Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1977. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-48).

In this paper, a parametric study of the airbrush deposition technique was investigated for the deposition biomolecular thin films. The airbrush parameters under investigation were intake valve opening, carrier gas pressure, distance between the airbrush and substrate, concentration of solution, vapor pressure of solvent, and hydrophobic/hydrophilic substrate surface. This study was assessed through the characterization of dried droplet residues of Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) and of complete films of BSA by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). It was determined that droplet size was mainly affected by carrier gas pressure and vapor pressure. The parameters intake valve opening, distance between the airbrush and substrate, and concentration of solution control the rate of spray, or solution flux, onto the substrate. Solution flux was determined to have the greatest impact on film roughness. This allowed for flexibility in the airbrush deposition technique to produce films with various substrate wetting rates. Low flux films were produced when the droplets dried on the substrate surface before the next droplet arrived. High flux films were generated when droplets on the surface arrive before subsequent droplets are given time to dry. Finally, as an extension of the results of these experiments, a practical application of the airbrush deposition technique was conducted using appropriate deposition parameters. An E. coli wave guide biosensor was produced on a glass substrate. A sandwich immunoassay was used to confirm E. coli capture.

A laboratory offset press has been developed over the last five years at PAPRO for testing print qualityon newsprint, as at present, there is no good way for the mills to test this issue. In this project a comparisonhas been made between a laboratory offset press and a commercial press to see if the laboratoryoffset press can be used as a reliable test method or if a further development is needed.To evaluate the method, similar papers have been printed in both presses and compared using imageanalysis techniques. All together eighteen samples were tested which is enough to give comparableresults. The print quality showed a high variation, the values from the laboratory offset press and thecommercial press were not following the same trends. At present time the laboratory offset press needsome further development before it can be used as a reliable test method for halftone prints. Even sosome conclusions were made.The newsprint that has been used came from Norske Skog Tasman Mill (Kawerau), since the otheraim of this project was to do a repeatability study of their three existing paper machines to distinguishpossible differences in the production. The paper samples were taken from each paper machine on sixdifferent dates to give a representative result. This also gave the opportunity to compare the machinesbetween themselves. Comparison between the machines shows that the wire side gives a better andmore even result than the topside on the prints from the laboratory offset press. According to the resultfrom the commercial press the wire side shows a higher degree of variability. Samples from papermachine 2 and 3 were less variable and had the lowest standard deviation of grey level for solid areas.This suggests that newsprints from PM 2 and PM 3 give a more even print quality with a better inkcoverage.

It is difficult to say that anything will be proven in this thesis of mine. I think of it more as an account of some things that happened in my artwork over the course of graduate school and my earlier development as an artist. Some influences are listed, but certainly not all of them. Likewise, the work that is mentioned in this paper represents a sampling rather than an in-depth survey. I don't have any tables or charts.

Jessica Langley's work examines animals and nature through various media and form, including watercolor and oil painting, digitally manipulated photography, both large and small scale drawing, and various combinations of each. The work has explored narrative and emotional aspects to more mystical and ecological interpretations. The current body of work settles into banal and familiar interactions with animals, or more specifically the house cat and its accoutrements. Each element of the body of work engages specific concepts that developed out of the American landscape tradition and assimilates the banal subjects into a formal framework. The subjects are monumentalized and romanticized in order to question, not the importance of the objects, but the relevance of the sublime.