More than Dollars for Scholars: The Impact of the Dell Scholars Program on College Access, Persistence and Degree Attainment

Although college enrollment rates have increased substantially over the last several decades, socioeconomic inequalities in college completion have actually widened over time. A critical question, therefore, is how to support low-income and first-generation students to succeed in college after they matriculate. We investigate the impact of the Dell Scholars Program which provides a combination of generous financial support and individualized advising to scholarship recipients before and throughout their postsecondary enrollment. The program's design is motivated by a theory of action that, in order to meaningfully increase the share of lower-income students who earn a college degree, it is necessary both to address financial constraints students face and to provide ongoing support for the academic, cultural and other challenges that students experience during their college careers. We isolate the unique impact of the program on college completion by capitalizing on an arbitrary cutoff in the program's algorithmic selection process. Using a regression discontinuity design, we find that although being named a Dell Scholar has no impact on initial college enrollment or early college persistence, scholars at the margin of eligibility are significantly more likely to earn a bachelor's degree on-time or six years after high school graduation. These impacts are sizeable and represent a nearly 25 percent or greater increase in both four- and six-year bachelor's attainment. The program is resource intensive. Yet, back-of-theenvelope calculations indicate that the Dell Scholars Program has a positive rate of return

The resistance to the steady motion of small spheres in fluids

There seems to be little reliable information conveniently available as to the resistance encountered by small spheres moving steadily at moderate speeds in fluids. The present paper, while presenting nothing new in the way of either theory or data, has three objects: first to show that published data are sufficient to furnish approximate information; second to present this information in form convenient for computation; and, third to indicate where further research is needed

The Mechanism of Atomization Accompanying Solid Injection

A brief historical and descriptive account of solid injection is followed by a detailed review of the available theoretical and experimental data that seem to throw light on the mechanism of this form of atomization. It is concluded that this evidence indicates that (1) the atomization accompanying solid injection occurs at the surface of the liquid after it issues as a solid stream from the orifice; and (2) that such atomization has a mechanism physically identical with the atomization which takes place in an air stream, both being due merely to the formation, at the gas-liquid interface, of fine ligaments under the influence of the relative motion of gas and liquid, and to their collapse, under the influence of surface tension, to form the drops in the spray

Automated clinical system for chromosome analysis

An automatic chromosome analysis system is provided wherein a suitably prepared slide with chromosome spreads thereon is placed on the stage of an automated microscope. The automated microscope stage is computer operated to move the slide to enable detection of chromosome spreads on the slide. The X and Y location of each chromosome spread that is detected is stored. The computer measures the chromosomes in a spread, classifies them by group or by type and also prepares a digital karyotype image. The computer system can also prepare a patient report summarizing the result of the analysis and listing suspected abnormalities

Stability and magnetic properties of T2Sin (T=Cr,Mn,1≤n≤8) clusters

First-principles studies on the geometry, electronic structure, and magnetic properties of neutral and anionic Cr2Sin and Mn2Sin (1≤n≤8) have been carried out within a gradient corrected density-functional framework. We find that Cr2Sin clusters containing up to five Si atoms and Mn2Sin clusters containing up to eight Si atoms are all marked by finite local spin moments at the transition-metal site that order ferromagnetically or antiferromagnetically depending on the size and the charged state. Our studies of the variation in the binding energy upon addition of successive Si atoms and the gap between the highest occupied molecular orbital and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital indicate Mn2Si4 to be a potential motif for generating magnetic cluster-assembled material. While the individual Mn2Si4 motif has a ground state with antiferromagnetically coupled local moments, the studies on the assembly of two basic motifs show that it favors a ferromagnetic state. It is hoped that the present work will motivate examination of such assemblies in the recently developed cluster beam deposition experiments

Superatoms and Metal-Semiconductor Motifs for Cluster Materials

A molecular understanding of catalysis and catalytically active materials is of fundamental importance in designing new substances for applications in energy and fuels. We have performed reactivity studies and ultrafast ionization and coulomb explosion studies on a variety of catalytically-relevant materials, including transition metal oxides of Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Ti, V, Nb, and Ta. We demonstrate that differences in charge state, geometry, and elemental composition of clusters of such materials determine chemical reactivity and ionization behavior, crucial steps in improving performance of catalysts