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Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in women in the United States, accounting for approximately 30% of newly diagnosed female cancers every year. In 2023, it is estimated that around 297,790 invasive breast cancers will be diagnosed as new cases with nearly 43,700 women deaths. The average lifetime risk of a woman in the United States accruing a breast cancer diagnosis is approximately 13%, meaning that there is a 1 in 8 chance of developing breast cancer. Classification of breast cancers is distinguished based on the presence of three receptors: HER2, estrogen, and progesterone. Absence of these receptors is categorized as triple negative breast cancer and accounts for about 15% of all breast cancers, thus is the most aggressive and difficult to treat. In this study, research involving two flavonoids, CT1 and CT3 show cytotoxic effects against cell lines MCF7 (ER+, PR+, HER2-) and SKBr3 (ER-, PR-, HER2+), that represent the most common breast cancers. CT1 and CT3 were extracted from the leaves of Chromolaena tacotana using a Soxhlet extractor, followed by isolation and purification by chromatography. The cells were seeded and then treated with CT1 or CT3 at concentrations of 5, 10, 20, 40 and 80 mM for cytotoxicity assays, and 40mM for analysis of mechanism of action via immunoblotting and TUNEL. These two flavonoids differ on the presence of a double bond between positions 2 and 3. At the concentrations tested, CT1 has cytotoxic activity against MCF7 but no significant effect on SKBr3, while CT3 has cytotoxic activity against SKBr3 but not on MCF7. CT1 and CT3 target the activated forms of ERK, c-JUN and SP6; however, the effect of CT1 appears to be significantly stronger than CT3 and does not involve the survival pathway. CT1 and CT3 inhibit cell viability in MCF7 and SKBr3 breast cancer cells by activating an extrinsic apoptotic pathway. Additional studies using a triple negative breast cancer cell line has shown that this activation is independent of the presence of estrogen and progesterone receptors or the upregulation of HER2.

With the constant scaling of semiconductor devices, reliability of these devices is a huge concern. One of the biggest reliability issues is a phenomenon known as electromigration (EM) [1] [2]. Electromigration is the transport of material caused by the gradual movement of the ions in a conductor due to the momentum transfer between conducting electrons and diffusing metal atoms [27]. The damage induced by electromigration appears as the formation of voids and hillocks, resulting in electrical discontinuity. Based on previous Electromigration research [15], I have created a tool chain that identifies where electromigration is likely to occur in large-scale integrated circuits. Using this tool chain, it is possible to identify the mean-time to failure (MTTF) of several common and high priority circuits such as complex adders and memories. Furthermore, this tool chain allows designers to isolate weak-points in these circuits to improve the overall MTTF of the circuit. The result is that with a few simple changes, circuits can be redesigned to increase the MTTF, at minimal cost to the system.

<p>The ACTR (Asynchronous Communications Transmitter Receiver) is a serial data transfer link for the Data General ECLIPSE and NOVA minicomputer lines. The ACTR allows the interconnection of computers in the NOVA and ECLIPSE lines into a multiprocessor system by permitting blocks ot data to be transferred through the computers' program I/O tacitities. Such a small computer multiprocessor system is a powerful, high flexible alternative to a single large computer in many applications. The major application of the ACTR is in systems where the linked processors are either far remote from one another or where the system is so configured that a master/slave environment is practical.</p> <p>This report will deal with the theory of Operation of the hardware as well as the software control of the ACTR. A method of handling the ACTR in a multi-tasking environment under the Data General operating systems, RDOS/RTOS, will also be developed.</p> / Thesis / Master of Engineering (ME)

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Tolerance is a diagnostic criterion for alcohol use disorder (AUD) and dependence and is often measured metabolically or behaviorally by comparing blood ethanol concentrations (BEC) or locomotor performance to an ethanol (EtOH) challenge before and after a drinking history, respectively. To explore another aspect of chronic behavioral tolerance in a family history positive (FH+) model of AUD, crossed High Alcohol Preferring (cHAP) mice were allowed to respond instrumentally for an EtOH reinforcer after either a five-week history of continuous home cage two-bottle choice (2BC) drinking or a concurrent five-week water-drinking period. Additionally, some of these animals were placed back into the operant box after home cage drinking histories to respond in extinction, allowing for the quantification of alcohol-motivated seeking alone in the absence of EtOH taking and its intoxicating effects. The results demonstrate that an alcohol history does not lead to a subsequent increase in active lever responding or inactive lever responding when compared to water-drinking controls. However, female cHAP mice with an EtOH-drinking history respond more on the inactive lever in extinction compared to water controls, suggesting that home cage EtOH history potentiates variation in responding in extinction. Overall, female mice responded more on the active lever and drank more alcohol in the reinforced condition, but again, there was not an effect of drinking history on this sex-specific effect. Together these results suggest that while female cHAPs, regardless of drinking history, are more motivated to work to drink EtOH, reinforced and non-reinforced instrumental responding are not reliable readouts for tolerance in cHAP mice compared to other endpoints such as drinking in the dark (DID) assays.

Despite drought accounting for over 80% of agricultural losses, little progress has been made towards improving drought tolerance in crops. My approach to identifying traits underlying drought tolerance involved a comparison between two accessions of the crucifer, Eutrema salsugineum, that display differential tolerance to water deficits. The accessions, originating from the semi-arid Yukon, Canada, and a monsoonal region of Shandong, China, were subjected to a two-step, water deficit and recovery protocol to identify physiological characteristics that discern their drought-responsive behaviour. Traits that discriminate between the ecotypes were used to screen recombinant inbred lines (RILs) that were generated by crossing Yukon and Shandong parent plants. Selected physiological measurements were: anthocyanin accumulation, cut rosette water loss (CRWL), solute potential, relative water content (RWC), static leaf water content (SLWC), specific leaf area (SLA), and OJIP fluorescence emission. Of the measurements taken, CRWL measurements and anthocyanin content distinguished the Yukon ecotype from the Shandong ecotype during the first drought exposure whereas SLA and fluorescence responses differentiated these accessions better after plants that experienced the first drought were rewatered and recovering or undergoing a second drought treatment. Sixty-eight RILs were screened using SLA and OJIP fluorescence emission. SLA and OJIP measurements varied among the recombinant inbred lines (RILs) with many lines showing responses to water deficit intermediate to those of the parental lines. Evidence of heritability in SLA and/or OJIP responses to water deficits would make them useful phenotypic markers for identifying quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with drought tolerance in future work. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

This thesis investigates the interactions of several characteristics of serial production lines that contribute to production line performance. A full factorial experimental design of computerized simulations is conducted with three levels of downtime, four levels of variability, three levels of line length, three levels of constraint location, three levels of work-in-process, and six levels of protective capacity. This study enlarges upon recent four-workstation investigations and extends the knowledge to longer production lines. Some generalizations for the amount and location of protective capacity are drawn from the results, as a guide for process improvements and new production line design. An approximating regression model is constructed for prediction of cycle time outcomes with various values of contributing factors.

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