Microfluidic biochips revolutionize biology by placing laboratory functionality on a very small chip. The subject of this thesis is a flow-based biochip, which consists of thin channels in which fluids flow. The basic building block of the chip is a valve, which can direct the flow by blocking or unblocking channels. The valves are combined to create components like switches, mixers, and mul-ti...

With the availability of commercial ATM switches implemented with large buffers and strict priorities between different traffic classes, it becomes possible to study ATM traffic control methods as well as integration strategies in an experimental environment where both real time and non-real-time traffic are present. In this paper, the connection admission control (CAC) issue is investigated in...

The emergence of OpenFlow-capable switches enables exciting new network functionality, at the risk of programming errors that make communication less reliable. The centralized programming model, where a single controller program manages the network, seems to reduce the likelihood of bugs. However, the system is inherently distributed and asynchronous, with events happening at different switches...

The ecdysone receptor (EcR)-based gene regulation system is a tool for controlling gene expression. To improve the sensitivity of this system, we evaluated many two-hybrid format synthetic gene constructs in which the GAL4 DNA binding domain was fused to the ligand binding domain of the Choristoneura fumiferana EcR mutant V390I/Y410E (GEvy), and various activation domains--VP16, p53, p65, or E2...

Fungus-growing ants in the tribe Attini represent a classic example of a mutualism. These ants obligately depend on fungus as their major food source, while the fungus receives both vegetative substrate (nourishment) from the ants and protection from pathogens. Here, we try to identify both benefits and costs of the association by using cultivar switch experiments. We assessed the benefits to e...

This paper presents a new stochastic tool, called convex ordering, that provides an ordering of any convex function of transmission rates of two protocols and valuable insights into high order behaviors of protocols. As the ordering determined by this tool is consistent with any convex function of rates, it can be applied to any unknown metric for protocol performance that consists of some high...