Biodegradable poly(L-lactide acid) (PLLA) nanofiber membranes were prepared by electrospinning of PLLA and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO). The selective removal of PEO by water allows to obtain smaller fiber diameters and to increase the porosity of the membranes in comparison to PLLA membranes obtained under the same electrospinning conditions. After removal of PEO membranes with fiber sizes of 26...

The direct contact of ultrathin polymer films with a solid substrate may result in thin film rupture caused by dewetting. With crystallisable polymers such as polyethyleneoxide (PEO), molecular self-assembly into partial ordered lamella structures is studied as an additional source of pattern formation. Morphological features in ultrathin PEO films (thickness < 10 nm) result from an interplay b...

BACKGROUND Cellulose and its derivatives such as carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) have been employed as a biomaterial for their diverse applications such as tissue engineering, drug delivery and other medical materials. Porosity of the scaffolds has advantages in their applications to tissue engineering such as more cell adhesion and migration leading to better tissue regeneration. After synthesis...

The research presented in this thesis focuses on the synthesis of three amphiphilic block copolymer systems containing poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) blocks. The polymer systems were developed for use in biomedical applications. The first of these is a series of poly(ethylene oxide-b-oxazoline) (PEO-b-POX) diblock copolymers for use in the progress towards novel nonviral gene transfer vectors. Poly...

When firms form an alliance, it often involves one firm acquiring an equity stake in its alliance partner. Such an alliance lessens the competition, but induces knowledge transfer within the alliance. This paper explores oligopoly models that capture this important link between partial equity ownership (PEO) and knowledge transfer. We consider an industry consisting of three firms, where firm 1...

The soldier is the Army’s most deployed combat system and the most essential weapon in the Army’s arsenal. Program Executive Office (PEO) soldier was activated in October 2001 to equip the soldier as a system through centralized development, acquisition, fielding and sustainment of virtually everything the soldier wears or carries. The mission of PEO Soldier is to ensure that soldiers are letha...

The interactions between a series of poly(ethylene oxide)s covalently labeled at both ends with pyrene pendants (PEO(X)-Py2, where X represents the number-average molecular weight of the PEO chains and equals 2K, 5K, 10K, and 16.5K) and an ionic surfactant, namely, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), in water were investigated at a fixed pyrene concentration of 2.5 μM corresponding to polymer concent...

Anionic polymerization has been used as a technique for the synthesis of five-block copolymers of polystyrene (PS), polyisoprene (PI), and poly(ethy1ene oxide) (PEO). Two types of such polymers, PEO-PI-PS-PI-PEO and PEO-PS-PI-PS-PEO with varying PEO block length, have been prepared, using potassium naphthalene as the initiator and tetrahydrofuran as the solvent. The polymers were purified by ex...

Lineal (poloxamers or Pluronic®) or X-shaped (poloxamines or Tetronic®) amphiphilic tri-block copolymers of poly(ethylene oxide) and poly(propylene oxide) (PEO-PPO-PEO) have been broadly explored for controlled drug delivery in different regenerative medicine approaches. The ability of these copolymers to self-assemble as micelles and to undergo sol-to-gel transitions upon heating has endowed t...

We have studied the effects of poly(acrylic acid)–poly(ethylene oxide) (PAA–PEO) comb polymers on the stability of aqueous BaTiO3 nanoparticle suspensions over a wide pH range in the presence and absence of monoand divalent salt species. The comb polymer architecture consists of charge-neutral PEO teeth attached at random intervals along an ionizable PAA backbone. Potentiometric titrations, lig...