BESC knowledgebase public portal†

The BioEnergy Science Center (BESC) is undertaking large experimental campaigns to understand the biosynthesis and biodegradation of biomass and to develop biofuel solutions. BESC is generating large volumes of diverse data, including genome sequences, omics data and assay results. The purpose of the BESC Knowledgebase is to serve as a centralized repository for experimentally generated data and to provide an integrated, interactive and user-friendly analysis framework. The Portal makes available tools for visualization, integration and analysis of data either produced by BESC or obtained from external resources

Occupational Sex Segregation and Management-Level Wages in Germany: What Role Does Firm Size Play?

The paper analyzes the gender pay gap in private-sector management positions based on German panel data and using fixed-effects models. It deals with the effect of occupational sex segregation on wages, and the extent to which wage penalties for managers in predominantly female occupations are moderated by firm size. Drawing on economic and organizational approaches and the devaluation of women's work, we find wage penalties for female occupations in management only in large firms. This indicates a pronounced devaluation of female occupations, which might be due to the longer existence, stronger formalization, or more established old-boy networks of large firms

Shewanella knowledgebase: integration of the experimental data and computational predictions suggests a biological role for transcription of intergenic regions

Shewanellae are facultative γ-proteobacteria whose remarkable respiratory versatility has resulted in interest in their utility for bioremediation of heavy metals and radionuclides and for energy generation in microbial fuel cells. Extensive experimental efforts over the last several years and the availability of 21 sequenced Shewanella genomes made it possible to collect and integrate a wealth of information on the genus into one public resource providing new avenues for making biological discoveries and for developing a system level understanding of the cellular processes. The Shewanella knowledgebase was established in 2005 to provide a framework for integrated genome-based studies on Shewanella ecophysiology. The present version of the knowledgebase provides access to a diverse set of experimental and genomic data along with tools for curation of genome annotations and visualization and integration of genomic data with experimental data. As a demonstration of the utility of this resource, we examined a single microarray data set from Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 for new insights into regulatory processes. The integrated analysis of the data predicted a new type of bacterial transcriptional regulation involving co-transcription of the intergenic region with the downstream gene and suggested a biological role for co-transcription that likely prevents the binding of a regulator of the upstream gene to the regulator binding site located in the intergenic region

Building connectomes using diffusion MRI: why, how and but

Why has diffusion MRI become a principal modality for mapping connectomes in vivo? How do different image acquisition parameters, fiber tracking algorithms and other methodological choices affect connectome estimation? What are the main factors that dictate the success and failure of connectome reconstruction? These are some of the key questions that we aim to address in this review. We provide an overview of the key methods that can be used to estimate the nodes and edges of macroscale connectomes, and we discuss open problems and inherent limitations. We argue that diffusion MRI-based connectome mapping methods are still in their infancy and caution against blind application of deep white matter tractography due to the challenges inherent to connectome reconstruction. We review a number of studies that provide evidence of useful microstructural and network properties that can be extracted in various independent and biologically-relevant contexts. Finally, we highlight some of the key deficiencies of current macroscale connectome mapping methodologies and motivate future developments

Undergraduate orientations towards higher education in Germany and England: problematizing the notion of ‘student as customer’

There is a great deal of discussion in the academic literature around how the current conditions in higher education frame students as customers. Observers are of the view that rankings and marketing, an increased focus on student satisfaction, and particularly tuition fees, encourage an instrumental, passive attitude towards a university education. Given the volume of attention directed towards this topic, it is perhaps surprising that there is relatively little scholarship that examines it empirically. Some who have addressed it presumed a customer/consumer orientation in students and have been somewhat—but not entirely successful—in generating evidence to confirm those assumptions. It appears that the expectations of this instrumental, passive orientation are being realised in part, but that this is also mediated by other dispositions. What could be considered to be missing from the analysis thus far is an exploration of how students make university­related decisions (not simply what choices are based on) and how they understand the respective roles of the student and university. This study begins to fill that gap, exploring the orientations towards university of undergraduates in Germany and England, two countries where the diffusion of market conditions in higher education policies has been somewhat contrasting. Distinctions between the German and English students did emerge, but these were less based on those countries’ unequal engagement with tuition fees and rankings and more to do with other aspects of their university cultures and the world beyond their degrees. This suggests that how people approach their time as students is more complex than some of the literature assumes. Furthermore, at the very least, any consideration of this topic must include an analysis of how students themselves understand and experience their higher education and broader social contexts

Frequency of employer changes and their financial return: gender differences amongst German university graduates

Gender differences in the frequency of employer changes and their financial return were examined in a sample of Bavarian university graduates. The search and matching theories were used to develop hypotheses which were then tested against each other. The results show that in the first few years after graduation women change employer more frequently than men. In large part this can be explained by gender differences in labor market structures, in particular the fact that a woman's first job is less likely to be in a large company, in an executive position or on a permanent contract and women tend to be less satisfied with their first job. After controlling for variance in these factors the coefficient changes sign, indicating that under similar circumstances men change employer more often. Furthermore, both men and women benefit financially from changing employer. The absolute return is higher for men, but as men tend to have a higher starting salary there is no gender difference in the relative return and hence no effect on the gender gap. The results are also discussed in the light of the specifics of the structure of the German labor market.Diese Studie nutzt eine Stichprobe bayerischer Hochschulabsolventen, um Geschlechtsunterschiede sowohl in der Häufigkeit als auch in den finanziellen Erträgen von Arbeitgeberwechseln zu untersuchen. Die Such- und Matchingtheorien werden genutzt, um Hypothesen zu entwickeln, die anschließend gegeneinander getestet werden. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Frauen ihren Arbeitgeber in den ersten Jahren nach dem Abschluss häufiger wechseln als Männer. Das kann zu einem großen Teil durch unterschiedliche Arbeitsmarktstrukturen erklärt werden, vor allem durch die Tatsache, dass Frauen in ihrer ersten Beschäftigung seltener in Großbetrieben, in Führungspositionen und mit unbefristeten Verträgen arbeiten und weniger zufrieden mit ihrer Arbeit sind. Sobald auf all diese Faktoren kontrolliert wird, ändert der Koeffizient sein Vorzeichen, d. h. unter gleichen Umständen wechseln Männer den Arbeitgeber häufiger. Weiterhin profitieren sowohl Männer als auch Frauen finanziell von Arbeitgeberwechseln. Männer erhalten höhere absolute Erträge, aber aufgrund ihrer höheren Einstiegseinkommen existiert bei den relativen Erträgen kein Unterschied zwischen Männern und Frauen und somit auch kein Einfluss auf die Gender Pay Gap. Die Ergebnisse werden vor dem Hintergrund der Besonderheiten des deutsche

