dissertation is to clarify this issue, at least in second and fourth-order in perturbation theory. The work in this dissertation can provide guidance for the choice of counterterms in Discrete Light-Cone Quantization or the Tamm-Dancoff approach. A second objective of this work is the study of light-cone perturbation theory as a competitive tool for conducting perturbative Feynman diagram calculations. Feynman perturbation theory has become the most practical tool for computing cross sections in high energy physics and other physical properties of field theory. Although this standard covariant method has been applied to a great range of problems, computations beyond one-loop corrections are very difficult. Because of the algebraic complexity of the Feynman calculations in higher-order perturbation theory, it is desirable to automatize Feynman diagram calculations so that algebraic manipulation programs can carry out almost the entire calculation. This thesis presents a step in this direction. The technique we are elaborating on here is known as light-cone perturbation theory.
Date: January 1, 1992
Creator: Langnau, A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Lattice gaugefixing and other optics in lattice gauge theory

Description: We present results from four projects. In the first, quark and gluon propagators and effective masses and {Delta}I = 1/2 Rule operator matching coefficients are computed numerically in gaugefixed lattice QCD. In the second, the same quantities are evaluated analytically in the strong coupling, N {yields} {infinity} limit. In the third project, the Schwinger model is studied in covariant gauges, where we show that the effective electron mass varies with the gauge parameter and that longitudinal gaugefixing ambiguities affect operator product expansion coefficients (analogous to {Delta}I = 1/2 Rule matching coefficients) determined by matching gauge variant matrix elements. However, we find that matching coefficients even if shifted by the unphysical modes are {xi} invariant. In the fourth project, we show that the strong coupling parallelogram lattice Schwinger model as a different thermodynamic limit than the weak coupling continuum limit. As a function of lattice skewness angle these models span the {Delta} = {minus}1 critical line of 6-vertex models which, in turn, have been identified as c = 1 conformal field theories.
Date: June 1, 1992
Creator: Yee, Ken
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The effect of rhenium, sulfur and alumina on the conversion of hydrocarbons over platinum single crystals: Surface science and catalytic studies

Description: Conversion reactions of hydrocarbons over Pt-Re model catalyst surfaces modified by sulfur and alumina have been studied. A plasma deposition source has been developed to deposit Pt, Re, and Al on metal substrates variable coverage in ultrahigh vacuum without excessive heating. Conversion of n-hexane was performed over the Re-covered Pt and Pt-covered Re surfaces. The presence of the second metal increased hydrogenolysis activity of both Pt-Re surfaces. Addition of sulfur on the model Catalyst surfaces suppressed hydrogenolysis activity and increased the cyclization rate of n-hexane to methylcyclopentane over Pt-Re surfaces. Sulfiding also increased the dehydrogenation rate of cyclohexane to benzene Over Pt-Re surfaces. It has been proposed that the PtRe bimetallic catalysts show unique properties when combined with sulfur, and electronic interactions exist between platinum, rhenium and sulfur. Decomposition of hydrocarbons on the sulfur-covered Pt-Re surfaces supported that argument. For the conversion of 1-butene over the planar Pt/AlO{sub x}, the addition of Pt increased the selectivity of hydrogenation over isomerization.
Date: April 1, 1992
Creator: Kim, C.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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A High Current, Short Pulse Electron Source for Wakefield Accelerators

Description: Design studies for the generation of a high current, short pulse electron source for the Argonne Wakefield Accelerator are presented. An L-band laser photocathode rf gun cavity is designed using the computer code URMEL to maximize the electric field on the cathode surface for fixed frequency and rf input power. A new technique using a curved incoming laser wavefront to minimize the space charge effect near the photocathode is studied. A preaccelerator with large iris to minimize wakefield effects is used to boost the drive beam to a useful energy of around 20 MeV for wakefield acceleration experiments. Focusing in the photocathode gun and the preaccelerator is accomplished with solenoids. Beam dynamics simulations throughout the preaccelerator are performed using particle simulation codes TBCI-SF and PARMELA. An example providing a useful set of operation parameters for the Argonne Wakefield Accelerator is given. The effects of the sagitta of the curved beam and laser amplitude and timing jitter effects are discussed. Measurement results of low rf power level bench tests and a high power test for the gun cavity are presented and discussed.
Date: 1992
Creator: Ho, Ching-Hung
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Electrostatic turbulence and transport in the RFP edge

