2016 UMKC Theses - Freely Available Online
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Item Expression Pattern of Drug-Resistance Genes in Matched Clinical Isolates of Candida albicans at Variable Fluconazole Exposure Times(2016) Geanes, Eric Stephen; White, Theodore C.Candida albicans is an opportunistic fungus that exists naturally in the vaginal, urinary, and gastrointestinal tracts of humans. Typically, this yeast remains balanced with the body’s other natural microbial flora and the host immune system. However, infections may occur in individuals with compromised immune systems. A common drug used to treat these infections is fluconazole (FLC), a fungistatic azole targeting lanosterol 14α-demethylase (Erg11) in the ergosterol biosynthesis pathway. In some clinical isolates, resistance to FLC is due to overexpression of a) the encoding genes CDR1 and CDR2 for the ABC Transporters, b) the Major Facilitator Transporter encoding gene MDR1, or c) ERG11, the azole target gene. Previous studies have shown gene expression in a matched set of clinical isolates is maximized at the drug concentration that matches the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC80) of the strain to FLC. This study investigates the gene expression levels of the drug resistant genes in selected C. albicans isolates from the matched series in the presence of their corresponding MIC80 to FLC at different times in the growth cycle. The four isolates used in this study were selected from a series of 17 isolates all taken from the same patient. Quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to measure mRNA expression of the aforementioned genes in the presence and absence of FLC at their respective MIC80 concentrations at growth times ranging from 1 hour to 32 hours. Gene expression in the presence of drug was compared to the respective expression levels in the absence of drug. The results from the experiment demonstrate variable gene expression between susceptible and resistant isolates. FLC susceptible isolates began overexpressing CDR2, MDR1, and ERG11 at 4 hours of drug exposure. FLC exposure does not affect CDR1 expression in any of the four isolates with the exception of isolates 1 and 4 at 32 hours. As the target of FLC, ERG11 overexpression is induced by drug in all strains. Susceptible isolates begin overexpressing resistance genes earlier and at higher levels than resistant isolates that express high basal gene expression in the absence of drug. Therefore, gene overexpression of resistance genes in response to the exposure time of FLC at MIC80 concentrations varies depending on the resistant gene, and its basal expression levels in resistant isolates.Item Novel Non Precharging Single Bitline 8T Static Random Access Memory(University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2016) Mohammed, Mahmood Uddin; Chowdhury, Masud H.Novel 8T SRAM design, employs individual bit-line (BL) and word-line (WL) for each operation. The read operation uses read word-line (RWL) and read bit-line (RBL) respectively. On other hand the write operation employs write word-line (WWL) and write bit line (WBL). Due to single BL and WL the power consumption of the proposed 8T SRAM cell is significantly less.The proposed design avoids the stability and reliability issues of the conventional 6T and other existing SRAM cells. The read stability and the write ability of the proposed design are better compared to the standard 6T and other 7T, 8T and 9T SRAM designs. The proposed 8T SRAM is as good as the 10T design without the overheads. The power consumption of the proposed 8T SRAM cell is significantly lower than other SRAM cells. The proposed design is ratio-less, which makes the construction and operation of the proposed SRAM much simpler and the response time much faster. The proposed cell design and its reliability and stability have been analyzed for 45nm technology. We have also analyzed the static noise margin (SNM) and the stability of the proposed design. In this analysis, we have used three methods. First, the traditional SNM method with the butterfly curve is introduced. Second, the N-curve method is used. And finally, we used the bit-line voltage method. We have also analyzed the impact of some process and parametric variations. The write ability of the proposed design is also compared to that of the conventional 6T SRAM.Item Nanoscale Nonvolatile Memory Circuit Design using Emerging Spin Transfer Torque Magnetic Random Access Memory(University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2016) Vemula, Lohith Kumar; Chowdhury, Masud H.The spin transfer torque magnetic random access memory (STT-MRAM) is suitable for embedded and second level cache memories in the mobile CPUs. STT-MRAM is a highly potential nonvolatile memory (NVM) technology. There has been a growing demand to improve the efficiency and reliability of the NVM circuits and architectures. we present a modified STT MRAM cell design, where each cell is comprised of one magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ) device and a regular access transistor. We provide analysis of device, circuit and memory architecture level issues of STT-MRAM. The Modified 1M1T STT-MRAM bit cell circuit offers simpler and more area- and power- efficient design compared to the existing STT-MRAM cell design. Some device-circuit co-design issues are investigated to demonstrate ways to reduce delay in MRAM circuits based on MTJ. An 8x8 conventional MRAM array is implemented using the existing 2M2T cell and the Modified 1M1T cell to perform a comparative analysis at the architecture