Understanding Double Network Theory and Applying it to Synthesis and Biological Applications

The double network synthesis technique has gained popularity in the past few years as a method to create hydrogels with high strength and toughness, making them ideal for a plethora of applications, such as tissue engineering, drug delivery, and biosensors. The technique revolves around creating a ductile, weak network in the same space as a brittle, strong network. With the development of the synthesis technique, researchers have investigated both why these materials have the reported properties and finding new ways to synthesize them or use them in different applications. In this work, I aim to add on both aspects of this research. First, I investigated how brittle network variables affect the mechanical properties of the double network to expand our knowledge of double network behavior. Next, as part of a collaborative project with the Soman Lab, I helped develop a double network hydrogel that could be synthesized using a novel photolithography setup for making complex 3D microstructures. Lastly, a slug glue protein laden hydrogel was developed in the hopes of making a novel double network for the purposes of investigating the effects of glue protein and metal ion interactions

The State of Sustainable Research Software: Results from the Workshop on Sustainable Software for Science: Practice and Experiences (WSSSPE5.1)

This article summarizes motivations, organization, and activities of the Workshop on Sustainable Software for Science: Practice and Experiences (WSSSPE5.1) held in Manchester, UK in September 2017. The WSSSPE series promotes sustainable research software by positively impacting principles and best practices, careers, learning, and credit. This article discusses the Code of Conduct, idea papers, position papers, experience papers, demos, and lightning talks presented during the workshop. The main part of the article discusses the speed-blogging groups that formed during the meeting, along with the outputs of those sessions

Unconventional conductance plateau transitions in quantum Hall wires with spatially correlated disorder

Quantum transport properties in quantum Hall wires in the presence of spatially correlated random potential are investigated numerically. It is found that the potential correlation reduces the localization length associated with the edge state, in contrast to the naive expectation that the potential correlation increases it. The effect appears as the sizable shift of quantized conductance plateaus in long wires, where the plateau transitions occur at energies much higher than the Landau band centers. The scale of the shift is of the order of the strength of the random potential and is insensitive to the strength of magnetic fields. Experimental implications are also discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure