Today’s high-speed interconnects at the chip, package, and board levels of integration can be rigorously modeled with the boundary element method based on the surface discretization of the electric field integral equation (EFIE). The accuracy of such models critically depends on the surface impedance model, which has to accurately map the behavior of the electromagnetic field inside the wire volumes to their surfaces. This thesis proposes a surface impedance model, which casts the accurate but computationally intensive volumetric EFIE formulation to the boundary element framework. This is accomplished via approximating the volumetric current density as a product of the known exponential factor corresponding to the skin-effect behavior of the field inside the wires and the unknown surface current density on the conductor’s boundary. The reduction of the volumetric EFIE to its surface counterpart results in a physically consistent surface impedance model allowing to achieve the volumetric EFIE accuracy within the boundary element formulation. The method is initially introduced for lossy 2D interconnects and later generalized to 3D interconnects under magneto-quasistatic approximation. Finally, this work is extended to the Rao-Wilton-Glisson (RWG) method of moments (MoM) solution of the full-wave EFIE. The alternative models exhibit various limitations. For example, in the double-plane model the planar interconnect structure is replaced by two infinitely thin metal sheets at its top and bottom surfaces. This model succeeds for several practical scenarios where the conductor width is sufficiently larger than its thickness, or when the operating frequency is sufficiently low for the current distribution across the conductor cross section to be assumed uniform. The alternative”multi-sheet model” represents the interconnect by a number of infinitely thin metal sheets, which uniformly span its cross section such that the spacing between each two consecutive sheets is small compared to skin-depth. The model succeeds in accurately extracting conductor loss, however, it may require a large number of sheets, which makes the number of unknowns in MoM discretization of the same order as the number of unknowns in volumetric models.

Dans le cadre de la littérature européenne, il existe un lien important entre la femme et la mer qui a au centre une polarité essentielle : femme créatrice ou monstre marin. Cette dualité d’image féminine transcende les limites géographiques et linguistiques pour s’insérer dans le corpus littéraire de la France, l’Italie et ’Espagne. Les mythes Gréco-romains mettent en vedette les éléments du vaisseau, l’orage, la mer turbulente, le naufrage. Une thématique riche entoure les éléments marins présentés dans les mythes et est au fondement des métaphores créées par les auteurs de la Renaissance. L’image du navire balayé par la mer est au centre d’une image d’orage féminin qui se présente dans Il Canzionière de Pétrarque, Les Amours de Ronsard et Cants d’amor d’Ausias March. Le bateau est symbole du poète et la mer turbulente son amour envahissant. Les poètes modèlent cette métaphore grâce à des éléments communs. Les attributs qui ont une parure de beauté chez la femme se métamorphosent en agent nocif qui s’assimile à l’image du navire, tel que les cheveux d’or. Il faut aussi remarquer là où une fissure existe entre la tradition et l’innovation, les nuances au niveau des images et des métaphores où s’ouvre une nouvelle voie littéraire.

To harness the wealth of success and computational power from the microelectronics industry, lab-on-a-chip (LOAC) applications should be fully integrated with silicon platforms. This works demonstrates a dielectrophoresis-based LOAC device built entirely on silicon using standard CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) processing techniques. The signal phases on multiple electrodes were controlled with only four electrical contacts, which connected to the device using three metal layers separated with interlayer dielectric. Indium tin oxide was deposited on a milled plastic lid to provide the conductivity and optical clarity necessary to electrically actuate the particles and observe them. The particles and medium were in the microfluidic chamber formed by using conductive glue to bond the plastic milled lid to the patterned silicon substrate. A correlation between the particle velocities and the electric field gradients was made using video microscopy and COMSOL Multiphysics ® simulations.

During storage of grain, there may have significant damage to its quality due to unfavorable physical and biological interactions and thus requires continuous monitoring. Therefore, an easy, cost-effective and environmentally friendly method is necessary for efficient monitoring of stored-grain. Arrays of sensors are being used for classifying liquors, perfumes, quality of food products mimicking mammalian olfactory systems. Monitoring of stored grain is a new application of sensor arrays. The main objective was to fabricate a carbon black polymer sensor array which can easily monitor incipient grain spoilage by detecting spoiling stored grain volatiles (benzene derivatives and aliphatic hydrocarbon derivatives) with minimum interference from relative humidity. Various aspects of a good sensor were analyzed using statistical analysis (RSD, LDA, PCA, t-test). The developed sensor array can identify red flour beetle-infected and uninfected wheat and fungal volatiles at ambient conditions as well as some stored grain conditions (MC 16%, RH 52%).

This study examines long-term direct and indirect Historic Copper Inuit-European and European intersocietal interaction in the western/central Canadian Arctic periphery. Utilizing theoretical perspectives deriving from World-System Theory and moderate relativist orientations, and, embracing ethnographic, ethnohistorical and archaeological methodologies, the historic process by which the Historic Copper Inuit living externally to the modern capitalist World-System, came into contact with and were gradually incorporated within this expanding global system of interconnected states is examined. The process leading to the ultimate incorporation of the Historic Copper Inuit within the World-System is scrutinized through chronological stages and, utilizing two-views; the perspective of the Historic Copper Inuit mediating the penetration of the World-System, and through a perspective based on World-System orientations.

In industrial experimentation, time and material costs are often at a premium. In designing an experiment, one needs to balance the desire for sufficient experimental runs to provide adequate data analysis, with the need to conduct a cost-effective experiment. A common compromise is the use of fractional factorial (FF) designs, in which only a fraction of the total possible runs is utilized. After discussing the basic concepts of FF designs, we introduce the fractional factorial split-plot (FFSP) design. Such designs occur frequently, because certain factors are often harder to vary than others, thus imposing randomization restric- tions. This thesis examines two techniques aimed at reducing run size that have not been greatly explored in the FFSP setting — nonregular designs and semifoldover designs. We show that these designs offer competitive alternatives to the more standard regular and full foldover designs and we produce tables of optimal designs in both scenarios.

