Engineering Science and Materials Commons^™

Fabrication And Thermoelectric Characterization Of Stretchable Conductive Latex-Based Composites, Cory Michael Arcovitch

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Miniaturized stretchable electronic devices that can be bent and strained elastically without breaking, have drawn considerable research interest in recent years for wearable computers and integrated bio-sensor applications. Portable electrical power harvesting remains a critical challenge in flexible electronics materials. One proposed solution has been to convert waste heat from the human body into electricity using thermoelectric materials. Traditionally, however, these materials are brittle ceramic semiconductors with limited fracture resistance under deformation. The primary objective of this thesis is to address this challenge by fabricating and studying the mechanical, thermal and electrical performance of stretchable composites combining natural latex polymer …

Seaweed To Sealant : Multifunctional Polysaccharides For Regenerative Medicine And Drug Delivery Applications, Spencer Lincoln Fenn

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Pneumothorax, or a collapsed lung, is a serious medical condition resulting when air or fluid escapes the lung into the chest cavity and prevents the lung from inflating. Few viable means of sealing the damaged and leaking tissues are currently available, leading to longer hospital stays, multiple interventions, and increasing costs of care. The motivation of this dissertation is to engineer a novel polysaccharide-based therapeutic surgical sealant, which can be utilized to seal trauma-induced damage to the outer lining of the lung, i.e. pleura, preventing or reversing lung collapse to restore normal breathing function.

The use of polysaccharides, such as …