Parallel triangularization of substructured finite element problems

Much of the computational effort of the finite element process involves the solution of a system of linear equations. The coefficient matrix of this system, known as the global stiffness matrix, is symmetric, positive definite, and generally sparse. An important technique for reducing the time required to solve this system is substructuring or matrix partitioning. Substructuring is based on the idea of dividing a structure into pieces, each of which can then be analyzed relatively indepenently. As a result of this division, each point in the finite element discretization is either interior to a substructure or on a boundary between substructures. Contributions to the global stiffness matrix from connections between boundary points from the K(bb) matrix are reported. The triangularization of a general K(bb) matrix on a parallel machine is specifically discussed

Should I Stay or Should I Go?: Gender Differences in Professional Employment

Occupational sex segregation is a persistent source of social inequalities. The increasing participation of women in tertiary education and rising female employment rates, however, have given hope that gender inequalities will decline as a result of growing female opportunities for high skill employment in the service sector, e.g. the professions. This paper asks whether such optimistic accounts are justified by comparing male and female professional career trajectories in Germany. Our main assumptions hold that, even today, strong gender differences continue to exist between public and private sector professions, which are further aggravated by different forms of family commitment. Overall, our analyses demonstrate that even among highly qualified men and women, important patterns of sex segregation are present. Aninitial horizontal segregation between public and private sectors brings about "equal, but different" career prospects, which in the phase of family formation turn into vertical segregation, promoting "different and therefore unequal" labor market chances.professions, sex segregation, labor market outcomes, family formation, tertiary education, German

Smooth Path or Long and Winding Road?

The book uses a comparative study of Germany and Britain to reveal how national institutions shape the labour market careers of higher education graduates. It identifies four institutional spheres that are important: the structure of higher education systems, the content of study, the structure of graduate labour markets, and labour market flexibility. Due to country differences, the transition from higher education to work in Germany follows a smooth path, while in Britain it is more comparable to a long and winding road

New teacher development in an urban district : a mixed-method study of a new teacher induction institute as professional development.

Experts attribute the teacher shortage to an increase in population while others cite the retirement of a critical mass of baby boomers who came into teaching in the mid to late twentieth century. Other experts argue that the teaching shortage is due to attrition of teachers new to the field. Job dissatisfaction, disillusionment, poor working conditions, low pay and lack of respect are cited in research as reasons for an exodus from teaching. Numerous reasons have contributed to teachers leaving the field in alarming numbers, resulting in not enough pre-service teachers in supply to fill the current demand for teaching. This study examined the perceived effectiveness of a large urban school district\u27s New Teacher Induction institute by newly hired teachers who attended in 2008-09,2009- 10, and 2010-11. Quantitative and qualitative measures were used to examine if the district\u27s week-long induction program assisted newly hired teachers by providing support. A total of 1270 teachers were invited to participate in an online survey and focus interview groups, with 245 teachers responding to the survey and five focus group participants agreeing to interview. Descriptive statistics were analyzed using constructs of student learning, student needs, critical thinking, and instructional leadership strategies. A factor analysis was performed to look at newly hired teachers\u27 expectations and attitudes about the urban school district-wide new teacher induction program; differences in the perceptions of teachers attending the program across three years; differences in perceptions between traditional certification and alternative certification prepared teachers; and differences in perceptions of inexperienced new teachers and experienced new teachers. The researcher reduced the 28 online survey item responses and qualitative data analysis from five focus group participants to three factors and emergent themes: teacher efficacy, holistic teacher, and teacher leader. An ANOVA was run using demographic data from 190 respondents, with the three new themes as an analysis framework. The results indicated no significance at the p =0.05 level

Smooth Path or Long and Winding Road?

