RSS 1.0Physics and Astronomy Electronic Theses and Dissertations (UMKC)
The items in this collection are the theses and dissertations written by students of the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Some items may be viewed only by members of the University of Missouri System and/or University of Missouri-Kansas City. Click on one of the browse buttons above for a complete listing of the works.
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Recent Submissions
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Modeling and Design of a Silicon-Based High-Pressure 3HE Replacement Neutron Detector
(University of Missouri–Kansas City, 2015)3He has stood as a major isotope used for neutron detection for many years. Due to national concerns of a possible 3He shortage, significant effort has been put forth, in the form of 3He alternative research, to push the ... -
Neutron Response Vectorization and Optimization of Moderating Neutron Spectrometers for Active Interrogation
(University of Missouri–Kansas City, 2015)The detection of special nuclear material (SNM) is no trivial task; the low activity of isotopes such as 235U and the ease of shielding make their passive detection virtually impossible in the maritime environment. Active ... -
Using WISE to Find Obscured AGN Activity in SDSS Mergers and Interactions
(University of Missouri–Kansas City, 2015)In simulations, major encounters between gas-rich galaxies are predicted to drive gas to the centers of interacting and merging systems triggering new star formation (SF) and fueling an active galactic nucleus (AGN). ... -
Searching for Interacting Early Type Galaxies at Late Cosmic Times
(2015)Major gas-poor (dry) merging between two comparably massive spheroidal galaxies are post u-lated to be the central mechanism responsible for the assembly of the most massive (M[subscript star,tot] ≥ 10¹¹ M[subscript ☉]) ... -
Structure and Mechanical Properties of Cement and Intermetallic Compounds via ab-initio Simulations
(2015)Calcium silicate hydrates comprise a class of minerals formed synthetically during Portland cement hydration or naturally through various geological processes. The importance of these minerals is immense since they are the ... -
Structure and Physical Properties of Hydrogrossular Mineral Series
(2015)The mineral hydrogrossular series (Ca₃Al₂(SiO4)₃₋ₓ(OH) ₄ₓ; 0 ≤ x ≤ 3) are important water bearing minerals found in the upper and lower part of the Earth’s mantle. They are vital to the planet’s hydrosphere under different ... -
Model Creation and Electronic Structure Calculation of Amorphous Hydrogenated Boron Carbide
(2015)Boron-rich solids are of great interest for many applications, particularly, amorphous hydrogenated boron carbide (a-BC:H) thin films are a leading candidate for numerous applications such as: heterostructure materials, ... -
Photosensitivity and Magnetosensitivity of The Drosophila Circadian Clock
(2014)The experiments in this thesis addressed whether magnetic fields can enhance entrainment (phase determination) of the circadian clock by light. The experiments were conducted using a species of small fruit flies, Drosophila ... -
Generalized Koszul Properties of Commutative Local Rings
(2014)We study several properties of commutative local rings that generalize the notion of Koszul algebra. The properties are expressed in terms of the Ext algebra of the ring, or in terms of homological properties of powers ... -
The Effect of Thermal Annealing on Phase Separation in Organic Photovoltaic Films
(2015)In our research, we used amplitude modulated atomic force microscopy to study the effect of thermal annealing on the morphology of four recently developed bulk heterojunction photovoltaic films. Each cell was fabricated ... -
Computational Modeling of a-SiO₂ Nanoparticles and their Electronic Structure Calculation
(2015-08-12)The spherical amorphous silica (a-SiO₂) nanoparticles (NPs) are constructed from a previous continuous random network (CRN) model of a-SiO₂ with the periodic boundary. The models of radii 12 Å, 15 Å, 18 Å, 20 Å, 22 Å, ... -
Electrical Carrier Mobility Measurements of Amorphous Hydrogenated Boron Carbide Using Space-Charge-Limited Current Techniques
(2015-08-11)Within the field of neutron detection, there has been a push to develop solid-state direct-conversion devices. Amorphous hydrogenated boron carbide (a-BxC:Hy) is of particular interest for this purpose because it has a ... -
Photoemission Spectroscopy Studies of New Topological Insulator Materials
(2015-08-04)As the size of a solid shrinks, the ratio of surface area to bulk volume grows and surface effects become more important. In a world where technologies advance with the shrinking size of electronic devices, one phase of ... -
Effect of electric fields on the synthesis of nanoparticles of tin and silicon in a liquid environment
(2015-07-28)The effect of externally applied electric fields on the size and morphology of nanoparticles fabricated by laser ablation was investigated. In this method, a pulsed laser beam was focused onto a solid target of either ... -
Mathematical Analysis of Compressive/Tensile Molecular and Nuclear Structures
(2015-06-19)Mathematical analysis in chemistry is a fascinating and critical tool to explain experimental observations. In this dissertation, mathematical methods to present chemical bonding and other structures for many-particle ... -
The yield strength of molybdenum under pressure and temperature
(2015-06-02)Knowledge of the elastic properties of materials under high pressures and temperatures is important in planetary science as well as giving a more comprehensive understanding of material properties in general. Molybdenum ... -
In Pursuit of Extraordinarily Twisted Acenes
(2015-05-26)Longitudinally twisted acenes are a topologically interesting class of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and it could be argued that they have quite beautiful chemical structures, too. X-ray crystal analysis of many ... -
Electronic structure and partial charge distribution of doxorubicin under different molecular environments
(2014)Doxorubicin (trade name Adriamycin, abbreviated DOX) is a well-known anthracyclic chemotherapeutic used in treating a variety of cancers including acute leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and a range of stomach, lung, ... -
Introduction of a Fully Relativistic Capable Basis Set in the ab initio Orthogonalized Linear Combination of Atomic Orbitals Method
(2014-09-30)Large simulation cell sizes, relativistic effects, and the need to correctly model excited state properties are major impediments to the accurate prediction of the optical properties of candidate materials for solid-state ... -
Electronic, Optical, Structural, and Elastic Properties of MAX Phases and (Cr2Hf)2Al3C3
(2014-09-30)The term “MAX phase” refers to a very interesting and important class of layered ternary transition-metal carbides and nitrides with a novel combination of both metal- and ceramic-like properties that have made these ...