Exploring the KDE desktop, I did the following.
Red Hat/K icon --> Preferences --> KDE control center --> KDE components --> Service Manager.
The services listed were separated into two groups -- startup and "On demand" -- with the first group initiated with the desktop.
In the "On demand" section, was something labeled KDED Mount Watcher with an informational notation reading (keeps track of mount activities (devices:/))
Does anyone know what that service does? Might it play a part in unpredictability of mount/unmount behavior of CD drives while running the KDE desktop?