Enrichment and microbial characterization of syngas converting anaerobic cultures

Bioconversion of recalcitrant biomass/waste into bulk chemicals or biofuels is often not feasible. By gasification of these materials, syngas (mainly composed of CO2, CO and H2) is generated and can be used for the production of high value compounds by thermochemical or biotechnological processes. Here, three thermophilic cultures enriched with syngas mixtures or pure CO (T-Syn, T-Syn-CO and T-CO) were studied. Stable enriched cultures obtained by subsequent transfers for over a year, convert syngas/CO to mainly acetate and hydrogen (CO partial pressure up to 0.88 bar). 16S rRNA based techniques (PCR-DGGE) showed that predominant microorganisms in the cultures belonged to Desulfotomaculum, Caloribacterium, Thermincola and Thermoanaerobacter genera. Moreover, from the syngas- and CO-degrading cultures, a novel Thermoanaerobacter sp. (strain PCO) and a novel Moorella sp. (strain E3-O) were isolated

The effects of death and post-mortem cold ischemia on human tissue transcriptomes

Post-mortem tissues samples are a key resource for investigating patterns of gene expression. However, the processes triggered by death and the post-mortem interval (PMI) can significantly alter physiologically normal RNA levels. We investigate the impact of PMI on gene expression using data from multiple tissues of post-mortem donors obtained from the GTEx project. We find that many genes change expression over relatively short PMIs in a tissue-specific manner, but this potentially confounding effect in a biological analysis can be minimized by taking into account appropriate covariates. By comparing ante- and post-mortem blood samples, we identify the cascade of transcriptional events triggered by death of the organism. These events do not appear to simply reflect stochastic variation resulting from mRNA degradation, but active and ongoing regulation of transcription. Finally, we develop a model to predict the time since death from the analysis of the transcriptome of a few readily accessible tissues.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

The Principle of Consumer Utility: A Contemporary Theory of the Bankruptcy Discharge

This is the published version

Debt Stigma and Social Class

For as long as creditors have been extending credit to consumer debtors, Western society has stigmatized those individuals who failed to repay their financial obligations or who found themselves swamped by unmanageable debt. Over the past three decades, scholars have studied whether the stigma surrounding indebtedness and bankruptcy has declined or increased in American society, mainly due to the sharp spike in consumer bankruptcy filings during the 1990s. These studies have resulted in a general debate over whether debt stigma still exists in society. Absent from the scholarly literature to date is an exploration of whether debtors from different social classes have varied conceptions of what it means to be financially indebted or to file for bankruptcy protection. Consequently, this Article is the first attempt to study empirically whether debt stigma varies by socioeconomic class. Using quantitative data from the General Social Survey, the findings of this study suggest a systematic pattern between debt stigma and social class. Specifically, the higher an individual’s social position based upon factors such as income, education, occupational prestige, and self-identified social class, the greater the likelihood of agreeing with the idea that an individual has a right to commit suicide as a result of serious financial problems. This measure reflects whether one would or should feel shame, stigma, or embarrassment because of troubling financial debt. This quantitative finding is then situated within the social psychology literature, opining that finding oneself in severe financial straits has a direct bearing on a person’s social identity and self-esteem—matters inherently tied to social class

Consumer Bankruptcy in the Neoliberal State

The rise of financialized capitalism as a component of the neoliberal state has resulted in our debt-based economy, under which utilizing credit—and incurring significant debt—is a necessary strategy for individuals and families to avoid economic marginality and to maintain some semblance of financial security in an evaporated welfare state. The current capitalist logic of differential accumulation and financial expropriation has created perpetually indebted citizens for whom debt needs to be understood as a social power and as a class relation of domination and exploitation between creditors and debtors. Many consumers who experience unmanageable debt often turn to the bankruptcy process to find financial relief. Drawing upon a critical sociological framework informed by both Marxist economics and conceptualizations of disciplinary power espoused by Michel Foucault, the purpose of this Article is to examine the role that the modern consumer Bankruptcy Code plays in the neoliberal state. I argue that the consumer Bankruptcy Code is a significant component of financialized capitalism and a statute intentionally constructed to advance the interests of the creditor class to the detriment of debtors. More specifically, my primary argument is that the consumer bankruptcy system embodies a legislative technology of disciplinary power molded to the ideals of the creditor class under neoliberalism and is but another step on the perpetual treadmill of living indebtedness as a form of quotidian existence for households across the nation. Seen through this theoretical perspective, the modern consumer Bankruptcy Code is a statutory mechanism for socially controlling the lower and middle classes by imposing discipline and inculcating a spirit of self-regulation where future debts can be managed and timely repaid as required by the neoliberal state

Bankruptcy Stigma: A Socio-Legal Study

For as long as the institution of bankruptcy has existed, legal commentators have debated whether it is appropriate for debtors to experience some social stigma upon filing for personal bankruptcy--that is, whether it serves the goals of bankruptcy law for debtors to feel shame. While this issue has been extensively discussed as a theoretical matter, to date no legal commentator or scholar has examined the question as an empirical matter: do debtors in fact associate feelings of shame with filing for bankruptcy, and, if so, why (or why not)? This article, for the first time, undertakes precisely this inquiry. Specifically, the article relies on empirical methods to report findings gathered from extensive interviews with debtors themselves. What emerges is that debtors experience a wide array of feelings associated with filing for bankruptcy, from debilitating shame to no shame at all. This finding, in turn, raises serious questions about the theoretical role of shame and stigma in designing bankruptcy law and policy

Seizing Welfare from the Bankrupt

The earned income tax credit (EITC) is currently the largest means-tested antipoverty program in the United States that assists low-income working families surviving along the edges of poverty. A central component of the national welfare system, the EITC has lifted millions of families with children out of poverty and has produced myriad benefits for their everyday lives. But most of the poor and near-poor endure in the low-wage labor market and often lead turbulent financial lives, plagued by precarious employment along with deleterious material and psychological constraints in budgeting for daily expenses. For the segment of these families also burdened by unwieldy debts, bankruptcy laws offer a fresh financial start in life, in part by allowing debtors to exempt certain property from the reach of creditors. However, in most jurisdictions, EITC refunds, unlike many middle-class assets, are not exemptible in bankruptcy and can be seized by trustees to both enrich themselves and to distribute to creditors. Adopting a critical theory framework, this Article maintains that capturing EITC refunds from low-income working families who resort to filing for bankruptcy is inequitable and perpetuates class inequality. Low-income working families are doubly exploited in our harsh economy, first by the low-wage labor market and second by the bankruptcy system. As such, this Article proposes several statutory changes to fully protect EITC refunds in bankruptcy as a matter of fundamental equity

Search for the disappearance of muon antineutrinos in the NuMI neutrino beam

We report constraints on antineutrino oscillation parameters that were obtained by using the two MINOS detectors to measure the 7% muon antineutrino component of the NuMI neutrino beam. In the Far Detector, we select 130 events in the charged-current muon antineutrino sample, compared to a prediction of 136.4 ± 11.7(stat)^(+10.2)_(-8.9)(syst) events under the assumption │Δm^2│ = 2.32 X 10^(-3) eV^2, sin^2(2θ) = 1.0