Since the isolation of graphene in 2004, a large amount of research has been directed at 2D materials and their applications due to their unique characteristics. This thesis delivers pioneering developments on the applications of graphene and graphene oxide (GO) on electromagnetic ranges such as radio frequency, microwave frequency and THz bands, and specifically 2D materials based antennas, absorbers, sensors and etc. This thesis focuses on exploring electromagnetic applications of monolayer graphene, printed graphene and graphene oxide. In study of monolayer graphene applications, the theoretical and simulation studies are carried out to design tunable terahertz (THz) absorbers, tunable microwave wideband absorbers, and reconfigurable antennas, etc. These studies on the applications of monolayer graphene have proved prospective potentials of graphene in THz sensing, RCS reduction, and reconfigurable antennas. This thesis also presents pioneering advances on electromagnetic applications of printed graphene. Among these works, low-cost highly conductive and mechanically flexible printed graphene is developed for radio frequency (RF) applications. For the first time, effective RF radiation of printed graphene is experimentally demonstrated. Based on these results, applications of printed graphene including RFID (radio frequency identification) tags, anti-tampering RFID, EMI shielding, flexible microwave components such as transmission lines, resonators and antennas, conformable wideband radar absorbers, graphene oxide based wireless sensors, etc. are developed and experimentally demonstrated. This work significantly expands applications of graphene in electromagnetic areas.

My research is centered upon my ongoing project GenderFail, a publishing and programming initiative featuring the perspectives of queer and trans people and people of color. GenderFail: The Queer Ethics of Dissemination is a collection of writings on queer collaboration, archiving as a collective act, and publishing as a site of queer community. The following text also illustrates the importance of creating and maintaining an intersectional platform as a non-binary white queer subject. I examine and define the role of “queer identity” in my own work while mapping the history of failure by white queers, including myself, in the of articulation of intersectionality. By understanding how intersectionality is important in a queer-focused collaborative practice, I seek to emphasize the messiness of citation, collaboration, and community in relation to my discursive uses of printed matter.

Les polymères à empreintes moléculaires sont des matériaux aux propriétés de reconnaissance spécifiques qui peuvent être mis à profit pour la détection d’une large gamme d’analytes. Ainsi, depuis quelques années, des travaux décrivent leur utilisation dans des capteurs en raison de leur capacité à piéger une cible définie.L’objectif de ce travail est d’ajouter des propriétés redox à des polymères à empreintes moléculaires pour détecter le Bisphénol A (BPA) par des méthodes électrochimiques simples. Ces polymères électroactifs sont synthétisés par polymérisation par précipitation d’une sonde redox, le méthacrylate deméthylferrocène (Fc), et du diméthacrylate d’éthylène glycol (EDMA) en présence du BPA pour le polymère imprimé (e-MIP-Fc) et en son absence pour le polymère non-imprimé (e-NIP-Fc).L’introduction d’un deuxième monomère fonctionnel, la 4-vinyl pyridine (4-VP), conduit à deux autres polymères imprimé (e-MIP-Fc-VP) et non-imprimé (e-NIP-Fc-VP). Les propriétés d’adsorption des polymères ainsi obtenus sont caractérisés en batch à l’aide de la LC-MS et présentent une capacité de reconnaissance du BPA avec un facteur d’empreinte de 2,5 et 1,3 respectivement pour l’e-MIP-Fc-VP et e-MIP-Fc justifiant de l’efficacité de l’empreinte. Leurs caractérisations par voltampérométrie cyclique confirment d’une part la bonne intégration du monomère ferrocényle dans les e-MIP/e-NIP et d’autre part la capacité de ces polymères à révéler la présence ou pas de la cible. Les particules e-MIP-Fc ont ensuite été intégrées dans des dispositifs type micro électrode ou transistor OECT (Organic ElectroChemical Transistor). Les premiers résultats, mêmes s’ils doivent être confirmés, s’avèrent encourageants avec,comme attendu, des modifications des propriétés électriques en présence du BPA. L’e-MIP-Fc-VP après mélange avec de la pâte de carbone, a été utilisé en sérigraphie pour obtenir une électrode de travail modifiée dans des électrodes sérigraphiées (Screen Printed Electrode). Ces électrodes permettent la reconnaissance du BPA avec des limites de détection et de quantification de 60 pM et 190 pM respectivement pour une gamme de concentrations comprise entre 0,15 et 1,84 nM, ouvrant ainsi des perspectives intéressantes pour la détection du BPA en milieu aqueux. / Molecularly imprinted polymers are materials with specific recognition properties that can be used for the detection of a wide range of template. In recent years, many works have been reported on their use in sensors because of their capability to specifically bind a defined analyte.The aim of this work is to assign to the molecularly imprinted polymers redox properties in order to detect Bisphenol A (BPA) by using easy electrochemical techniques. These electroactive polymers are synthesizedby precipitation polymerization of ferrocenylmethyl methacrylate (Fc) and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate(EDMA) in the presence of BPA for the imprinted polymer (e-MIP-Fc) and in its absence for the nonimprinted polymer (e-NIP-Fc). The copolymerization of the previous monomer with 4-vinylpyridine (4-VP) leads to two other imprinted (e-MIP-Fc-VP) and non-imprinted (e-NIP-Fc-VP) polymers. The resulting polymers are characterized in batch using LC-MS and have ability to recognize BPA with an imprinting factor of 2.5 and 1.3 respectively for e-MIP-Fc-VP and e-MIP-Fc the proving the recognition efficiency ofthese polymers. Their cyclic voltammetry recording confirm first, the good integration of the redoxferrocenyl monomer inside the polymers e-MIP/e-NIP during the polymerization, and on the other hand,the capability of these polymers to reveal the presence of BPA in the solution. The e-MIP-Fc particles were then integrated inside devices like microelectrode and OECT (Organic ElectroChemical Transistor). The first results, even if they must be confirmed, are positive regarding the modification of the electrical properties of these devices in the presence of BPA. The e-MIP-Fc-VP particles, after mixing with a carbon paste, were screen-printed to obtain a modified working electrode in a screen-printed electrode device. This electrode enable the recognition of BPA with limits of detection and quantification of 60 pM and 190 pM respectively, for a concentration range between 0.15 and 1.84 nM, thus opening up interesting perspectives for the detection of BPA in aqueous medium.

Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia cause cognitive disabilities in the afflicted person. As a result, the person with dementia often requires assistance from a primary caregiver. However, while the caregiver is away from the home they are unaware of the person's status and may not be able to find out without returning to the home due to dementia's effects on cognition. In this thesis work, a system of embedded devices is presented which tracks a solitary dementia patient in the home in real-time. The system is composed of three main hardware components. Multiple passive and active sensors are strategically placed to monitor the patient. A number of custom battery-powered embedded systems read the sensors and wirelessly transmit the sensor's values. A central computational node collects the wireless transmissions and analyzes the data. Two algorithms were developed that detect the patient's eating activities and location throughout the home from the sensor data. A web-based user interface was designed that allows a primary caregiver to remotely view the patient's status while away from the home. Numerous trials are performed which test the system's ability to monitor the patient's eating activities and location. The positive results of the trials show that the proposed system is able to detect eating patterns as defined by rules and localize in real-time the patient in the home, accurate to a single quadrant of a room. The proposed embedded system is highly affordable and has two novel features, namely eating detection and patient localization accurate to a single quadrant of any room in the home. Both features use sensors installed in the home and do not require the patient to wear any sensors on their person. The state-of-the-art products currently available are able to localize only to a single room without the patient wearing sensors.

The purpose of this research is to develop an approach to minimize makespan for assigning boards to production lines. Because of sequence-dependent setup issue, board assignment and component allocation have to be performed concurrently. An integrated methodology is proposed to obtain a solution of the two problems. The methodology consists of seven phases: PCB grouping, family decomposition, subfamily sequencing, Keep Tool Needed Soonest (KTNS), component setup determination, component allocation, and board assignment. PCB grouping based on component similarity between boards is used to reduce the problem size. Family decomposition is used when total number of feeder slots required by a family exceeds feeder capacity. Subfamily sequencing and Keep Tool Needed Soonest are applied to minimize the number of component setups. Classification of setup components into standard, semi-standard, and custom setup components is performed to reduce the complexity of the component allocation problem. A component allocation algorithm is developed to balance workload across machines. Assigning board families to production lines is performed using a modification of Longest Processing Time (LPT) rule. Assigning entire PCB families to production lines to minimize makespan is difficult to accomplish since the amount of production time for each family is very large compared to that of individual PCB lot. Splitting some subfamilies is allowed as long as this does not increase makespan. The PCB grouping, family decomposition, subfamily sequencing, Keep Tool Needed Soonest (KTNS), and component setup determination procedures are derived from published research results. The component allocation and board assignment are developed in this research, as well as an overall methodology to integrate the entire problem. Data provided by published literature are employed to evaluate performance of the component allocation algorithm and the integrated methodology. To examine the applicability of the methodology, an industrial data is used with the total imbalance due to setup time and placement time of individual PCB and global makespan as the performance measures. Experimentation is conducted with simulated data based on an industry data to investigate impact of threshold value, feeder capacity, and characteristics of data sets on system performance. / Graduation date: 2002

