Thesis (Ph. D.)--Lehigh University, 2006. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-113).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2005. / Title from title screen. Richard D Phillips, committee chair; Neil A Doherty, Sanjay Srivastava, Jayant R Kale, Ajai Subramanian, committee members. Electronic text (133 p. : ill. (some col.)) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed June 26, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-74).

In recent years a great deal of attention has been paid to the determination of chemical bond energies. This has been due to a variety of factors, one important reason has been the development during the last twenty years of ideas about the detailed molecular interactions which take place during the process of chemical change. Since chemical change involves the making and breaking of bonds, either as separate or simultaneous processes, it is clear that progress from qualitative to quantitative explanations of chemical interactions will be greatly assisted by more precise knowledge of the strength of the links in the individual molecules. The early tables of bond energies (of Pauling) laid more emphasis on the approximate constancy of the values for any bond in various molecules than on variation from the mean. Chemical intuition on the other hand, would suggest that the difference in the reactivity of say CH₃.CH₂.C1 and CH₃.C00C1 might be due chiefly to some difference in the strength of the C-C1 links. More recent work substantiates this and has provided evidence from various sources to show how bond energies for certain links depend on their molecular environment. In the following pages a survey is given of the methods which have been employed for this purpose and some of the results achieved.

Mortgage-Backed securities (MBS) represent a financial instrument which "securitizes" residential first mortgages. Although the trading processes of MBS are similar to those of bonds, there are significant differences between the valuation methods of MBS and other securities. One of the sources of these differences is the possibility of prepayment of the mortgages. This study makes the distinction between full prepayment and partial prepayment. The results of this study suggest that full prepayment is directly related to housing market activities and partial prepayment is affected mainly by the prepayment provision in the mortgage contracts. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

In 1985, Merrill Lynch introduced Liquid Yield Option Notes, or LYONS into the exotic derivative corporate capital market. Based on a plain vanilla bond, its features were changed to accommodate risk protection for issuers and holders. The hybrid bond is both callable and puttable, it is convertible into common stock, and issued as a zero coupon discount bond. The put and call options are intended to reduce short-term interest rate risk corporations and holders are exposed to. Smith and Smithson (1990) propose that LYONs were introduced to reduce underinvestment, asset substitution, and claim dilution. If LYONs were designed to reduce agency costs and align stockholder/bondholder interests several factors can be associated with these securities according to Nash {1994). Identifying firms likely to issue these securities can be found by examining several financial ratios including, debt to equity, leverage, standard deviation of earnings, and debt rating. It is important to know what type of firm is issuing these securities and if stated objectives align with the empirical evidence embedded in the contractual elements. Few studies have been done in the areas of exotic derivative options but as the amount of capital raised through LYONs approaches $50 billion, it is important for investors to become familiar with this instrument, as many institutional investors for pension funds, and other mutual accounts buy into these instruments. Updating the work of Nash (1994) to include issues of LYONs after 1993 to present will test the indicators defined by his contracting-cost explanation for the existence of LYONs. Further knowledge can be gained by assessing more recent issues. Analyzing how recent interest rate, and federal government regulation of the exotic derivative securities market provides insight into future derived offerings and objectives. This thesis will describe the environment and provide insight into the motivations for bond issuers and holders. My intent is to make an assumption about the outcome versus stated objectives. With a sample set of 20 contracts randomly selected from years 1985-2002, I examine several variables within the contracts and the corporations issuing them. Factors such as yield, maturity, face value, conversion premium, and industry are used to analyze the contracts. Factors such as debt to equity, leverage, standard deviation of earnings, are used to determine a correlation in the likelihood of issuing LYONs. Trading history is examined to determine which risk is best protected against by the attached put and call options, and whether corporations or investors are typically realizing the benefits.

Developmental psychology aims to elucidate how children's early relationships influence their interactions with the world. Piaget's cognitive development theory is often noted when discussing development, and although his cognitive descriptions of decentering (i.e., perspective taking) were compelling, they neglected interpersonal contexts. Accordingly, Feffer conceptualized decentering within a social context. To expand on Feffer's consideration of the social context, the current study explored early parent-child bonds and their impact on child development, specifically interpersonal decentering, in adolescence. In the present secondary analysis of data from the Institute of Human Development longitudinal Guidance Study at the University of California, Berkeley, I hypothesized that, for both boys and girls, conflict with relatives and a parent's nervous instability would moderate the association between early strong parental bonds and more mature decentering at ages 12.5 and 18 years, and that more imaginative play, introspection, and better physical health would moderate the relationship between strong father-son bonds at age 21 months and the son's more mature decentering at age 12.5 and 18 years. The findings revealed that the association between strong father-son bonds at 21 months and the son's more mature decentering at age 12.5 was strongest when the son was less introspective compared to when the son was more introspective. When sons were in better health at ages 5-10 years and 11-17 years, their father-son bonds at age 21 months were more strongly related to more mature decentering at age 18 compared to sons who were in fair to poor health. The current study expands on the impact parental bonds, particularly paternal for sons, have on a child's social cognitive development.

Selective ester bond cleavage using lithium and zinc halides was attempted in a select group of phospholipids, namely phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), and phosphatidylserine (PS). Several reaction parameters including catalyst (lithium chloride, lithium bromide, lithium iodide, zinc chloride, zinc bromide and zinc iodide), reaction temperature (21, 30, 50 and 60 oC), and reaction time (2 and 4 hours) were varied and the effects on cleavage studied. Reacted phospholipid samples were characterized by attenuated total reflectance (ATR) and transmission FTIR spectroscopy. The FTIR spectra of pure (unreacted) and reacted PC, PE and PE were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively (Peak Height Ratio). The appearance of asymmetric carboxylate anion stretch (1577 cm-1) and symmetric phosphonyl dianion stretch (1006 cm-1) in the reacted phospholipid spectra reveals cleavage of ester bonds in carbonyl and phosphonyl. Reaction temperature and time did not significantly influence the cleavage results over the temperature and time range tested.

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