The purpose of this project was to determine how Dlc-2 and Rho signaling modulate the ceramide induction of PGP synthase. This induction was studied at the transcriptional, post-transcriptional, and post-translational levels using cell culture, Real-Time RT-PCR, protein purification, phage display, and western blotting techniques. We have demonstrated that the PGP synthase gene is not controlled at the transcriptional level by ceramide and Rho, nor is the mRNA stability of PGP synthase affected. However, ceramide and Rho do seem to exhibit translational or post-translational control over the PGP synthase protein. The relationships between Dlc-2 (and Rho), ceramide, and PGP synthase (and CL) are important to understand. All three are involved in cancer and apoptotic responses. The knowledge gained by the experiments discussed in this thesis will contribute to an understanding of how these proteins and lipids interact. This knowledge may then be used in the future to develop cancer treatments.

The RAS-mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway is an essential signaling mechanism that regulates cellular processes and culminates in the activation of specific gene expression programs. Alterations in the RAS-MAPK signaling cascade can modify epigenetic programs and confer advantages in cell growth and transformation. In fact, deregulation of the cascade is a key event in tumour development with 30% of human cancers harbouring RAS mutations. In breast and pancreatic epithelial cancers, characterization of an aberrant RAS-MAPK pathway has focused on upstream mediators such as receptors and oncogenic RAS molecules but the impact of downstream targets remain poorly defined. Stimulation of the RAS-RAF-MEK-MAPK pathway leads to activation of mitogen- and stress-activated protein kinases 1 and 2 (MSK1/2) which are responsible for the phosphorylation of histone H3 on S10 and S28. We postulate that deregulation of the RAS-MAPK pathway produced by constitutive activation and/ or over-expression of upstream components or mitogen stimulation consequently leads to enhanced MSK1 activity and elevated histone H3 phosphorylation levels. We further hypothesize that MSK1-mediated H3 phosphorylation is critical for immediate early gene (IEG) expression, Ras-driven transformation and is associated with regulatory regions upon gene transcription. In mouse fibroblasts, we present evidence for the critical involvement of MSK1 and H3 phosphorylation as mediators that bridge the aberrant signals driven by the RAS-MAPK pathway with nucleosomal modifications, chromatin remodeling, IEG expression and malignant transformation. We then examined if activation of RAS-MAPK signaling in breast cancer cells elicits similar molecular events. We demonstrate that the RAS-MAPK pathway is induced and enhances the association of MSK1 and H3 phosphorylation on the IEG Trefoil Factor 1 resulting in transcriptional activation. We further observed that mutated K-RAS expression did not correlate with genomic instability or altered signaling in pancreatic cancer cell lines while overexpressed HER2 and EGFR breast cancer cell lines generally exhibit upregulated ERK1/2 and H3 phosphorylation levels. Taken together, our studies contribute to the further understanding of MSK-mediated transcriptional activation in response to RAS-MAPK signaling in oncogene-transformed and cancer cell lines. Inhibition of MSK activity may be an unexplored avenue for combination cancer therapy with abnormal RAS-MAPK signaling pathways.

This study explores radical pacifists’ intellectual engagement with the black freedom movement by examining the New York-based magazine Liberation between 1956 and 1965. It argues that two priorities shaped Liberation’s responses to the movement: the concern to promote the philosophy and practice of nonviolent direct action, and the concern to advocate radical social change in the United States. Until 1965 Liberation promoted the civil rights movement as a potential catalyst for the nonviolent reconstruction of U.S. democracy. Liberation became a forum for exploring the common ground as well as the tensions between radical pacifist priorities and those of various black freedom activists. The tensions are particularly apparent in Liberation’s reflections on the challenges of linking peace activism with the freedom struggle in the early 1960s, and in its 1964-65 debate over civil rights leaders’ strategy of coalition with the Democratic Party in the context of the escalating war in Vietnam.

Predictive models are used to identify potentially problematic components that decrease product quality. Design and source code metrics are used as input features for predictive models; however, there exist a large number of structural measures that capture different aspects of coupling, cohesion, inheritance, complexity and size. An important question to answer is: Which metrics should be used with a model for a particular predictive objective? Identifying a metric subset that improves the performance for the classifier may also provide insights into the structural properties that lead to problematic modules. In this work, a genetic algorithm (GA) is used as a search-based metric selection strategy. A comparative study has been carried out between GA, the Chidamber and Kemerer (CK) metrics suite, and principal component analysis (PCA) as metric selection strategies with different datasets. Program comprehension is important for programmers and the first dataset evaluated uses source code inspections as a subjective measure of cognitively complexity. Predicting the likely location of system failures is important in order to improve a system’s reliability. The second dataset uses an objective measure of faults found in system modules in order to predict fault-prone components. The aim of this research has been to advance the current state of the art in predictive models of software quality by exploring the efficacy of a search-based approach in selecting appropriate metrics subsets. Results show that GA performs well as a metric selection strategy when used with a linear discriminant analysis classifier. When predicting cognitive complex classes, GA achieved an F-value of 0.845 compared to an F-value of 0.740 using PCA, and 0.750 for the CK metrics. By examining the GA chosen metrics with a white box predictive model (decision tree classifier) additional insights into the structural properties of a system that degrade product quality were observed. Source code metrics have been designed for human understanding and program comprehension and predictive models for cognitive complexity perform well with just source code metrics. Models for fault prone modules do not perform as well when using only source metrics and need additional non-source code information, such module modification history or testing history.