Education Commons^™

Electrospun Plant Protein Scaffolds With Fibers Oriented Randomly And Evenly In Three-Dimensions For Soft Tissue Engineering Applications, Shaobo Cai

Department of Textiles, Merchandising, and Fashion Design: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this work, electrospinnable and water stable soyprotein was extracted by using a reducing agent in mild alkaline condition, and novel 3D zein and 3D pure soyprotein electrospun scaffolds with three-dimensionally and randomly oriented fibers and large interconnected pores were successfully fabricated by reducing surface resistivity of materials. This unique structure is different from most electrospun scaffolds with fibers oriented mainly in one direction. The structure of novel 3D scaffolds could more closely mimic the 3D randomly oriented fibrous architectures in many native extracellular matrixes (ECM). Confocal laser scanning microscope shows that instead of becoming flattened cells when cultured in …

Examining The Effects Of Computational Tools On Students' Conceptual Understanding Of Thermodynamics Of Material Concepts And Representations, Oyindamola Oluwatimi

Open Access Theses

Technology is becoming a more critical agent for supporting learning as well as research in science and engineering. In particular, technology-based tools in the form of simulations and virtual environments support learning using mathematical models and computational methods. The purpose of this research is to: (a) measure the value added in conveying Thermodynamics of materials concepts with a blended learning environment using computational simulation tools with lectures; and (b) characterize students' use of representational forms to convey their conceptual understanding of core concepts within a learning environment that blended Gibbs computational resource and traditional lectures.

A mix-method approach was implemented …