The book uses a comparative study of Germany and Britain to reveal how national institutions shape the labour market careers of higher education graduates. It identifies four institutional spheres that are important: the structure of higher education systems, the content of study, the structure of graduate labour markets, and labour market flexibility. Due to country differences, the transition from higher education to work in Germany follows a smooth path, while in Britain it is more comparable to a long and winding road

Why do occupations dominated by women pay less? How ‘female-typical’ work tasks and working-time arrangements affect the gender wage gap among higher education graduates

Even though women today constitute the majority of higher education graduates, they still earn considerably less than their male counterparts. Previous research demonstrates that occupational sex segregation is important for understanding the gender wage gap, since occupations dominated by women pay less; yet less is known about why this is the case. This article explores two possible mechanisms: the devaluation of ‘female-typical’ work tasks and working-time arrangements. Hypotheses are tested by applying OLS regression and Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition analyses to the log hourly wages of a representative sample of German higher education graduates from 2001. Results confirm that occupational overtime increases and occupational part-time work decreases wages, indicating that occupations dominated by women pay less due to their ‘female-typical’ working-time arrangements. However, inconsistent with the devaluation thesis, tasks like teaching/educating increase wages for women, too, which speaks against a general lower value of ‘female-typical’ tasks, at least among the highly qualified

Why do girls' and boys' gender-(a)typical occupational aspirations differ across countries? How cultural norms and institutional constraints shape young adolescents' occupational preferences

Occupational sex segregation persists in all European and OECD countries; yet in some countries, it is more pronounced than in others. In this paper we seek to explain these cross-national variations by analyzing the realistic occupational aspirations of 15-year-old pupils in 29 EU and OECD countries. Based on socialization and rational choice approaches we develop hypotheses for how cultural norms and national institutions might influence the gender-typing of occupations. These are tested by applying 2-step multi-level models to the OECD's 2006 PISA study merged with country-level data from various sources. Results indicate that girls develop gender-(a)typical occupational aspirations in response to structural education and labor market differences across countries, while boys' gender-(a)typical aspirations are mainly influenced by country variations in normative prescriptions of gender-essentialist cultures and self-expressive value systems. The findings point at the necessity for differentiating both between micro- and macrolevel explanations and between explanations for women and men. (author's abstract

Financial Solidarity or Autonomy? How Gendered Wealth and Income Inequalities Influence Couples' Money Management

It is well established that women have lower income and wealth levels than men. These inequalities are most pronounced within heterosexual couples and grow once partners get married and have children. Nevertheless, equality in controlling money within couples is highly valued and might ameliorate women's disadvantages in income and wealth ownership. Previous research has focused on explaining gender wealth inequalities at the household level; less is known about the possible consequences of these inequalities on how couples manage their money. In this article, we investigate how income and wealth inequalities among couples are associated with joint or independent money management. In theoretical terms, we perceive money management systems as representing two different norms of reciprocity within couples for buffering income and wealth inequalities between partners, depending on the transferability of resources and their institutional regulation. We apply pooled logistic regression models to data from the German Socio‐Economic Panel Study. Our findings confirm that income and wealth are relevant but have opposite associations with couples’ money management strategies. While couples with unequal income constellations tend to pool their money, couples with unequal wealth constellations manage their money independently. Accordingly, couples seem to use labour income to buffer gender inequalities by sharing resources, thereby following the norm of partnership solidarity. In contrast, gender wealth inequalities are reproduced by keeping resources separate, thus representing the norm of financial autonomy

TRANSURANIC STUDIES STATUS AND PROBLEM STATEMENT

The purpose of the Transuranics Program is to develop separation processes for the transuranic elements, primarily those produced by long-term neutron irradiation of Pu/sup 239/. The program includes laboratory process development, pilot-plant process testing, processing of 10 kg of Pu/sup 239/ irradiated to greater than 99% burn-up for plutonium and americium-curium recovery, and processing the reirradiated plutonium and americium-curium fractions. The proposed method for processing highly irradiated plutonium is: (1) plutonium-aluminum alloy dissolution in HNO/sub 3/; (2) plutonium recovery by TBP extraction; (3) americium, curium, and rare-earth extraction by TBP from neutral nitrate solution; (4) partial rare-earth removal (primarily lanthanum) by americium-curium extraction into 100% TBP from 15M HNO/sub 3/; (5) additional rare-earth removal by extraction in 0.48M mono-2-ethylhexylphosphoric acid from 12M HCl; and (6) americium-curium purification by chloride anion exchange. Processing through the 100% TBP, 15M HNO/sub 3/ cycle can be carried out in the Power Reactor Fuel Reprocessing Pilot Plant. New facilities are proposed 15M HNO/ sub 3/ cycle can be carried out in the Power Reactor Fuel Reprocessing Pilot Plant. New facilities are proposed for laboratory process development studies and the final processing of the transplutonic elements. (auth