The cubic fluorite-type solid solution of ZrO₂ containing 15 mole % CaO has been prepared by the hot-pressing process. The effects of annealing on the change.of lattice parameter, electrical properties, and density of the solid solution have been investigated. The lattice parameter of the cubic solid solution was found to depend on the heat treatment of the specimens. The decrease of lattice parameter with annealing temperature and time has been interpreted either in terms of the removal of interstitial oxygen ions from the." lattice or in terms of the inhomogeneous distribution of the CaO in the ZrO₂ lattice. The activation energy for conduction was also found to depend on the heat treatment of the specimens. The variation of activation energy with annealing temperature has been interpreted in terms of pairing and clustering of the oxygen vacancies with the substitutional Ca ions in the solid solution. The minimum activation energy obtained in the present investigation corresponded to the theoretically predicted activation energy for the migration of oxygen vacancies. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Materials Engineering, Department of / Graduate

A one dimensional analysis of the boundary conditions of the electron energy eigenfunc-tion at a sharp interface between two crystals was made. An attempt to evaluate these conditions in terms of known band structure was made. It was concluded that this cannot be done in general. It was shown, however, that if the interface has the proper symmetry properties, the boundary conditions can be expressed in terms of only one unknown, energy-dependent parameter. It was concluded that setting this parameter equal to one gives boundary conditions which, though more general, are equivalent to the commonly used effective mass boundary conditions when they are applicable. It was concluded from numerical results for the transmission coefficient of the symmetric interface, that in general, these boundary conditions, which depend only on known band structure, do not give a good approximation to the exact answer. Since the energy dependence of the parameter mentioned above is described quite well qualitatively using the nearly free electron approximation or the tight-binding approximation, the applicability of any boundary conditions depending only on band structure can be predicted using these simple theories. The exact numerical results were calculated using the transfer matrix method. It was also concluded that the presence of symmetry in the interface either maximizes or minimizes the transmission coefficient. A tight-binding calculation showed that the transmission coefficient depends on an interface parameter which is independent of band structure. The transmission coefficient is maximized when this parameter is ignored. It was concluded that the effective mass equation is of little use when applied to this problem. Some transfer matrix results pertaining to the barrier and the superlattice were obtained. / Science, Faculty of / Physics and Astronomy, Department of / Graduate

Hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying component of red blood cells, is known as a nitric oxide (NO) chelating agent. For this reason, hemoglobin has been used widely in studying the role of nitric oxide in long-term potentiation (LTP) and excitotoxicity. However, the direct electrophysiological actions of hemoglobin has not been examined. In this investigation, the actions of hemoglobin on rat hippocampal CAl neurons were studied since hemoglobin may be present in hemorrhagic stroke and other head injuries. Superfusion of rat hippocampal slices with 0.1 mM of bovine hemoglobin for 15 minutes was induced a significant depolarization associated with an increase in the input resistance. In addition, hemoglobin suppressed the evoked synaptic responses and increased the depolarization-induced discharge of action potentials, of rat hippocampal CAl neurons. These hemoglobin-mediated changes usually recovered partially 30 minutes after the removal of hemoglobin. While the depolarizing action of hemoglobin was enhanced in a calcium-free medium, it was not significantly changed by 2-amino-5-phosphonovalerate (APV) and 6- cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione (CNQX). These observations suggest that the depolarizing action of hemoglobin is independent of the presence of extracellular calcium and activations of the excitatory amino acid receptors. Because hemoglobin has been observed to suppress the depolarizing action of glutamate, it is possible that hemoglobin suppresses the EPSP by interfering with the actions of glutamate. Although hemoglobin has been suggested to suppress LTP and excitability by scavenging nitric oxide (Garthwaite et al., 1988; Haley et al., 1992; 0’ Dell et al., 1991; Schuman and Madison, 1991), the reported actions of hemoglobin were not removed by pre-treatment with 100 pM or 500 pM of No-nitro-L-arginine, a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor. Similar to the scavenging property of hemoglobin, the iron content of hemoglobin probably did not contribute to the actions of hemoglobin since 0.4 mM or 2.0 mM of ferric chloride did not simulate the effects of hemoglobin. Because neurons can be exposed to hemoglobin in hemorrhagic stroke and head injuries, the electrophysiological actions of hemoglobin on rat hippocampal CAl neurons may be relevant to the neurological complications associated with intracranial hemorrhage and head injuries. Further studies on mechanisms of the electrophysiological actions of hemoglobin are necessary for understanding the role of hemoglobin in neuronal damages associated with hemorrhagic stroke and other head injuries. / Medicine, Faculty of / Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Department of / Graduate

M.Sc. (Physics) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

published_or_final_version / Medicine / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

In this work, using the idea of an electrically conducting "functional unit," monomers and polymers with possible electronic and electro-optic applications were synthesized. The synthesis and polymerizations were, in many cases, novel and non-trivial. Dithiafulvene (1,3-dithiole) and variations of this functional unit were synthesized and incorporated into new condensation polymers. Polyesters, polyamides and polyhydrazones were all successfully synthesized and could be cast into films. These new polymers might be applicable as processable conducting materials if compatible dopants are employed or by themselves in the area of third order non-linear optics. Using a (meth)acrylate backbone, a spacer group of six methylene units, and a phenyl-CO₂-phenyl mesogen, linked by an ester group to a strongly polar optically active center containing a methoxy group, three new novel monomers and polymers were designed to exhibit smectic C* liquid-crystal phases. The polymers exhibited liquid crystalline behavior as was shown in differential scanning calorimetry and optical microscopy. Further studies and investigations in the synthesis of pure (meth)acrylate esters and their homopolymers yielded surprising results with regard to the Schotten-Baumann reaction. Interestingly, the use of meth(acryloyl) chloride in this scheme leads to (meth)acrylic anhydride, which is not easily isolable from distillable products. This anhydride is responsible for gelation in the polymerization of glycolate esters, and cannot be removed by work-up with various nucleophiles without disrupting desired ester functions. An S(N)2 method is recommended in this work.

The frequency shifts and Q changes of a resonant microwave cavity were utilized as a basis for determining microwave properties of solids and liquids. The method employed consisted of varying the depth of penetration of a cylindrical sample of the material into a cavity operating in the TM0 1 0 Mode. The liquid samples were contained in a thin-walled quartz tube. The perturbation of the cavity was achieved by advancing the sample into the cavity along the symmetry axis by employing a micrometer drive appropriately calibrated for depth of penetration of the sample. A differentiation method was used to obtain the half-power points of the cavity resonance profile at each depth of penetration. The perturbation techniques for resonant cavities were used to reduce the experimental data obtained to physical parameters for the samples. The probing frequency employed was near 9 gHz.