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Recent years have seen considerable interest in the use of microfabricated systems in chemical and biological due to their significant advantages in terms of speed, analytical throughput, yield, unit cost, footprint, reagent requirements and control. Inevitably this has led to a growing interest in transferring chromatographic methods to planar chip formats since techniques using high performance LC play such a prominent role in modern bioanalysis. In addition, the manipulation of multiphase (or segmented) flows within microfluidic channels has been recently investigated as a promising approach for large-scale experimentation in biology and chemistry. Importantly, flow segmentation allows for the compartmentalisation of reagent volumes ranging from a few femtolitres to hundreds of nanolitres within a continuous and immiscible fluid, the production of monodisperse droplets at high frequencies, the accurate control of droplet contents and the ability to perform kinetic analysis with high precision. Accordingly the integration of droplet-based microfluidics with HPLC has the potential to dramatically reduce dispersion and minimise dead volume effects by using droplets to collect fractions of the column effluent. This basic progress preserves the chemical identity of each fraction allowing further analysis downstream. In this work, microfluidic devices were fabricated using thermoset polyester (TPE) to operate under high pressure which is required for LC separation and high frequency droplet generation. The optical characteristics of the fabricated devices were assessed for feasibility of optical detections for droplets. Substrate resistance to pressure also was investigated for droplet generation with high frequency. Lastly, droplets were generated under various conditions by adjusting flow-rates and the oil viscosity. Secondly LC separation columns were formed in TPE channels using two different column materials: particulate and polymer monolithic columns. The packed channels were investigated by SEM. In addition, permeability was calculated from back25 pressures measured as a function of flow-rates and compared with columns. Neurotransmitters were separated by the columns to estimate performance. Thirdly, the both operations, LC separation and droplet-based microfluidics, were combined in a single planar format. Sequential operations of separation, compartmentalisation and concentration gradient generation were integrated on a single chip and characterised using confocal laser-induced fluorescence detection. Finally, a preliminary investigation is reported into the possibility of the indirect electrochemical detection as a universal detection that can monitor electrochemically detectable samples as well as non- or less-electroactive bio samples. Amino acids were separated by a commercial RPHPLC column and detected indirectly.

Malignant gliomas are one of the gravest diagnoses to deliver in oncology. Recent integrative multiomics studies of multicenter cohorts have deepened our understanding of complex disease processes, but also highlighted the daunting task of crippling these aggressive neoplasms with extensive inter- and intratumoral heterogeneity. The cancer stem cell hypothesis enriched opportunities to test therapeutic vulnerabilities in contexts that best phenocopy the original diseases. Among biological outputs, metabolic profiles resolved by global metabolomics remain difficult to analyze in high throughput studies. Nevertheless, integration of metabolic fluxes and cellular states informed by epigenetic and transcriptional unearthed critical metabolic dependencies in the cancer stem cell state. Advances in preclinical studies and genomics have informed promising clinical trials. Developments in immunotherapy hold further promise in improving patient outcomes. Closer integration of clinical observations and preclinical studies will uncover new opportunities to find therapeutic targets and improve treatment protocols.

The present report analyzes the three Lukan accounts on Paul's "conversion" in Acts 9:1-31, 22:6-21, and 26:12-17 in consideration of the contemporary literary milieu of the Greek philosophical and Hellenistic Jewish discourses on one's "conversion," i.e., a radical change as discarding his/her former thoughts. Through this analysis, I argue that Luke redescribed Paul’s experience of the risen Christ as a "conversion," and in doing so, constructed the concept of "Christian conversion" as a radical philosophical turn. In his undisputed letters, we find that Paul understood his encounter with the risen Christ as a "calling" within the Hebrew prophetic tradition. On the contrary, Luke stresses the radical rupture between Paul's before and after the revelatory experience by making it an immediate change and adding details such as Saul’s activities as a persecutor and his name change. In recasting Paul's experience as a "conversion," Luke utilized two main literary elements to characterize the nature of his experience as a radical cognitive shift. One is the metaphor of transition from darkness to light, which is applied to Paul in Acts 9 and 22 as he becomes blind after seeing the light and to the gentile conversion in Acts 26 that they should "turn from darkness to light (v.18)." Another is the notion of repentance that Luke applies directly to Paul in Acts 9 and 22 in his baptism and to the gentile conversion in Acts 26. These two motifs are what we often find in the Greek philosophical and Hellenistic Jewish texts discussing one's radical cognitive shift to a new philosophical system or the Jewish monotheism upon the revelation of a true teaching. By applying these motifs to the "conversion" of Saul, Luke identifies Paul's experience and "Christian conversion" as a radical philosophical turn from ignorance to a correct understanding of the messiah and the God. With the Lukan literary and conceptual efforts in Acts, Paul now becomes a paradigmatic "Christian convert" and a philosopher in Acts whose radical cognitive shift can be followed by Jews and gentiles in the Roman world.

Electrical conductivity (or resistivity) of cementitious materials is considered to be a fundamental property and is commonly measured using nondestructive and noninvasive testing techniques. Therefore, electrical measurements are gaining popularity in both research and field applications for structural health monitoring and material characterization of civil engineering infrastructure systems. Based on the results of measurements, the engineer can schedule maintenance more accurately and give an early warning of possible structural failure. Recently, health monitoring systems are capable of significantly increasing the cost efficiency of maintenance and repair by helping engineers improve the safety and maintainability of structures through early damage detection. The research team at the University of Texas at Austin developed a low-cost, passive, wireless conductivity sensor system. Sensors are wirelessly interrogated using external reader during inspection over the service life of the structure to monitor the conductivity variations within concrete. The focus of this work is to assess the condition of cementitious materials by measuring electrical conductivity using passive wireless sensors. By analyzing the measured conductivity data, the condition of the cementitious material, such as extent of hydration, setting and hardening times, and transport phenomena, can be assessed. This document also provides comprehensive information on the design, fabrication, interrogation, and response of conductivity sensor platforms.

The general findings of the merger literature have raised the question of why mergers continue to be so prevalent when there is no conclusive evidence of value gains. In particular, the zero or even negative stock price reaction of the acquirer firm surrounding the announcement has been puzzling. In order to provide insight into this apparent contradiction, this study examines the sources and the realization of synergistic gains from mergers and acquisitions more directly. Prior studies on the sources of synergy have not been very effective since the nature of the data may have obscured the true economic impact of mergers. Using the rich information gained from the U.S. hotel industry data from 1991 to 2009, this study investigates the sources of merger-related gains while controlling for the market condition. Along the way, the much-neglected area of value erosion from M&A is also addressed. The findings indicate that at the hotel property level, both the target and the acquirer show significant cost savings; target hotel properties achieve price gains when they are merged into similar brand families of the acquirer; acquirer hotel properties gain occupancy improvements from the demand spillover from the target hotel properties. The study also finds that local market conflicts have a negative impact on the revenue of both target and acquirer properties. No evidence was found for price-increasing collusion among the properties of the target and the acquirer. The investigation of the offer premium and the operating performance shows that the offer premium is positively associated with synergistic gains for the acquirer properties while it is non-significant for the target properties. These results suggest an interesting possibility that the premium may actually be a price to gain control over the target's resources, which is critical to generating value on the acquirer side.