Gender-Specific Occupational Segregation, Glass Ceiling Effects, and Earnings in Managerial Positions: Results of a Fixed Effects Model

The study analyses the gender pay gap in private-sector management positions based on the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) for the years 2001-2008. It focuses on occupational gender segregation, and on the effects of this inequality on earnings levels and gender wage differentials in management positions. Our paper is, to our knowledge, the first in Germany to use time-constant unobserved heterogeneity and gender-specific promotion probabilities to estimate wages and wage differentials for persons in managerial positions. The results of the fixed-effects model show that working in a more female job, as opposed to a more male job, affects only women's wages negatively. This result remains stable after controlling for human capital endowments and other effects. Mechanisms of the devaluation of jobs not primarily held by men also negatively affect pay in management positions (evaluative discrimination) and are even more severe for women (allocative discrimination). However, the effect is non-linear; the wage penalties for women occur only in integrated (more equally male/female) jobs as opposed to typically male jobs, and not in typically female jobs. The devaluation of occupations that are not primarily held by men becomes even more evident when promotion probabilities are taken into account. An Oaxaca/Blinder decomposition of the wage differential between men and women in management positions shows that the full model explains 65 percent of the gender pay gap. In other words: Thirty-five percent remain unexplained; this portion reflects, for example, time-varying social and cultural conditions, such as discriminatory policies and practices in the labor market

Removal of americium and curium from high-level wastes. [DHDECMP; OPIX; Talspeak]

The DHDECMP process was demonstrated to give a 99.5% removal of actinides from actual HLLW in small-scale, batch extraction tests. Results from cold tests indicate that it may be possible to carry out the oxalate precipitation step of the OPIX process continuously. About 90% recovery of the trivalent actinides and lanthanides can be achieved in the continuous precipitation. the presence of zirconium impurity in feed solutions to Talspeak process at concentrations of 10/sup -4/ M (0.5% of the Zr in the original waste) affected phase separations but equipment could be operated satisfactory in cold tests. Zirconium concentrations of 10/sup -3/M seriously affected phase separations and substantial quantities of interfacial cruds were formed. Modest concentrations (0.006 M or less) of H/sub 2/MEHP, a suspected degradation product of HDEHP, did not effect separation factors. The presence of impurities derived from the thermal degradation of DHDECMP did not inhibit the loading of the trivalent actinide and lanthanide elements in the cation exchange chromatographic process for their separation. It appears that the biodentate (DHDECMP) solvent extraction process and the OPIX process are the leading candidate process for the co-removal of trivalent actinide and lanthanide elements from HLLW. The cation exchange chromatography and the Talspeak processes, are the leading candidate processes for the subsequent separation of actinides and lanthanides. The bidentate and cation exchange processes are further along in their development than the other processes and are currently considered the reference processes for the partitioning of Am-Cm from HLLW. 4 figures, 4 tables

Recovery of plutonium from HEPA filters by Ce(IV)-promoted dissolution of PuO/sub 2/ and recycle of the cerium promoter

The experimental studies carried out included (1) the electrolytic production of Ce(IV) from Ce(III), (2) the leaching of refractory PuO/sub 2/ from HEPA filter materials with maintenance of Ce(IV) concentrations by anodic oxidation during leaching, and (3) evaluation of methods for contacting the HEPA solids with the leaching solution and for separating the solid residue from the leaching liquor. Anodic oxidation of Ce(III) was accomplished with an electric current efficiency of about 85% at current densities of 0.04 to 0.4 A/dm/sup 2/ at a platinum anode. Refractory PuO/sub 2/ was dissolved by a 4.0 M HNO/sub 3/ - 0.1 M Ce(IV) solution in 1.5 h at 100/sup 0/C using stirred-contact leaching of the solids or by recirculating the leachant through a packed column of the solids. Cerium (IV) concentrations were maintained continuously by anodic oxidation throughout leaching. Dissolution times up to 10 h were required unless the HEPA media were oxidized initially in air at 300/sup 0/C to destroy carbonaceous species which consumed Ce(IV) more rapidly than it could be regenerated by anodic oxidation. Leaching solids in packed columns avoided the relatively difficult liquid-solids separation by centrifugation which was required after stirred-contact leaching; however, the solids handling difficulties associated with charging and discharging of the packed columns in a remote environment remain a significant design obstacle. A chemical flowsheet is proposed for the recovery of actinides from HEPA filters. A 4 M HNO/sub 3/ - 0.1 M Ce(IV) nitrate solution is used as the leachant and the Ce(III) is recycled to the leaching operation using bidentate solvent extraction