Advancing Structure-Property Relationships in Functional Materials Via Thiol-ene Photopolymerization

Thiol-ene photopolymerizations provide a robust and versatile synthetic pathway to functional materials, and owing to the radical step-growth nature of polymerization and the resulting homogenous network structure, provide non-convoluted insight into how network chemistry influences and dictates macromolecular properties. The first facet of this dissertation focuses on the design and synthesis of bio-inspired, thin film adhesives for dry and aqueous adhesion. Drawing inspiration from the intertidal marine mussel, Chapter II details the synthesis of adhesive networks containing a monofunctional catechol-based monomer. The inclusion of a catechol group resulted in significant improvements in adhesion on a variety of substrates. In Chapter III, the inclusion of simple hydrophobic groups in the adhesive thiol-ene networks to improve underwater adhesion is reported. The presence of hydrophobic groups effectively push water away from the adhesive resin/substrate interface, facilitating adhesive interaction underwater. Further, the influence of the catechol (a known radical scavenger) and the hydrophobic groups (commonly considered non-adhesive) on polymerization kinetics, thermal mechanical, and mechanical properties was determined. The second facet of this dissertation focuses on the synthesis of semi-fluorinated polymer networks, as outlined in Chapter IV. Fluorine groups impart several advantageous properties to polymeric materials including increased mechanical strength, chemical and thermal stability, and unique optical and wetting properties. As such, the inclusion of the trifluorovinyl ether group in a thiol-ene photopolymerization resulted in the rapid and efficient synthesis of semi-fluorinated networks, exhibiting significant increases in thermomechanical and mechanical properties as a function of fluorine content

Edge-pancyclic block-intersection graphs

AbstractIt is shown that the block-intersection graph of both a balanced incomplete block design with block size at least 3 and λ = 1, and a transversal design is edge-pancyclic

Throw Away the Map: Blazing New Trails between Information Literacy and the Disciplines

There have been many approaches to information literacy education at academic institutions, and many positive outcomes from these efforts. Still, there is need for more research, exploration, and professional communication among librarians to identify information literacy teaching methods that have a consistent and long-lasting impact. Librarians at Indiana University-Bloomington embraced the announcement for information literacy in the General Education requirements as an opportunity to evolve the instruction program from an ad-hoc, decentralized program into one that is based on measurable and achievable learning outcomes for every discipline. When we began asking ourselves what it would take to achieve this on a large scale, questions of sustainability and scalability began to overshadow the accomplishment of ensuring information literacy as a required knowledge base for all undergraduates. With very few guideposts, we decided to establish our own best practices for integrating information literacy into disciplinary ways of thinking, knowing, and researching. A grant from the campus Scholarship of Teaching & Learning initiative and support from the Library funded a study that named librarians and teaching faculty in two separate disciplines as co-investigators in discovering how students understand and practice information seeking within their own field. As subject librarians, we became ambassadors for information literacy as we formed partnerships with these faculty to connect the College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education to their course goals. These collaborations resulted in syllabus redesign, assignment creation, and librarian-faculty co-teaching for three separate courses. Presentation file is hosted off-site at: http://prezi.com/6jbzxecgbcu

Tactile Aids for Teaching Statistics to the Visually Impaired

This case study explored the use of haptic tools to teach concepts in introductory statistics to a blind student. Statistics education typically relies heavily on the visual modality, which limits accessibility for the visually impaired. Our study made use of tactile aids such as LEGO building blocks, push pin diagrams, and 3D printed models to demonstrate typical statistical concepts such as histograms, normal distributions, skewed distributions, central tendency, and scatterplots. We argue that such models are beneficial for elucidating course material which is typically taught visually. For example, 3D printed models were able to highlight all the same components of the standard normal distribution as visual drawings do, making a complex topic easily understandable. The aim of this project is to establish an easily-accessible, replicable model for utilizing these tools and methods to teach statistical concepts. This work has implications for teaching statistical content to those with visual impairment, and may also serve as a valuable supplement for any student of statistics