Gas phase experimental and computational investigations are described for F--H2 and the halide-methane complexes and clusters, F--(CH4)n and Cl--(CH4)n. Vibrational predissociation spectroscopy in conjunction with tandem mass spectrometry are used to obtain mid-infrared spectra of each complex in the ligand’s hydrogen stretch region. Ab initio calculations are used to predict structures, binding energies and vibrational frequencies and intensities. By examining the changes in both the vibrational frequencies and intensities of the neutral moiety upon complexation with the anion, and comparing these with the theoretical predictions, structures are able to be inferred. (For complete abstract open document)

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2005. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 53 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 52-53).

Students come to college for a change and for most this is their first time away from home. Some students come looking for acceptance and a chance to freely be themselves. Individuals that identify as transgender or gender-variant have a difficult time finding a way to be themselves in this setting when they do not have a safe place to live. This research examines students who live in campus housing at a large, Midwestern institution. Past research on transgender issues is presented in its limited availability along with the results of an electronic survey of student opinions of gender-neutral housing and restrooms. The possibility of instituting such changes at this specific institution is examined.

Objective: The primary aim of this retrospective cohort study was to determine the association between the source of dietary protein intake and the sum of plasma concentration of large neutral amino acids (LNAA) in patients with Phenylketonuria (PKU). A secondary aim of the study was to examine the effect of dietary compliance on plasma concentration of LNAA. Methods: The analysis included combined participant data from two previous studies conducted at the Emory University School of Medicine. Subjects are males (n=34) and females (n=43) with PKU ages 4-50 years. A Student t-test was used to compare total combined plasma LNAA (excluding tryptophan and phenylalanine) by dietary compliance status (alpha=0.05). Correlation statistics were used to determine the association between the ratio of reported intact food protein to medical food protein on plasma levels of LNAA. Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the contribution of intact protein to medical food protein ratio and other variables to plasma LNAA. Results: The median ratio of intact protein to medical food protein reported was 0.354 (IQR: 0.188, 0.914). Median percent of PHE intake over the PHE intake recommendation was 31.64 (Interquartile range [IQR]; 7.44, 104.98). Plasma concentration of LNAA did not differ significantly between those with plasma PHE levels within the therapeutic range μmol/L (compliant; 611.7 μmol/L [n=19]) vs levels above the therapeutic range (non-compliant; 595.3 μmol/L [n=47]); p=0.613). There was an inverse marginal correlation between the ratio of intact protein to medical food protein and plasma concentration of LNAA for those who were compliant (r = -0.436, r = 0.1) although the association was not statistically significant (p=0.08). No correlation was found for patients who were non-compliant. Regression analysis revealed that plasma concentration of LNAA was not significantly affected by the ratio of intact protein to medical food protein ratio, age, or gender. Conclusions: Although not statistically significant, a negative trend was observed between plasma LNAA concentration and the intact protein to medical food protein ratio in patients compliant with the PHE prescription. This suggests that the ratio of intact dietary protein to protein coming from medical food, as reported by patient diet records, may promote increased plasma LNAA levels in the effective treatment of PKU. The majority of the sample (74%) were non-compliant with diet based on plasma PHE levels. Future studies are needed to determine the consequences of non-compliance by decreased intake of medical food protein or increased intake of intact protein on plasma LNAA concentration and downstream health effects.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / In recent history there have been several advances in cosmology, which has significantly shaped our understanding of the Universe. The current leading theory is called ΛCDM, which can successfully model the expansion of the Universe from a primordial state and describe the dynamics of its contents, thereby resulting in the large-scale structure present today. The model is based on general relativity, that describes gravitational interaction as the curvature of a four-dimensional manifold called space-time. However, despite the many successes of ΛCDM, there are a number of things that need further investigation. The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) is the oldest observable radiation in the Universe, and this cosmological relic contains a detectable structure. The process leading up to the CMB determines the initial conditions of ΛCDM, but is still poorly understood. It is widely accepted that inflation was responsible for the rapid expansion after the Big Bang, although this is yet to be verified experimentally. The distribution of the primordial potential is imprinted on ultra-large scales of the matter distribution, which offers an important insight into uncovering this mystery. In addition to the primordial Universe, there are other concepts that still puzzle us in ΛCDM itself. The fact that we have been unable to directly detect and explain these dark components (that make up around 96% of the Universe) has prompted several theorists to consider alternative cosmological models. Therefore, testing general relativity and ΛCDM is still an essential part of cosmological research. A key observational discriminant between general relativity and modified theories of gravity is the rate at which the large-scale structure grows from small perturbations. The relativistic effects (or light-cone effects) expected in general relativity also offer an independent test of the gravitational model.

The aim of the thesis is to present a robust conceptual framework for risk management of non-financial companies in order to improve decision making in the area of hedging with derivative instruments. Application of modern quantitative methods.

No description available.