Description: This thesis details measurements of electrostatic turbulence and transport in the Madison Symmetric Torus reversed field pinch. The electrostatic fluctuation levels are found to be large, with {tilde n}{sub e}/n{sub e} {approximately} 30%--55% and {tilde T}{sub e}/T{sub e} {approximately} 15%--40%. The frequency and wavenumber spectra are broad, with {Delta}n {approximately} 70--150 and {Delta}m {approximately} 3--6, and differ from measured magnetic fluctuation spectra. The transport inferred from coherence measurements indicates that electrostatic fluctuations can account for most of the observed particle losses, but contribute only {approximately}20% to the observed electron energy loss.
Date: May 1, 1992
Creator: Spragins, C. W.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Oxidation behavior in reaction-bonded aluminum-silicon alloy/alumina powder compacts

Description: Goal of this research is to determine the feasibility of producing low-shrinkage mullite/alumina composites by applying the reaction-bonded alumina (RBAO) process to an aluminum-silicon alloy/alumina system. Mirostructural and compositional changes during heat treatment were studied by removing samples from the furnace at different steps in the heating schedule and then using optical and scanning electron microscopy, EDS and XRD to characterize the powder compacts. Results suggest that the oxidation behavior of the alloy compact is different from the model proposed for the pure Al/alumina system.
Date: December 1, 1992
Creator: Yokota, S. H.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Understanding conformal field theory through parafermions and Chern Simons theory

Description: Conformal field theories comprise a vast class of exactly solvable two dimensional quantum field theories. Conformal theories with an enlarged symmetry group, the current algebra symmetry, axe a key ingredient to possible string compactification models. The following work explores a Lagrangian approach to these theories. In the first part of this thesis, a large class of conformal theories, the so-called coset models, are derived semi-classically from a gauged version Of the Wess-Zumino-Witten functional. A non-local field transformation to the parafermionic field description is employed in the quantization procedure. Classically, these parafermionic fields satisfy non-trivial Poisson brackets, providing insight into the fractional spin nature of the conformal theory. The W-algebra symmetry is shown to appear naturally in this approach. In the second part of this thesis, the connection between the fusion algebra structure of Wess-Zumino-Witten models and the quantization of the Chern-Simons action on the torus is made explicit. The modular properties of the conformal model are also derived in this context, giving a natural demonstration of the Verlinde conjecture. The effects of background gauge fields and monopoles are also discussed.
Date: November 19, 1992
Creator: Hotes, S. A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Superconducting submillimeter and millimeter wave detectors

Description: The series of projects described in this dissertation was stimulated by the discovery of high temperature superconductivity. Our goal was to develop useful applications which would be competitive with the current state of technology. The high-{Tc} microbolometer was developed into the most sensitive direct detector of millimeter waves, when operated at liquid nitrogen temperatures. The thermal boundary resistance of thin YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}0{sub 7-{delta}} films was subsequently measured and provided direct evidence for the bolometric response of high-{Tc} films to fast (ns) laser pulses. The low-{Tc} microbolometer was developed and used to make the first direct measurements of the frequency dependent optical efficiency of planar lithographed antennas. The hot-electron microbolometer was invented less than a year prior to the writing of this dissertation. Our analysis, presented here, indicates that it should be possible to attain up to two orders of magnitude higher sensitivity than that of the best available direct detectors when operated at the same temperature. The temperature readout scheme for this device could also be used to measure the intrinsic interaction between electrons and phonons in a metal with a sensitivity that is five orders of magnitude better than in previous measurements. Preliminary measurements of quasiparticle trapping effects at the interface between a metal and a superconductor are also presented.
Date: October 20, 1992
Creator: Nahum, M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Edge gradient and safety factor effects on electrostatic turbulent transport in tokamaks

Description: Electrostatic turbulence and transport measurements are performed on the Tokapole-II tokamak at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as the safety-factor and the edge equilibrium gradients and varied substantially. Tokapole-II is a poloidal divertor tokamak capable of operating at a wide range of safety factors due to its unique magnetic limiter configuration. It also has retractable material limiters in a large scrape-off region, which permits the study of edge boundary conditions like density and temperature gradients. The turbulence is independent of safety factor, but strongly sensitive to the local density gradient, which itself depends upon the limiter configuration. When a material limiter is inserted in a high <qa> discharge, the density gradient is increased locally together with a local increase of the turbulence. On the other hand, limiter insertion in low <qa> discharges did not increase the density gradient as much and the turbulence properties are unchanged with respect to the magnetic limiter case. It is conducted then, that electrostatic turbulence is caused by the density gradient. Although the electrostatic fluctuation driven transport is enhanced in the large density gradient case, it is in all cases to small to explain the observed energy confinement times. To explore instabilities with small wavelengths, a 0.5 mm diameter shperical Langmuir probe was constructed, and its power compared with the power measured by larger cylindrical probes.
Date: May 1, 1992
Creator: Tan, Ing Hwie
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Reaction and reorientation of electronically excited H{sub 2}(B)

