Engineering Commons^™

Formation Of Reactive Nitrogen Species During Dichloramine Decay And Their Impact On N Nitrosodimethylamine Formation Under Drinking Water Conditions, Huong Thu Pham

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

NDMA occurrence and formation pathways in drinking water systems are reviewed and NDMA yields are compared on the basis of disinfectant type, water chemistry, and precursor category. In chloramination, despite monochloramine being the predominant species between pH 7-9, evidence suggests that dichloramine is the primary species involved in NDMA formation. This is somewhat confounding as NDMA yields are maximal at pH 9, yet at pH 9 dichloramine decays faster than it forms and hence is present at trace levels; additionally, the proposed mechanism involves a spin-forbidden incorporation of dissolved oxygen as a triplet, which is presumably kinetically slow. This review …

Synthesis Of Polyethylene Glycol-Based Hydrogels And Silver/Gold Nanostructures For Biomedical Applications, Isabelle Ishimwe Niyonshuti

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This work focuses on the synthesis of biocompatible polyethylene glycol (PEG)-based hydrogels, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), and silver-gold nanocages (Ag-AuNCs) for biomedical applications. The dissertation includes two parts with Part I on the work of PEG-based hydrogel for wound healing applications and Part II on the work of Ag/Au nanostructures for antimicrobial applications. Part I studies PEG-based hydrogel for the delivery of fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) for wound healing applications, aiming to overcome the challenge of designing hydrogels capable of the sustained release of bioactive FGFs. This research develops new biocompatible anionic injectable hydrogel formulations based on Poly (Oligo Ethylene Glycol …

Multifunctional Programmable Self-Assembled Nanoparticles In Nanomedicine, Yoshie Sakamaki

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Developing methodologies to control the architecture of nanoparticles (NPs) at the atomic level prevents their inhomogeneity and leads to a variety of expected functions. Rationally designed nanoparticles can either be programmed or crystallized structures into pre-determined structures achieving tunable particle pore size and physiochemistry. In this dissertation, two broad classes of multifunctional nanoparticles are developed, metal-organic frameworks and DNA-NP aggregates.

Metal-organic frameworks are a novel class of highly porous crystalline materials built from organic linkers and metal cluster-based secondary building units. However, applications in bioremediation have not been developed very well especially in applications regarding drug delivery systems (DDS). The …

Phase-Field Modeling Of The Polymer Membrane Formation Process For Micro- And Ultra-Filtration, Michael Rosario Cervellere

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Porous polymer membrane filters are widely used in separation and filtration process. Micro- and ultra-filtration membranes are commonly used in biopharmaceutical applications such as filtering viruses and separating proteins from a carrier solution. The formation of these membrane filters via phase inversion is a complex and interconnected process where varying casting conditions can have a wide variety of effects on the final membrane morphol- ogy. Tailoring membrane filters for specific performance characteristics is a tedious and time consuming process. The time and length scales of membrane formation make it extremely difficult to experimentally observe membrane formation. Modeling the membrane formation …

Electrochemical Deposition In Energy Storage Devices, Witness Atutala Martin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Metals, whether in a solid or soluble ion form, are a vital part of any electrochemical storage system. More so, Li metal is widely considered as the ideal anode because of its low density and low electrochemical potential (-3.04 V vs. the standard hydrogen electrode – SHE). However, just like most metals, it does not plate or strip evenly during cycling which can lead to cycling performance issues, short cycling lifespans, and even safety concerns brought about by dendrites that can cause internal short-circuiting within cells. This research focused on investigating the electroplating of metals in both aqueous and non-aqueous …

Development Of Biomaterials For Drug Delivery, Raquel De Castro

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Drug delivery systems (DDS) have highly evolved in the last decades with the development of hydrogels and nanoparticles. However, high systemic uptake, side effects, low bioavailability, and encapsulation efficiency continue to be a major hurdle faced by such DDSs.

Nanoparticles and hydrogels can be specifically designed for targeted DDSs to mitigate some of the problems. This dissertation aimed to design two DDSs for ocular drug delivery and one for cancer treatment. The first project sought to develop chitosan nanoparticles (Cs-NP) using PEGDA as a copolymer to encapsulate gentamicin (GtS) for ocular drug delivery. Cs-NPs contain positive charges that can interact …