We consider one-dimensional Schroedinger-type operators in a bounded interval
with non-self-adjoint Robin-type boundary conditions. It is well known that
such operators are generically conjugate to normal operators via a similarity
transformation. Motivated by recent interests in quasi-Hermitian Hamiltonians
in quantum mechanics, we study properties of the transformations in detail. We
show that they can be expressed as the sum of the identity and an integral
Hilbert-Schmidt operator.
We study strong ratio limit properties of the quotients of the heat kernels
of subcritical and critical operators which are defined on a noncompact
Riemannian manifold.