Description: The room temperature rate (TR) constants for fluorescence quenching fluorescence of H{sub 2}, HD, and D{sub 2} B {sup 1}{Sigma}{sub u}{sup +} by {sup 4}He were measured as a function of the initially excited rotational and vibrational level of the hydrogen molecule, and the RT rate constants for molecular angular momentum reorientation of H{sub 2}, HD and D{sub 2} (B {sup 1}{Sigma}{sub u}{sup +}. v{prime}=0, J{prime}=1, M{sub J}=0) in collisions with He, Ne, Ar and H{sub 2}(X {sup 1}{Sigma}{sub g}{sup +}) were also measured. Vibrational state dependence of the quenching cross sections fits a vibrationally adiabatic model of the quenching process. From the vibrational state dependence of the quenching cross section, the barrier height for the quenching reaction is found to be 250{plus_minus}40 cm{sup {minus}1}, and the difference in the H-H stretching frequencies between H{sub 2}(B) and the H{sub 2}-He complex at the barrier to reaction is 140{plus_minus}80 cm{sup {minus}1}. The effective cross sections for angular momentum reorientation in collisions of H{sub 2}, HD, D{sub 2} with He and Ne were found to be about 30 {Angstrom}{sup 2} and were nearly the same for each isotope and with He and Ne as collision partners. Cross sections forreorientation of HD and D{sub 2} in collisions with Ar were 10.6{plus_minus}2.0 and 13.9{plus_minus}3.0 {Angstrom}{sup 2}, respectively. Reorientation of D{sub 2}(B) in collisions with room temperature H{sub 2}(X) occurs with a 7.6{plus_minus}3.4 {Angstrom}{sup 2} cross section. Calculated cross sections using semiclassical and quantum close coupled methods give cross sections for reorientation of H{sub 2}(B) and D{sub 2}(B) in collisions with He that agree quantitatively with experiment. Discrepancy between the calculated and experimental cross sections for HD(B)-HE are likely due to rotational relaxation in HD a Turbo PASCAL version of the data-taking program is included.
Date: September 1, 1992
Creator: Pibel, C. D.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Carotenoid biosynthesis in bacteria: In vitro studies of a crt/bch transcription factor from Rhodobacter capsulatus and carotenoid enzymes from Erwinia herbicola

Description: A putative transcription factor in Rhodobactor capsulatus which binds upstream of the crt and bch pigment biosynthesis operons and appears to play a role in the adaptation of the organism from the aerobic to the anaerobic-photosynthetic growth mode was characterized. Chapter 2 describes the identification of this factor through an in vitro mobility shift assay, as well as the determination of its binding properties and sequence specificity. Chapter 3 focuses on the isolation of this factor. Biochemistry of later carotenoid biosynthesis enzymes derived from the non-photosynthetic bacterium, Erwinia herbicola. Chapter 4 describes the separate overexpression and in vitro analysis of two enzymes involved in the main sequence of the carotenoid biosynthesis pathway, lycopene cyclase and 5-carotene hydroxylase. Chapter 5 examines the overexpression and enzymology of functionally active zeaxanthin glucosyltransferase, an enzyme which carries out a more unusual transformation, converting a carotenoid into its more hydrophilic mono- and diglucoside derivatives. In addition, amino acid homology with other glucosyltransferases suggests a putative binding site for the UDP-activated glucose substrate.
Date: November 1, 1992
Creator: O`Brien, D. A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Use of ligand-modified micellar-enhanced ultrafiltration to selectively separate copper ions from wastewater streams

Description: The selective removal of target ions from an aqueous solution containing ions of like charge by ligand-modified micellar-enhanced ultrafiltration (LM-MEUF), is presented. In LM-MEUF, surfactant and specially tailored ligand are added to the contaminated stream. The surfactant forms aggregates called micelles, the hydrocarbon core of which the ligand complexed with the target species will solubilize. The surfactant is chosen to have the same charge type as the target ion; therefore, other ions (with similar charge) will not associate with the micelle, which makes the separation of the target ion selective. The solution is then processed by ultrafiltration, using a membrane with pore size small enough to block the passage of the micelles. In this study the divalent copper is the target ion in the solution containing divalent calcium. The surfactant is cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) and the ligand is 4-hexadecyloxybenzyliminodiacetic acid (C{sub 16}BIDA). Experiments were conducted with batch stirred cells and the results have been compared to separation that take place under a variety of conditions in the LM-MEUF process. Rejections of copper of up to 99.8% are observed, with almost no rejection of calcium, showing that LM-MEUF has excellent selectivity and separation efficiency.
Date: December 31, 1992
Creator: Shadizadeh, S. B.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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