level. The non-volatile nature of the proposed STT-MRAM is verified through SPICE simulation. The circuit implementations and simulations are performed for 45nm technology node. As the transistor scales down it is prone to subthreshold leakage, gate-dielectric leakage, Short channel effect and drain induced barrier lowering. Now alternative of Access transistor is needed. We are using FinFET as access transistor in the STT-MRAM bit cell. FinFET based bit cell is designed to get an advantage of scaling down. Analysis is done and proven that the power consumption, standalone leakage current is less when compared to NMOS based STT-MRAM bit cell. Also determined FinFET based bit cell produces less access time to access the logic value from MTJ. Now, Industry is looking to have computational and storage capability together and that can be achieved through STT-MRAM. Addition to that there is a possibility to reduce power consumption and leakage more. So replacing FinFET technology with Carbon Nano Tube Field Effect Transistor (CNTFET) is required. As the conventional STT-MRAM requires certain current to reverse the magnetization of MTJ and one CNTFET alone cannot produce sufficient current required to store the logic value into MTJ. So new Bit cell is proposed using 3 CNTFET and 1 MTJ, this bit cell is capable of storing 3 logic values at a time that is capable of doing computation and act as AND gate. Also it utilizes less power to be in active region. Sensing of any memory system is one of the main challenge in industry to get better performance with less resources. Conventional Sense Amplifier (SA) used to sense the value from SRAM, DRAM memory system is also used to sense the STT-MRAM memory. But use of conventional SA is prone to some error. Modified Sense Amplifier is designed to overcome the error produced from the conventional SA. It is compared with all the existing SA to get the performance details of the modified SA.Item Implementing Product Line Architecture with Code Generation and Separation(University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2016) Gharibi, Gharib; Zheng, YongjieSoftware product line engineering (SPLE) emphasizes high level of reuse and mass customization of the core assets shared by a family of software products. Product line architecture (PLA) is a promising application of architecture-centric development in SPLE. However, unfaithful implementation of the PLA and manual implementation of its variation points remain two difficult challenges that need to be addressed in this area. While many PLA implementation approaches exist, they either focus on certain types of variability or require manual implementation of variation points. In this thesis, I present a novel code generation and separation approach that can faithfully implement the PLA with a goal of reducing the inconsistency between the PLA and its implementation. Moreover, the approach can automatically implement the variation points modeled in the PLA and convert them to code entities using different techniques based on the variation point’s type. I have implemented the approach in ArchFeature, an Eclipse-based PLA development environment, and evaluated it in a case study with a chat application. The purpose of the evaluation was to validate the approach and to assess its feasibility, performance, and affordability.Item Rose Piper: New Discoveries(University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2016) Dohogne, Meghan; Dunbar, Burton L. (Burton Lewis)Rose Piper (1917- 2005) was an African-American artist, based primarily in New York, who garnered attention with her success in oil painting. She utilized her talent to transcend medium in a multidisciplinary career. Although Piper is not a widely known artist, her ability and skill make her deserving of a place in the art historical narrative. I have organized her career into three distinct time phases: 1) early career (1940s-1950s), 2) middle career (1950s-1970s) and 3) late career (1970s-1990s). Piper’s early career consisted mostly of oil paintings completed under the award of two Rosenwald Fellowships for which she was encouraged to apply while studying at the Arts Students League. The Blues and Negro Folk Song series exposed Piper’s work to a larger audience, earning critically acclaimed reviews. In 1948, Piper traveled to Paris to continue her studies at École des Beaux-Arts. After she returned to the United States, financial constraints prompted her to begin her commercial career. Piper’s middle career spanned the majority of her working lifr. During the early 1950s she began Ransier Studio Cards, a greeting card company at which she was involved in the entire production process. After the business folded, Piper began a twenty-eight year term in the textile industry where she rose through the ranks of the garment industry. Piper’s textile career included over ten design firms, some of the firms included: JJ Knitted Fabrics, Fred Levy Studio, and many others. In 1979, Piper retired from the textile industry and returned to creating fine art. In her late career, she combined her art historical knowledge and eye for detail to create a new body of work which differed stylistically from her early career combining her knack for oil painting and textile design. Ultimately, Piper gained recognition for her contributions to art in the twentieth century. She was honored with a series of retrospectives that continued until 2003, just two years before the artist’s death. Although Piper’s artwork is now shown around the globe, there is still very little known about her entire career as an artist.