In this thesis, a number of commercially available paper substrates of various types are characterized and their characteristics related to the performance of inkjet-printed conductors using silver nanoparticle ink. The evaluated performance variables are electrical conductivity as well as the minimum achievable conductor width and the edge raggedness. It is shown that quick absorption of the ink carrier is beneficial for achieving well defined conductor geometry and high conductivity. Surface roughness with topography variations of sufficiently large amplitude and frequency is detrimental to print definition and conductivity. Porosity is another important factor, where the characteristic pore size is much more important than the total pore volume. A nearly ideal porous coating has large total pore volume but small characteristic pore size, preferably smaller than individual nanoparticles in the ink. Apparent surface energy is important for non-absorbing substrates but of limited importance for coatings with a high absorption rate.Additionally, a concept for improving the geometric definition of inkjet-printed conductors on nonporous films has been demonstrated. By coating the films with polymer–based coatings to provide a means of ink solvent removal, minimum conductor width were reduced a factor 2 or more.Intimately connected to the end performance of printed conductors is a well adapted sintering methodology. A comparative evaluation of a number of selective sintering methods has been performed on paper substrates with different heat tolerance. Pulsed high-power white light was found to be a good compromise between conductivity performance, reliability and production adaptability.The purpose of the work conducted in this thesis is to increase the knowledge base in how surface characteristics of papers and flexible films affect performance of printed nanoparticle structures. This would improve selection, adaption of, or manufacturing of such substrates to suit printed high conductivity patterns such as printed antennas for packaging. / I denna avhandling har ett antal kommersiellt tillgängliga papper av olika typ karaktäriserats och deras egenskaper relaterats till prestandan på inkjet-tryckta elektriska ledare tryckta med silvernanopartikelbläck. De undersökta prestandavariablerna är elektrisk ledningsförmåga samt ledarnas minimala linjebredd och kantjämnhet. Det visas att en snabb absorption av bläckets lösningsmedel är gynnsam för både väldefinierad ledningsgeometri och elektrisk ledningsförmåga. Ytråhet med topografiska variationer med tillräckligt stor amplitud och spatiell frekvens korrelerar negativt med tryckdefinition och ledningsförmåga. Porositet är ytterligare en viktig faktor, där karaktäristisk porstorlek är avsevärt viktigare än total porvolym. Nära ideala egenskaper hos en porös bestrykning synes vara en mycket hög total porvolym men med små individuella porer, med fördel mindre än de minsta metallpartiklarna i bläcket. Ytenergi är mycket betydelsefull för icke-absorberande substrat men tappar nästan all sin betydelse för bestrykningar med snabb absorption.Ett koncept för att förbättra den geometriska definitionen på inkjet-tryckta ledare på icke-porösa flexibla filmer har visats. Genom att bestryka filmerna med vissa polymerbaserade material och därmed införa en mekanism för separering av lösningsmedel och partiklar så reducerades ledarnas minimibredd med en faktor 2 eller mer.Intimt förknippad med den slutliga elektriska prestandan på tryckta ledare är också en väl anpassad sintringsmetodik. En jämförande utvärdering av ett flertal selektiva sintringmetoder har genomförts på papper med olika värmetålighet. Pulsat vitt ljus med hög effekt bedömdes som en bra kompromiss mellan elektriska prestanda, tillförlitlighet och anpassningsbarhet för produktionsmiljö.Nyttan med arbetet som presenteras i denna avhandling är att öka kunskapsbasen för hur pappers och flexibla filmers ytegenskaper påverkar prestandan på inkjet-tryckta nanopartikelstrukturer. Detta möjliggör bättre urval, anpassning av, eller tillverkning av sådana substrat för att passa tryckta mönster med hög konduktivitet; som till exempel tryckta antenner på förpackningar.

Glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) plays an important role in carbohydrate metabolism of all living organisms. Compared to the conventional analytical methods available for estimation of G6P, the biosensors having relative simplicity, specificity, low-cost and fast response time are a promising alternative. We have reported a G6P biosensor based on screen-printed electrode utilizing Prussian Blue (PB) nanoparticles and enzymes, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and glutathione reductase. The PB nanoparticles acted as a mediator and thereby enhanced the rate of electron transfer in a bi-enzymatic reaction. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy study confirmed the formation of PB, whereas, the atomic forced microscopy revealed that PB nanoparticles were about 25-30 nm in diameter. Various optimization studies, such as pH, enzyme and cofactor loading, etc. were conducted to obtain maximum amperometric responses for G6P measurement. The developed G6P biosensor showed a broad linear response in the range of 0.01-1.25 mM with a detection limit of 2.3 mM and sensitivity of ­63.3 mA/mM at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 within 15 s at an applied working potential of -100 mV. The proposed G6P biosensor also exhibited good stability, excellent anti-interference ability and worked well for serum samples.

Graduation date: 1992

Conductive anodic filament (CAF) is a failure mode in printed wiring boards (PWBs) which occurs under high humidity and high voltage gradient conditions. The filament, a copper salt, grows from anode to cathode along the epoxy-glass interface. Ready and Turbini (2000) identified this copper salt as the Cu2(OH)3Cl, atacamite compound. This work has investigated the influence of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and polyethylene propylene glycol (PEPG) fluxing agents on the chemical nature of CAF. For coupons processed with PEPG flux, with and without chloride, a copper-chloride containing compound was formed in the polymer matrix. This compound was characterized using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) as CuCl and an electrochemical mechanism for the formation of the chloride-containing CAF has been proposed. For PEG flux, with and without chloride, it has been shown that CAF only formed, but no copper containing compound formed in the matrix. It appears for PEG fluxed coupons, a PEG-Cu-Cl complex forms, binds the available Cu and acts as a barrier to the formation of CuCl in the polymer matrix. Meeker and Lu Valle (1995) have previously proposed that CAF failure is best represented by two competing reactions – the formation of a copper chloride corrosion compound (now identified as Cu2(OH)3Cl) and the formation of innocuous trapped chlorine compounds. Since no evidence of any trapped chloride compounds has been found, we propose that the formation of CAF is best represented by a single non-reversible reaction. For coupons processed with a high bromide-containing flux, bromide containing CAF was created and characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to be Cu2(OH)3Br. In addition, a copper-containing compound was formed in the polymer matrix and characterized using XPS as CuBr. An electrochemical mechanism for the formation of bromide-containing CAF has been proposed based on the XPS data. .

Conductive anodic filament (CAF) is a failure mode in printed wiring boards (PWBs) which occurs under high humidity and high voltage gradient conditions. The filament, a copper salt, grows from anode to cathode along the epoxy-glass interface. Ready and Turbini (2000) identified this copper salt as the Cu2(OH)3Cl, atacamite compound. This work has investigated the influence of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and polyethylene propylene glycol (PEPG) fluxing agents on the chemical nature of CAF. For coupons processed with PEPG flux, with and without chloride, a copper-chloride containing compound was formed in the polymer matrix. This compound was characterized using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) as CuCl and an electrochemical mechanism for the formation of the chloride-containing CAF has been proposed. For PEG flux, with and without chloride, it has been shown that CAF only formed, but no copper containing compound formed in the matrix. It appears for PEG fluxed coupons, a PEG-Cu-Cl complex forms, binds the available Cu and acts as a barrier to the formation of CuCl in the polymer matrix. Meeker and Lu Valle (1995) have previously proposed that CAF failure is best represented by two competing reactions – the formation of a copper chloride corrosion compound (now identified as Cu2(OH)3Cl) and the formation of innocuous trapped chlorine compounds. Since no evidence of any trapped chloride compounds has been found, we propose that the formation of CAF is best represented by a single non-reversible reaction. For coupons processed with a high bromide-containing flux, bromide containing CAF was created and characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to be Cu2(OH)3Br. In addition, a copper-containing compound was formed in the polymer matrix and characterized using XPS as CuBr. An electrochemical mechanism for the formation of bromide-containing CAF has been proposed based on the XPS data. .