The results of a study of the neutral hydrogen (HI) content and distribution within a sample of 18 blue compact dwarf galaxies (BCDs) are presented. An investigation of the behaviour of the gas-to-dust ratio (GDR) as a function of metallicity (Z) is also presented. Observations of these BCDs was performed using the Very Large Array (VLA) in 2009, a year in which the array was undergoing a technological upgrade to the the Karl G. Jansky VLA (JVLA). The observations were reduced and images processed using the Astronomical Image Processing Software (AIPS), and data cubes for each galaxy were produced. The results include detections of eleven HI lines (two new detections) and ten background continuum sources (two new discoveries). All detections are at a higher resolution and/or sensitivity than previous measurements. These detections spanned a large range of line widths and HI masses; some masses comparable to those in normal galaxies. Of particular interest was the discovery of a compact absorption feature in the dwarf galaxy Haro 11. A paper submitted to the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS) Letters on this discovery is presented. Another significant result was the discovery of a highly extended and massive HI region in the dwarf galaxy CGCG 297-017. For those galaxies with no detected HI line or radio continuum, an upper limit to the flux density was computed, which was used to derive upper limits to the HI mass or star-formation rate (SFR) respectively. Three HI flux density upper limits are new results, and seven continuum flux density upper limits are also new. The GDR-Z relation at low metallicities shows a potential power law or broken power law relation with a turning point at Z=7.96 or Z=8.05. To within error, these turning points and power law indices of the broken power law fits are consistent with other work. / Thesis (Master, Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy) -- Queen's University, 2013-09-30 20:21:20.045

The synthesis, characterization and coordination chemistry of novel zwitterionic late transition metal complexes has been carried out, and an investigation of their ability to act as olefin polymerisation catalysts has been conducted. These systems are based on 6- aminofulvene-2-aldiminate ligands (R2AFA¯) which are capable of binding metal centres via two nitrogen donors, delocalising the negative charge into their cyclopentadienyl moiety, thus resulting in the formation of neutral zwitterionic complexes. Preparation and characterisation of mono- and di-substituted complexes such as Ph2AFACuPPh3, (Ph2AFA)2Zn, (Ph2AFA)2Co, (Ph2AFA)2Ni and (Ph2AFA)2Pd have revealed that this type of ligand has enough flexibility to distort upon coordination to the metal depending on geometrical or steric restrictions. As a result, when the ligand coordination involves narrow binding angle of the metal chelate, as it happens in the square-planar species, a severe loss of planarity of the ligand framework is observed, in contrast with the tetrahedral structures where such binding angles are wider. Although the coordination of the ligand primarily occurs through the nitrogen donors, once they have been occupied by the metal centre, it is possible to exploit the aromatic Cp ring for coordination to a Cp*Ru+ unit. In this way, the synthesis and characterisation of two- and tri-metallic complexes [(Cp*Ru)(Ph’2AFA)Pd(η3-C3H5)][BF4] (where Ph’= 2,4,6-trimethylphenyl) and [(Cp*Ru)2(Ph2AFA)2Pd][BF4]2 has been achieved, featuring the R2AFA¯ molecule acting as an ambidentate ligand, binding the palladium atom in a diimine fashion and the ruthenium centres by means of the C5 ring. The synthesis of the complex Cp*RuPh2AFA where the two N atoms are vacant was also achieved and it was found that this compound acts as a proton sponge in the presence of protic solvents. In an effort to prepare AFA-metal complexes which could be of potential use in olefin polymerisation catalysis, two novel species, [(Ph2AFA)Pd(Me)PPh3] and [(Ph’2AFA)Pd(C3H5)] (where Ph’= 2,4,6-trimethylphenyl) have been synthesised and characterised, and polymerisation tests with ethylene have been carried out. Some preliminary screening of other molecules as monomers for polymerisation catalysis has also been conducted.

The use of forward-looking information from option prices attracted a lot of attention after the 2008 financial crisis, which highlighting the difficulty of using historical data to predict extreme events. Although a considerable number of papers investigate extraction of forward-information from cross-sectional option prices, Figlewski (2008) argues that it is still an open question and none of the techniques is clearly superior. This thesis focuses on getting information from option prices and investigates two broad topics: applying machine learning in extracting state price density and recovering natural probability from option prices. The estimation of state price density (often described as risk-neutral density in the option pricing litera- ture) is of considerable importance since it contains valuable information about investors' expectations and risk preferences. However, this is a non-trivial task due to data limitation and complex arbitrage-free constraints. In this thesis, I develop a more efficient linear programming support vector machine (L1-SVM) estimator for state price density which incorporates no-arbitrage restrictions and bid-ask spread. This method does not depend on a particular approximation function and framework and is, therefore, universally applicable. In a parallel empirical study, I apply the method to options on the S&P 500, showing it to be comparatively accurate and smooth. In addition, since the existing literature has no consensus about what information is recovered from The Recovery Theorem, I empirically examine this recovery problem in a continuous diffusion setting. Using the market data of S&P 500 index option and synthetic data generated by Ornstein-Uhlenbeck (OU) process, I show that the recovered probability is not the real-world probability. Finally, to further explain why The Recovery Theorem fails and show the existence of associated martingale component, I demonstrate a example bivariate recovery.