Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 275-287).

This work is a contribution to the theory of the quantum tunneling effect. In the literature at least two barriers are studied, for which the third-order contribution to the phase - integral asymptotic approximation of the transmission coefficient do not contribute. These are the parabolic barrier and the inverse Morse barrier. In the present work we will show that with a proper choice of the so called base function there is at least one more barrier in this category namely the Eckart-Epstein potential. The fact that the third - order contribution vanishes is a good indication that we have found an optimal choice of the base function, and the treatment to find an optimal base function may be possible to generalize to other classes of potential barriers.    For particles of a low energy compared to the energy near the top of the barrier we obtain a vary low transmission coefficient, which means that the probability for tunneling to occur is very low. There exist some cases, for example that with a double barrier which is transparent, even for certain relatively low energies but no evidence for this kind of transparency for a single barrier has been found. The present work does not give any such evidence. At the same time there are still speculations on cold fusion like effects, which would demand a higher probability for tunneling through for a single barrier.

The main objectives of the project are: Exploit the opportunity for internationalization offered by the sale of stocks, in which there is no direct competition on the Internet either in Spain or in Europe. Find an outlet for Spanish products by marketing them in other countries and vice versa, in order to maintain the image of the brand name in the country of origin, among other reasons. Automate the process whereby an offer or demand originating in Spain can interact with an offer or demand in another country, which was previously unimaginable. We call this multi-language and multi-currency. Develop new applications to improve the handling of stocks both on the SOLOSTOCKS platform itself and in the internal management processes of client firms, which can acquire software in ASP format.

Two experiments have been conducted to ascertain if a cell with a palladium cathode, a platinum anode, and a solution of H2SO4 in D2O can produce excess heat under electrolysis compared to a similar cell with H2O. In each experiment, two cells were connected in series with constant current. The two cells were identical except for the fact that the heavy water cell used D2O instead of H2O in the electrolyte. Both cells in each experiment employed Pd cathodes, Pt anodes, and H2SO4 in the solution. On a piece of Pd foil that had been cold-rolled and cleaned like the cathodes but had not been electrolyzed, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) failed to find any traces of unexpected elements. In the first experiment the indication was that the light water cell was slightly warmer despite receiving slightly less power. Small amounts of silver were found on both cathodes after electrolysis. In the second experiment, the D2O cell produced an excess heat relative to the H2O cell that was too large by at least an order of magnitude to be explainable by chemical reactions or mechanical artifacts. After electrolysis, it was found that Cd was present on the surface of the H2O cathode at levels of concentration that were variable but generally no less than 4% relative to Pd (above 3σ). The H2O cathode of this second experiment finished electrolysis very straight. The D2O cell cathode finished severely arched (~30o), with its convex side facing the anode, and covered in a deposit of powdery black substance which was most likely PdS formed accidentally on the first day of this experiment when the D2O cell had been run with the wrong polarity. On this D2O cell cathode, no statistically significant traces of Cd were detected but Ag was present in 2-5% concentration relative to Pd. In some spots, the Ag abundance surpassed 20% that of Pd. The most likely explanation is neutron-induced nuclear transmutation of some of the Pd nuclides with direct release of heat into the solid-state lattice.

This study explored the design and development of an electronic performance enhancement tool that can assist a person with limited programming skills to create a variety of simple customized information management websites. In particular, this study was modeled after needs within an Instruction Technology department in which individuals were able to create pre-functional web pages with various elements such as textboxes and dropdown menus but lacked the programming skills necessary to add functionality to these web forms. Skilled programmers could add functionality to these pre-functioning web forms or create customized information management websites from scratch. However, programmers are not always available when needed. At the time of this study, there was no readily available way for persons to create customized information management websites without the services of a programmer or without needing to learn programming skills themselves. This study sought to determine what functionalities, characteristics and capabilities could be included in an electronic performance enhancement tool to assist non-programmers to create simple customized information management websites and how a tool with such functionalities, characteristics and capabilities could be designed and developed. A prototype version of such tool (named the Form And DataBase Interaction Tool or "FADBIT") was designed and developed in this study. This tool asks users who have created simple pre-functional web forms to answer a series of questions related to those webforms. Given the user's responses to these questions, this tool is able to form a metalanguage representation of the user's intentions for the web form and can translate this representation into useful programming code to add the desired functionality. The tool was successfully designed and developed using a generalized modular framework, and a Create-Adapt-Generalize model, with each module addressing one or more patterns common to web programming. The prototype tool successfully allowed non-programmers to create functional information websites for two structured evaluation projects, and achieved some level of success and encountered some difficulties with an unstructured project. Proposed modifications and extensions to the tool to address the difficulties encountered are presented. / Ph. D.

This project was created using ColdFusion 4.5 to build and implement a commercial web site to present a real picture of electronic commerce. This project is intended to provide enough information for other students who are looking for a guideline for further study and to improve their skills in business from an information management aspect.